Trip route to date

Normandy beaches

Friday 23/11/12

Pont–Audemer to Arromanches

As dusk fell on Thursday we found a riverside parking spot in the pretty town of Pont-Audemer. History boards tell of its industry, wealth and regional importance. Sea water meets fresh water at this point in the river but it is no longer navigable and a large hydro generator buzzes away constantly. The town is criss-crossed by little canals and waterways – like a mini Venice. At 6pm the town is lively and full of people, by 9pm it’s deserted. Cue an early night.....

Pont-Audemer

Dave's suggestion that we have early starts didn’t last long and by the time we get ourselves up and out of the van the town is in full swing again with market stalls lining the main street selling all kinds of colourful food and plants. After buying some fresh bread and croissants for breakfast we set off for Honfleur, a very picturesque harbour town. 

Honfleur

Following the road north west we head for the Normandy D-Day landing beaches. Arromanches is famous for the British built Mulberry harbour - an artificial prefabricated port the size of Dover which was towed in sections across the English Channel.  The town hosts a museum dedicated to the history of the area with military craft dotted around the town. Today little remains the harbour wall but enough is visible out at sea to appreciate the massive scale of the operation involved in the 1944 D-Day landings. Bi-lingual plaques detail some of the history including one which says that the floating harbours were inspired by Winston Churchill (although others also lay claim to the idea) and he also realised that an anchoring system was needed to secure them and commissioned Beckett to devise one. Two harbours were built, one at Omaha and one at Arromanches but following a massive storm in June 1944 the poorly secured American harbour at Omaha broke up, was irreparable and construction ceased. The British harbour was designed to last 3 months but saw heavy use for over 8 months.

Arromanches & remains of the harbour wall sections

 

The brakes work.....

Wednesday 22/11/12
Shrewsbury to Newhaven

I am sure Dave had visions of me packing everything except the kitchen sink (thankfully not required as the van already has one!) as he kept going on about the weight of the van fully laden and the extra diesel it would need to shift it from A – B.

OK I understand that ……but when a girl has to have clothes to cover all seasons that takes packing a capsule wardrobe to another level.  Add in the other essentials, marmalade, Marmite, tea bags, toiletries, etc etc and all storage spaces were soon full. But between us we had managed to pack the van well – it looks like an IKEA room set (you know the one’s where they squeeze everything into 6 cubic feet) on wheels – plastic boxes and all.

All stowed securely

En-route to Brighton Dave had to do an emergency stop as a car pulled out in front of us from a side junction and the driver just froze in the middle of the road. Bringing 3.5 tons of campervan quite fully laden to a halt is no mean feat but we stopped within about of foot of the drivers door. The only ‘casualty’ on our part was a low flying cutlery drawer which came out of its runner and landed in the lounge area. Everything else was securely lashed down or wedged in and didn’t budge. No-one was hurt and no damage done – brakes well and truly tested, we're ready for the European drivers now!

Brighton's Royal Pavilion

Brighton Pier

We’d never been to Brighton before – it’s brash and bold but has some beautiful buildings and iconic landmarks. We had a ‘final supper’ of Fish & Chips eaten on our laps in the van washed down with a couple of pints of Real Ale in a nice pub in Seaford. We ‘wild camped’ on the seafront road, sleeping to the sound of waves crashing on the beach and woke up to a fleet of lorries travelling up and down the beach in a vain attempt to redistribute the pebbles. Dave’s in digger heaven!

 

Dream as if you'll live forever.....

22/10/12

Brave, adventurous, exciting, lucky...........just a few of the comments from friends and work colleagues when discussing our imminent trip. If they are thinking mad, crazy, irresponsible, foolish...........they aren't saying that to our faces thankfully!

 

As departure date approaches our ideas have turned into plans and the visions have become reality. Four weeks from now we should be across the channel and starting our adventure. There are endless quotes about seizing the moment, life being too short and having no regrets. I think one of my favourites is .......

"In the end, it's not going to matter how many breaths you took, but how many moments took your breath away"

 

There are many things we have done in our lives so far that have taken our breath away - quite literally in some cases. Perhaps most memorably for me was watching the sunrise over Africa from the summit of Kilimanjaro, with my dear twin sister Sue, as I gasped for air at 19,300ft! 

On another occasion whilst sailing a 43ft yacht across the Atlantic we were very surprised to firstly hear, and then make out, a huge whale (as big as the yacht) surface just meters away from us blowing air high into the dark sky as dawn broke.

We have some fantastic memories of past trips and time spent abroad including driving round New Zealand and Australia, living in Turkey for 6 years, sailing through the Med and across the Atlantic. Here's to our next trip and here's another quote just for good measure!

"Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die today" - James Dean