D-Day Landing Beaches, Normandy

Introduction

I have to confess that I grew up knowing very little about D-Day. I had seen 'The Longest Day' many times, but hadn't appreciated the scale and significance of that one day in 1944. Nor had I appreciated the effort that had gone into planning it, and the lengths the Allies went to, to deceive the enemy into thinking the invasion was going to take place elsewhere. That all changed in 1994, during the 50th anniversary commemorations. I managed to obtain copies of the original invasion maps, and have been fascinated by D-Day ever since.

Since joining the Ramblers' Association, the thought of walking the D-Day landing beaches had regularly crossed my mind. Then, after talking to some of my work colleagues who had just returned from holidays in Normandy, I decided to plan my own invasion. Armed with a dozen maps, a GPS pre-loaded with routes, and a camera, Ted and I left Portsmouth onboard the high speed ferry to Cherbourg.

Day 1 - St Mère Église & Utah Beach (10 miles)

Our first day started rather fortuitously. We had to catch the only bus of the day to St Mère Église at 7am. The only bus in the bus station had neither a number nor a destination visible. Minutes before we were due to leave I asked the driver where he was going to. It was our bus. After that piece of luck the only thing we had to worry about was the weather.

We arrived in St Mère Église under grey skies, with the promise of rain in the air. Knowing that we would be returning to the town later in the day, we decided to start walking. We headed out of town in a predominantly northeasterly direction on Grand Randonee route GR223. The track was excellent and we made good time. After passing through Turqueville, the heavens finally opened. We took shelter by the church in Saint-Martin-de-Varreville. Deciding that conditions were unlikely to improve, we chose to continue. This next part of the walk took us across the area that gave planners one of their biggest obstacles to overcome i.e. the marshland behind Utah Beach, which the Germans had deliberately flooded.

In what seemed no time at all, we were on the road running alongside the beach. Our thoughts now were on getting into the dry, and our first cup of coffee of the day. We entered the cafe/souvenir shop shortly before noon. The proprietor was reluctant to start serving food. Then he saw a coach load of American tourists pull up, and took our order. Still sodden, we walked across to the Utah Beach museum, which was located on the beach itself, on top of a German bunker. With a large panoramic window, and choppy seas outside, we really got our first feel for what it might have been like on D-Day itself. The museum was excellent, with a wide range of exhibits, including many detailed maps and two DUKW amphibious vehicles. I took advantage of the facilities there to dry some of my walking gear.

We then ordered a taxi to take us back to St Mère Église. After more coffees and a walk around the square, and the church where American paratrooper John Steele famously landed on the tower, we went into the American Airborne museum. Here it became apparent just how close to disaster the invasion came in its first hours. Many of the American soldiers landed way outside their intended drop zones, in the flooded marshes.

After more coffees it was time to find the point where our bus was to depart from. It arrived from the opposite direction, but the driver recognised us from the outbound journey earlier in the day.

Day 2 - Bayeux (Military Cemetery & Tapestry)

Today we moved accommodation, from our hotel in Cherbourg to the youth hostel in Bayeux. The less said about the latter the better. At best it could only be described as unique. At least there was hot water and electricity.

We had taken the train to Bayeux and, after locating the youth hostel, we headed for the British Military Cemetery, where around 4,000 British servicemen are buried. There are also many foreign graves in the cemetery, including those of nearly 500 Germans. After reflecting on the massive loss of life, we crossed the road and went into the museum, which unlike all the others, was focussed on events in the weeks following D-Day.

After checking into the youth hostel, we went for a wander around town and visited the Bayeux Tapestry.

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Day 3 - Pointe du Hoc & Omaha Beach (11 miles)

Ted had asked that we include Pointe du Hoc in our itinerary. I had always thought this was another of those glorious American military failures. It wasn't until I got back home that I discovered that the US Rangers were ultimately successful in their mission. They eventually found and destroyed the guns that had been trained on Omaha and Utah beaches, nearly two miles inland.

After a brief stay, and finding the cliff path blocked, we made our way back to the coast road, and walked the 4 miles to Vierville sur Mer and the start of Omaha beach.

The beach was stunningly beautiful. Apart from the odd monument, numerous concrete bunkers, and the remains of the Mulberry harbour that had been constructed there, it was hard to imagine that the fiercest of the fighting on D-Day took place there. At Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer, we turned inland to visit the Omaha Beach Museum, which I could hardly bring myself to leave. It was excellent. There was so much to take in. Luckily the film we sat through towards the end of our visit put it all into context.

Following the beach, we headed to the path that led up to the American Military Cemetery, where the remains of more than 9,000 servicemen and women are interred. A further 1,500 are remembered in the Garden of the Missing. As in most military cemeteries, the headstones are precisely aligned on an immaculate lawn. Despite the number of visitors, the feeling was one of peace and serenity.

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Day 4 - Arromanches, Gold Beach & Juno Beach (9 miles)

Our first stop of the day was the museum in Arromanches, which housed some fantastic exhibits, the highlights of which were the moving models of the Mulberry Harbour, and the obligatory film. After something to eat, it was time to visit what remained of the real thing. The tide was out, allowing us to walk to within 50 feet of the concrete caissons.

We then walked up to the highest part of the entire walk before descending back to the seafront, and the western end of Gold beach. Like Omaha the beach was lovely, however, apart from a couple of bunkers, there was nothing to remind us of the beach's place in history.

Juno beach was very similar, however, shortly before we arrived at our destination for the day, Colleville sur Mer, we passed the point where General Charles de Gaulle set foot back on French soil on June 14. Winston Churchill and King George V also arrived at the same spot on June 12 and June 16 respectively. Having decided not to visit the museum, we headed into town for something to eat and drink. From our table on the seafront we were able to watch parties of school children playing on the sand, blissfully unaware of the significance of their location.

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Day 5 - Sword Beach & Pegasus Beach (13 miles)

Not surprisingly, Sword beach only had a few monuments to remember D-Day by. The beach itself was the least photogenic of the five, which was probably due to its proximity to the port of Ouistreham. Here, the Free French Forces landed, but again we could not find anything to remind us of the events that took place there. I suspect that we did not look hard enough. We did pass a former German communications bunker, which now houses a museum, on our way to the Caen canal. Here we headed south for about four miles on our way to one of the highlights of the week, Pegasus Bridge.

After a coffee at the Café Gondrée, we crossed the bridge to visit the site where three Horsa gliders landed shortly after midnight on June 6th. Plinths now mark the spot where each of them landed, undetected and less than 50 yards from the bridge.

We then crossed the road to visit the Pegasus Bridge museum. Here another excellent model detailed the events of the day. There was also another short film to sit though, after which we went outside to visit the original bridge which now stands in the museum's grounds.

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It only remained for us to walk along the canal and into Caen itself to catch the train back to Bayeux.

Clive

May 2007