Day 48, Wednesday 6 November 2019.Ouistreham and Caen.
A relief to be away from the bangs and crashes leading up and well after Bonfire night in the UK and we permitted ourselves a lie in and set off mid morning.
The last big drive in the van today, 4.5 hours to Caen from Chambord, no tolls, lots of roundabouts and huge expanses of flat green fields, short deviation on the A11.
Stopped in a noisy off road spot for a quick lunch.
Arrived in Caen about 4.30pm, where we paid a visit to Normandy Wine Caves for what may turn out to be our last cases of reasonably priced red wine for Andy. We opted to visit the WWII German Grand Bunker in Ouistreham near the Brittany ferries ferry terminal for the last hour of opening .It's the most intact bunker on the D Day landings beaches, as 53 German soldiers surrendered to Bob Orrell and his 2 English officers who took 4 hours to blow the door off at the end of WWII .'Will you come up here ?' (to the turret room) the German officer called when Bob and his team finally got in.
'I'd rather you came down here' said Bob and down all 53 trouped to surrender to the very embarrassed Bob, you can just imagine it. The living quarters, a field hospital , a radio transmission room, the look out posts, the gun room and all the fittings are meticulously recreated in this 5 storey bunker which was the main intelligence defence unit for all the bunkers set out along the beaches from here , transmitting alerts , sending firing positions etc . Andy went up into the tower to have a brief look around , bit too high and claustrophobic for me to follow, I changed my mind after a few rungs.
The landing boat (used in the film Saving Private Ryan ) along with tanks and large guns and jeeps are set out in the courtyard, all in a quiet affluent residential district. Standing inside the landing boat was absolutely heart stopping .This is a first visit to a WWII bunker for both of us and a good choice of museums (8€ each) We walked the length of several beaches, sites of the D Day landings in the dusk and the dark and were very moved to read the lit up tribute boards along the path to the Free French Kieffer Marine Commando unit who landed , many of whom perished on the beaches on June 4 1944 . I'm so glad we did this. I feel so grateful to those who have perished and to have experienced a life in peace time ( so far ) without the terrible suffering inflicted by war. Andy's late step-father, George (who was in the Battle of Narvik in WWII on the K-class destroyer Kimberley), would have enjoyed this trip.
A relief to be away from the bangs and crashes leading up and well after Bonfire night in the UK and we permitted ourselves a lie in and set off mid morning.
The last big drive in the van today, 4.5 hours to Caen from Chambord, no tolls, lots of roundabouts and huge expanses of flat green fields, short deviation on the A11.
Stopped in a noisy off road spot for a quick lunch.
Arrived in Caen about 4.30pm, where we paid a visit to Normandy Wine Caves for what may turn out to be our last cases of reasonably priced red wine for Andy. We opted to visit the WWII German Grand Bunker in Ouistreham near the Brittany ferries ferry terminal for the last hour of opening .It's the most intact bunker on the D Day landings beaches, as 53 German soldiers surrendered to Bob Orrell and his 2 English officers who took 4 hours to blow the door off at the end of WWII .'Will you come up here ?' (to the turret room) the German officer called when Bob and his team finally got in.
'I'd rather you came down here' said Bob and down all 53 trouped to surrender to the very embarrassed Bob, you can just imagine it. The living quarters, a field hospital , a radio transmission room, the look out posts, the gun room and all the fittings are meticulously recreated in this 5 storey bunker which was the main intelligence defence unit for all the bunkers set out along the beaches from here , transmitting alerts , sending firing positions etc . Andy went up into the tower to have a brief look around , bit too high and claustrophobic for me to follow, I changed my mind after a few rungs.
The landing boat (used in the film Saving Private Ryan ) along with tanks and large guns and jeeps are set out in the courtyard, all in a quiet affluent residential district. Standing inside the landing boat was absolutely heart stopping .This is a first visit to a WWII bunker for both of us and a good choice of museums (8€ each) We walked the length of several beaches, sites of the D Day landings in the dusk and the dark and were very moved to read the lit up tribute boards along the path to the Free French Kieffer Marine Commando unit who landed , many of whom perished on the beaches on June 4 1944 . I'm so glad we did this. I feel so grateful to those who have perished and to have experienced a life in peace time ( so far ) without the terrible suffering inflicted by war. Andy's late step-father, George (who was in the Battle of Narvik in WWII on the K-class destroyer Kimberley), would have enjoyed this trip.
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| Sand sculpture with spliff! |
We booked in at the ferry terminal at 8pm , followed by a long wait to board at 10.30pm and straight to bed in our fantastically clean and comfortable en suite 4 berth twin cabin. Awoke early and docked at 7 .30am UK time
It's been a wonderful trip.
Andy has been a skilled driver with nerves of steel , and an agreeable and affectionate companion, it's been a privilege to spend a fascinating 48 days with him in Holland, Germany, Austria, Italy, Sicily and France .
So I'll sign off for now, with love,
Shraddhabha x
It's been a wonderful trip.
Andy has been a skilled driver with nerves of steel , and an agreeable and affectionate companion, it's been a privilege to spend a fascinating 48 days with him in Holland, Germany, Austria, Italy, Sicily and France .
So I'll sign off for now, with love,
Shraddhabha x
I feel like I've done the whole trip too, having read your blog! Take it easy at home for a while before you start planning the next trip!
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