Normandy Beach Landings!

Our last few days were spent on the Normandy coastline. I always feel that this area of France doesn’t get the credit that it deserves as there are numerous nice towns along the coastline with long sweeping beaches, lots of history surrounding the Normandy landings, lovely walks and always great food in the restaurant and cafes . I spent a lot of my childhood holidays going to Northern France and we also took our own children there, so it has a special place in my heart. My sister and I even met for lunch in Calais for the day as she lives in Belgium and I took the ferry as a foot passenger. I have always been surprised at how pretty the towns are that are near to the ferry ports. Usually we always just rush through theport terminal heading for our destination.

It was with this in mind we headed to Lion-sur-Mer a small beach town 15km north of Caen, our first stop along the north coast. British Soldiers landed on the beach at Lion Sur Mer for part of the Normandy Landings and in remembrance of this there is a Scottish Piper over looking the beach.  The town itself is quite small but it has pretty houses and quiet little lanes, you can tell that is popular in the summer with quite a few campsites close by and other signs for touristy attractions.

There is a walk along the beach front of about 4km to Ouistrehan another popular little town and there is a ferry port that takes you to Portsmouth. The promenade between the two towns is backed by large villas all built in typical Normandy style.

 Whilst we were here I visited a lovely French patisserie and could not resist a couple of little tarts! The French do pastries so well – they make our bakeries look boring in comparison!

After Lion-Sur-Mer (sounds much more glamorous than Lion by the Sea) we headed to another popular stop by the ferry port Le Havre called  Honfleur. Honfleur is both a sea and river port plus a sailing port and has a rich history of navigators, sailors and captains but it is also known for its artistic heritage with familiar names such as Monet and Boudin linked to the area. It is a very popular stop for tourists and I can see why. Old cobbled picturesque streets with 16-18^th century houses built around the ‘Vieux Bassin’ an old trading port in the middle ages. The old port is now surrounded by restaurants and cafes, in fact I don’t think I have seen such a small town with so many restaurants, all claiming to have the best seafood. Amongst the eateries there were shops selling gourmet chocolate, artisan fudge, cheese, wine, candles – everything that a tourist might need!!

We had lunch there and spent a few hours wondering around but decided to spend the night next to a beach further up the coast called Plage de Saint-Jouin Bruneval. We approached the beach by driving down a long windy steep hill to be confronted by what I can only describe as an oxymoron. This bay had been developed as an oil terminal to unload, store and transfer crude oil from huge tankers due to its depth and proximity to the Port of Le Havre but it was right next to a popular beach with a huge car park and facilities including restaurants, beach cabins, showers, play park, surf shop etc although currently it was all closed. It was so odd to have them both next to each other and there were loads of info boards about the design of the terminal along with the flora, fauna and nature. They were making a strong point of how the two could co-exist alongside each other, this was even more evident when I went for my morning walk from the Aire at the top of the hill.  I came across a smart restaurant overlooking the bay giving a bird’s eye view of the oil terminal and the beach along with signs for marked walking routes of the area.

The following night we stopped at one of the Camping Car Park Aires outside of a small town called  Floques and went on a coastal walk to Criel-Sur-Mer – another deserted town that appeared to be full of haunted houses!

The beach was popular with mussels as the beach was covered with low limestone rock that appeared when the tide was out with hundreds of mussels clinging to them.

Floques was a nothing village – no shops or bakery but lots of new build houses and we were parked right next to a building site. They must have the same brief as many of the new housing estates in Dorset for providing infrastructure. There was a SANG (suitable alternative natural greenspace) and they had done a great job here as they provided ponds with ducks, children’s play area, formed proper pathways that were kept landscaped, created ‘bug hotels’, ‘book barrels’ and planted a small apple orchard all with info boards around. What a fabulous idea and a great morning walk for G and I – I really enjoy our little discovery walks in the mornings as you just never know what you are going to find.

I came to the conclusion that Floques was being developed as it was on the outskirts of a larger and more popular town called Treport, we drove through it the next day and it looked like it had a thriving community and economy.

We were headed for Saint -Valery-Sur-Somme. A quaint medieval town on the edge of the Somme estuary. Little one-way streets with cycle lanes lead you down to the town centre of decorated lanes and onto a fronted waterside board walk. It has milky pale blue water due to its situation on a limestone promontory. The town has a long history as a popular tourist resort; some of the old town’s walls are intact and St Martins church stands up high overlooking the estuary, definitely worth the visit. It has a good family vibe about it with lots of visitors in the area that day. We stayed at the municipal Aire, about 15-minute walk from the town centre that had spaces for 100 motorhomes which proves it popularity.

The following day was our penultimate day in France and we needed to get George wormed or else they wouldn’t let him back into the UK. Id researched a vet nearby and we arrived there at 9am to see if we could get him in. They were very helpful and luckily we only had to wait an hour or so for an appointment. George was very well behaved and it all went well, they date stamped his pet passport with all the correct details and he would now be ready to travel in 24 hours.

With two nights to go it felt like we were killing time….. we stopped off at a beach near Le Touquet, a popular beach for Parisians. We’d been there before about 35 years ago when my mum had her 50^th birthday party, so for old times we wanted to swing past. It has a huge white sandy beach with a tide that goes on for miles! Once again it was very quiet and not much was open, but George has some great beach walks there.

We spent out last night in Calais in an Aire close to the beach. I’ve not been to Calais beach front before and I was overly impressed. It was buzzing with activity, lots of families as I think it is half term here, the beach was in full view of the ferries coming and going from the port had restaurants and cafes near the promenade and lots of beach huts for use during the summer.

The ‘Place’ in front of the beach was full of people watching The Calais Dragon, a 12m high and 25m long mechanical beast with moving parts that made it look quite realistic. It had a moving head with menacing red eyes and breathed fire and smoke. If you paid ten euros you could get onto it and go for a 45minute tour of the port area. It was quite a feat of engineering to watch move around and drew a lot of crowds.

The following morning we were up early to get the train back to England, it was very quiet at the Tunnel and with only 1 train an hour everything was on schedule and went very smoothly and before long we were back on the M25 dodging the trucks and cars. That’s when you know you are back in the UK!!

We have 10 days here before we head off to Montenegro to see Rio, Hamish, Bear & Nely, but we are putting the Motorhome to bed for a month as for this trip we are flying, leaving George with Ian.