A Cycling Trip to Normandy
by Andrew Wakeling
On the evening of 22nd May, 10 members of the St Albans Adventure group boarded the overnight ferry from Portsmouth to St Malo. After an early start from St Malo port, we cycled east to meet Rory and Marie near Saint Meloir-des-Ondes. They had left their camper van at a nearby campsite. The first day was a fairly flat route of around 39 miles to Avranches, closely following the coast and crossing from Brittany into Normandy. We passed near Mont St Michel but didn’t venture onto it.
After spending the night in an Ibis hotel outside Avranches and eating in a large restaurant nearby, we crossed the base of the Cotentin Peninsula in a north-east direction to Saint Lo. We followed a fairly hilly route along quiet country lanes, clocking up 40 miles and 750 m of ascent. We stopped for lunch near the medieval Abbey of Notre Dame De Hambye – see photo below. In the evening, we walked from our hotel on the outskirts and had a look around the historic centre of Saint Lo, which was rebuilt having been largely destroyed during the Battle for Normandy in June/July 1944. There, we ate a hearty meal in a Moroccan restaurant.
The next day we cycled around 27 miles eastwards on mainly quiet roads to Port-en-Bessin on the Calvados coast. This was a less hilly day with 250 m of ascent. Port-en-Bessin was on the boundary of the American Omaha and British Gold D-Day invasion beaches. It was liberated by 47 Commando of the Royal Marines following D-Day. After a well-earned beer or two we explored the pretty harbour area and WW2 memorials and dined in a sea food restaurant.
During day 3, we had our only mechanical problem, with Peter suffering a snapped gear cable. This meant he had to complete the rest of the trip in a single ‘high’ gear. Fortunately, the hilly part of the route was behind us.
The last day was a continuation along the Calvados coast, 26 miles eastwards to the port of Ouistreham (Caen) to catch our ferry back to Portsmouth. En-route, we passed by the D-Day Gold, Juno and Sword beaches and stopped at the town of Arromanches with its many memorials to the Normandy invasion. We also passed several restored components of the Mulberry harbour. This was towed across the channel from the UK and constructed in segments to enable the Allied forces to be supplied, thus ensuring the success of the invasion.
Overall, we were blessed with only a little light rain and comfortable temperatures for cycling. The roads were generally quiet, and the countryside was pretty. We indulged in some excellent purchases from a few Patisseries en-route. Many thanks to Ian and Veronique for organising the trip and Peter for the route planning. Veronique also ensured the trip ran smoothly with her native language skills.