After a trouble free journey, meeting up with the others - 19 or us on 14 Harleys - we left Portsmouth for an overnight crossing to Caen. It's quite short so not much time for rest and, after arrival a short journey along the coast, we were compelled to stop for a breakfast of croissant and coffee by the smell of freshly baked bread in a village square. Next, it was onward to Arromanches, the location of one of two Mulberry Harbours created by the Allies to supply their forces after the D-Day landings. Remnants can still be seen after over 60 years and there is a very good museum showing off the enormity of the undertaking. Notable to me was the Winston Churchill memo to his commanders, about 4 lines long, asking for their proposals and dates,with the caveat "Don't argue about it"!
Then it was onward to the American Cemetery above Omaha Beach, which has over 9,300 graves in it, and 1,600 names of the Missing. It was striking that you were unable to stand anywhere within the cemetery without seeing a line of crosses in several directions, such was the consistency of the construction and layout. Afterwards, a pleasant lunch was enjoyed nearby before our journey to a Campanile near Dieppe.
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