Operation Normandy – D-Day Invasion Trip

Planning by General Monty the Motorhome

 

Monty’s invasion of  Normandy plans  are revealed.

Embarkation from Hull via P & O ferries.

 

Disembark at Zeebrugge.

From Zeebrugge  push on towards St Omer to the first of our two objectives. Visiting  WW2 sites of interest.

 

Our next objective is to head on towards Caen.  With an overnight stop en route.

The next objective is to visit the Pegasus bridge and also the first liberated cafe in France, Cafe Gondree

On the night of 5 June 1944, a force of 181 men, led by Major John Howard, took off from RAF Tarrant Rushton in Dorset, southern England in six Horsa gliders to capture Pegasus Bridge, and also "Horsa Bridge", a few hundred yards to the east, over the Orne River. The object of this action was to prevent German armour from crossing the bridges and attacking the eastern flank of the landings at Sword Beach.

The gliders were towed across the Channel by Halifax Bombers. With perfect navigation and piloting skill, the gliders landed on time and on target within few yards of each other. Major Howard’s glider landed within a few feet of the canal bridge. The bridge was captured after a fierce ten minute fire fight, the action all over by 0026, a full six hours before the
beach landings.

So, just 90 minutes after taking off from RAF Tarrant Rushton in England, Major Howard was able to send the code words "Ham and Jam", indicating that both bridges had been captured. In this early action of D-Day, the first house on French soil was liberated, and the first British soldier of the Normandy Invasion was killed in action:
Lieutenant Den Brotheridge.

 

 

Then on to the D Day beaches and museums.

Also calling in at Bayeux to visit the Bayeux Tapestry.

Visiting :-

Sword beach

First Allied troops to land: 3rd British Division, led by 8th Infantry Brigade Group. More info here

Juno Beach

First Allied troops to land: 3rd Canadian Division, led by 7th and 8th Brigades, and 6th Armoured Regiment. More info on here

The Juno beach centre at Courseulles-sur-Mer

Musee du debarquement at Arromanches

Gold beach

First Allied troops to land: 50th (Northumbrian) Division, led by 69th and 231st Brigades, 8th Armoured Brigade. More info on here

Longues-sur-Mer battery

Cimetière américain de Normandie

Omaha beach

First Allied troops to land: 16th Regimental Combat Team (US 1st Division) and 116th Regimental Combat Team (29th Division), 2nd and 5th Ranger Battalions. More info on here

Pointe du Hoc

Sainte-Mère-Eglise

The town's main claim to fame is that it played a significant part in the World War II Normandy landings because this village stood right in the middle of route N13, which the Germans would have most likely used on any significant counterattack on the troops landing on Utah and Omaha Beaches. In the early morning of 6 June 1944 mixed units of the U.S. 82nd Airborne and U.S. 101st Airborne Divisions occupied the town in Operation Boston, giving it the claim to be one of the first towns liberated in the invasion.

Musée du Débarquement Utah Beach

First Allied troops to land: US 4th Infantry Division, led by 8th Regimental Combat Team. More info here.

Then we divert from our WW2 history and head down to Mont St Michel, which we only quickly stopped at on our last trip to Brittany last year.

 

From Mont Saint-Michel we then head for some Chateaux visits. This depends on what time we have in hand and to which ones we visit.

Our list includes :-

Château d'Azay-le-Rideau

 

Château Royal d'Amboise

Château de Chenonceau

 

Château de Chambord

 

Châteaudun Castle

 

Then we need to push on to Ypres.

But en-route we may call in at Château-Thierry.

 

 

We are booked in at Camping Jeugdstadion in Ypres so we can re -visit  the Menin Gate. Again if time we will also visit some of the WW1 sites we saw when here last year or ones we didn’t get to.

Then we head to Bruges for possibly one night again depending on time.  We fancy another look round this fantastic city.

Then we head back to Blighty. Via our landing ship waiting for us at Zeebrugge.

All this in 12 days…..

Christmas trip

 

Monday 15th December, 2015.

Thought we would have a last trip of the year away.  We decided to go to Edinburgh and see the Christmas market and get in any last minute presents.  Also we thought we would have another trip to the zoo to see our favourites - the panda’s.

