Grandad WW2 cycle trip: Bayeux to Utah Beach
Day 2
The first 80 miler Lew had planned. We rose at 7, feasted on brioche and soggy baguette and hit the road. The advantage of staying 2 nights at the Bayeux campsite meant our panniers were unladen, so we had a slight spring in our pedals. Our first stop was the German War Cemetery at La Cambe. Home to over 20,000 German graves, it felt particularly somber and poignant.
From here we ploughed on West to Carentan then swung North towards Utah Beach. With warming sunshine and a light tail breeze the 3 man chain gang was in full flow. The bikes casually ate through the miles and we pulled into a beachside cafe to refuel (chocolate and banana crepes, coffee, orange juice). We took in the beach and the gun placements, inappropriately recreated the run from the sea to the scrubland, then re-saddled, heading back to Carentan. The smooth roads once again made for rapid shifting and after a brief stop for more French pastries we covered the remaining thirty miles back to Bayeux.
