Normandy Tour
Finally, after a two year delay, DS Roadcraft Tours hit the road for their much awaited Normandy tour. The original 8, for various reasons, was now reduced to 4 and our first stop was an overnight stay in the Premier Inn Folkestone. An early start the following morning allowed us to take the Eurostar to Calais and ultimately to our countryside accommodation in the Calvados region of Normandy.
In total from Calais we covered 272 miles using a mixture of A and B roads, small bursts of motorway, a couple of toilet stops, fuel stops and the odd stop for some refreshment. Unfortunately, we also had to stop and adjust a chain on one of the bikes that had for some reason gone very tight. This was achieved without fuss, courtesy of a very friendly and helpful local garage owner. Eventually, we found ourselves at our idyllic resting place for the week, a traditional French farmhouse and outbuildings where there was a welcome evening meal and drinks in their in-house attic bar.
Day 2 was a gentle 88 miler, filled with beautiful villages along the way and an abundance of American wartime museums. Instead of 4 bikes and 4 riders we had 2 bikes and a pillion due to an unexpected chain of events (no pun intended!). First stop was the pretty town of Sainte Mere Eglise where we stopped for the obligatory coffee and cake. Plenty of sunshine and a great day to visit the Normandy Beaches taking in the historic Utah Beach, Omaha Beach and Pointe du Hoc.
Meanwhile, back at base, DS Roadcraft's very own mechanic had discovered that a broken link had caused the chain problem from the previous day and so missed the day's riding to attend to the problem. With no chains available until after our return date, the chain was inspected at the local Triumph dealer and a spare link supplied as a temporary measure until we got home. Replacement link and chain duly fitted and a well-earned beer consumed.
Day 3 and we clocked up 99 miles on yet another sunny day. The route took us to Dead Man's Corner, the Maisy Battery, Arromanches (Mulberry Harbour), the British Normandy Memorial and a quick detour to the beautiful town of Bayeux to indulge the female contingent in the group with her charity Motorbike Women's treasure hunt (now that she was back on 2 wheels)! Here we experienced the only rainfall of the week, but fortunately we were already seated under an umbrella at a café nearby the cathedral. What a beautiful way to wait out the 5 minute rain shower with tea, coffee and cake.
Day 4. We woke to beautiful sunshine again and decided a chilled day was needed before our journey home the next day. Chilled for us was a relaxed 105 mile round trip to the seaside town of Granville for the afternoon, with two quick stops enroute for more Motorbike Women's treasure hunt spots (one being the Triumph dealership in Saint-Lo that had helped us earlier in the week). After more indulgent French desserts and a look at the beach we returned to our home for the trip.
Each day saw increased levels of sunshine providing perfect riding conditions and before we knew it, it was (sadly) Gozomee Day. Bidding our wonderful hosts Jill and Andy (Jill’s cooking is to die for) and their beautiful farmhouse farewell, we set off to Honfleur; our last historic stop of the trip to see the Pegasus Bridge and check out the first house liberated in Normandy.
To view more of our Normandy adventures, check out our Facebook page ‘DS Roadcraft Tours’ or our web page ‘www.dsroadcrafttours.co.uk’. If you're interested in joining us on a tour next year, simply send us a message for further details and we'll get back to you.
Meanwhile, we're off to start packing for our imminent trip to The Black Forest. Bon Voyage!
Until next time...