We set off bright and early on Monday the 15th of December.  First stop put some fuel in. Oh dear for some reason while filling, the pump didn't recognise that the tank was now full and instead of cutting off spurted diesel out of the neck, how it didn't cover me I don't know but my hands and keys had a not so lovely coating of diesel!  After cleaning up we set off.  Taking the A1 all the way up then heading around Edinburgh on the east side via Leith and the West Granton Road. Last time we went in via the west side.  Traffic was heavier but nothing too bad.

We arrived about 1pm  to a very warm welcome from the wardens at the Caravan Club site at Edinburgh.  Half the site was closed and while there we saw about 15 pitches in use. This was all going to change next week as they said they were nearly full for Christmas and New Year. 

 

Weather wise we had been lucky.  Cold but bright and breezy on the way up compared to the previous days when it had been raining and very windy.  In fact we only had bad weather on one day and during the nights.

Tuesday or Zoo day

 

We booked a taxi to take us to the Zoo for 9am opening.  We didn’t fancy getting up early and bus hopping so took the easy option.

We arrived at the zoo. We were lucky again with the weather, very cold but dry. We found it a great time to go as the animals had  just had breakfast.  Plus it was very quiet so ideal for quietly  observing. We had booked a slot for the Panda viewing but as it was so quiet they said we could just keep calling back to see the Pandas in their indoor enclosures . Some of the animals had been moved so they could update various enclosures.

 

No they haven't had a baby, its Peter one of our Pandas.

Looking for lunch!

 

 

 

We had lunch in the cafeteria  which was very tasty and reasonably priced.

We stayed till about 3pm then decided to catch the bus in to the city.  The Christmas Market looked fabulous – all lit up at dusk. It was really well laid out and not too busy so you could actually get to look at all the stalls. There were plenty of food and drink stalls also and the air was full of tempting aromas of mulled wine and Bratwurst. There were rides and ice skating if you needed a break from shopping.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wednesday

We headed back in to the city but to be honest we were fairly tired and aching from all the walking yesterday.  Not only is the zoo hilly but so is Edinburgh.  We set off to catch the bus but when we got to the campsite reception the minibus (luxurious people carrier) was there. So rather than walk to the bus stop we got on and booked for picking up at 5pm. The minibus dropped us at the bottom end of Queen street and also picks up from there.

We looked around the Xmas market again and then headed up towards the shops on the Royal Mile. We didn’t go round the castle as we have visited before. Also by now the muscles where complaining and it was only midday.  We decided to head back in to the city to get some lunch then head back to Monty for a rest.

 

 

Thursday

Rain today and cold plus quite blustery so we decided to stay in and catch up on “24”

 

Friday

Early start as we were leaving Edinburgh and heading back down to York  and stopping a few nights at the Rowntree caravan club site.  For our return journey  we reversed our route and had a non eventful trip except for the first 10 minutes when no water was coming through to clear the wind screen.  10 minutes later I realised  I was pushing the info button on the stick and not the washer button. OMG!!

After turning off the A1 and on to the A59 we noticed that the rivers were high and joked that I should have rung and checked the site was still open with it being right next to the river.

On arrival we noticed the river Ouse was indeed very high, in fact the highest we have seen it.  Again a very friendly welcome at reception who were all in Christmas spirit. One of the wardens carried out his chores dressed in a Father Christmas suit! We had to leave a mobile number as the site was on flood warning till midnight in case of need to evacuate! Thankfully this never happened.  We popped in to to York and another Christmas market was set up, but on a lot smaller scale to the Edinburgh market.  We noticed how busy York was compared to Edinburgh and put it down to the fact that because Edinburgh is so big it seems quieter.

That night we decided on our favourite choice of meal while at York, an Indian takeaway from Lal Quila on Bishopthorpe Road. Located out the back gate of the club site.  

Saturday

We walked back in to York to look around for any last minute gift ideas.  As we came back to the site we admired the many lights, trees and decorations that some of the caravans and motorhomes had brought for their Christmas stay.

 

Sunday

Leaving day to return home and get ready for the Christmas festivities.