Normandy lies at the north coast of France, between Cherbourg to the west and Rouen to the east. It derives its name from the Norse men (Vikings) who took control of the area in the 10th century. Today it is a land of farms (lots of grain crops), separated by hedges and trees. The terrain is relatively flat, with some rolling hills. The beaches along the coast are sandy and in many places are faced by steep cliffs. Its 20th century claim to fame is the site of the D-Day allied offensive, the largest military operation in history.

In June, 2001, we visited this area to get a sense of the D-Day operation. It is impossible to truly grasp the magnitude of the effort, but the many museums in the area have done a credible job trying to capture the desperation of the French people under German occupation, the determination of the Germans to hold on to the territory, and the sheer will of the allies to break through and reclaim France. 

The beaches themselves leave a lot to the imagination as today they are wide, clean and inviting areas. Even with the all the pictures in the museums it is hard to imagine these beaches full of defense mechanisms laid by the Germans, not to mention the bloody battles and loss of life that occurred here. At left is a view of Gold Beach, where the British landed. Beyond the cliffs about 20 km lies Omaha beach, the site of the most brutal combat on that day. The large blocks visible in the water are the remains of huge floating platforms used to create a temporary harbor for supplying the invasion after the beaches were captured. Many have come ashore with storms and lie on the beach. It is difficult to imagine the scale, but those few gray dots on the beach are people walking around. At right is Juno Beach where the Canadian regiments landed. Beyond to the east is Sword Beach.

At left is one of the many bunkers at Merville. These bunkers were captured by British Paratroops in order to allow the beach landings. Under the cover of darkness, British Paratroops were used to quell the big guns used to protect the beaches from invasion.

After visiting Sword, Juno and Gold Beaches we headed to Ste. Mere Eglise, a small village some 10 km inland from Utah Beach to spend the night. As we rolled into town, the most obvious sight is the church in the central square. What you notice next is the parachute and dummy hanging from the church roof and we all immediately remembered the scene from the movie “The Longest Day” where Red Buttons is the paratrooper caught on the roof under enemy fire. Jim’s first thought was that the folks here had seen too many movies, but in actual fact the movie took the scene from the invasion. A paratrooper was caught on the roof and (unlike the movie) he lived by playing dead so they wouldn’t shoot him. Above right is the church, with the parachute barely visible on the left corner of the tower. At left is a close-up of the dummy hanging there. St. Mere Eglise was one of the first operations of D-Day and the town was the first to be captured by the Allies. The town today bears testament to this fact with a walking tour through the area, marking significant sights and a museum that tells the tale of the paratroopers plight as they dropped into enemy territory on that fateful morning.

One of the things that struck us strongly about this town is the amount of pro-American sentiment. Normally we think that the French truly hate the Americans, but here that doesn’t seem to be the case. All over the area there are monuments and tributes to the Americans that lost their lives to free France. And there is an American and British flag hanging beside almost every French flag we saw. We never thought we would see that in France.

We spent about a day and a half visiting the museums and sights, which was enough to get a very good feel for the events that took place. But there is more to Normandy than just the war sights, and any visitor should take the time to wander through the countryside, visit the small towns and ports such as Honfleur (right), located on the mouth on the Seine. It is a lovely port town, but is also tourist-central during the summer, so may be best visited in the off season.

On the way to Honfleur, we had to cross over the Seine, which can be done just north of town, or further east. We came across at the bridge of Tancarville which provides a great view of the surrounding river valley. The other nice thing was that the bridge was free for motorcyclists! That was a first for us anywhere in Europe, but we loved it and wish more would do it! Hooray for the French.

Coming into Honfleur we approached a couple of bikes form Britain that we had seen the day before. Then Verna recognized the leathers of one of the guys from our lunch stop the day before. It was too much of a coincidence, so when they stopped at Honfleur, we had to pull up and say “hi.” It turns out that they were going to visit the beaches as well, and offered to let us tag along, so we did. Allan is on the left and Jamie is on the right with Jim in the middle. We had a great day with them and still owe them for several beers, so we’ll be looking for them along the road.

Several weeks after our visit to Utah Beach we received e-mail from Wim Aalten. The following is an excerpt from that e-mail and the picture he sent us (at right).

• “Two weeks ago, on Wednesday 20-6, we traveled on our bike in France. We were on our way from St. Valery en Caux to Cabourg (Normandie). My wife Eef noticed a couple of special BMW's. Two days later, on Friday 22-6, we saw those two BMW's on Utah Beach. We were specially interested in the stickers from the Harrogate Motocamp. We were there too.”

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