Afternoon all I am off to Normandy for a few days with the kids and I have 2 questions:
1, can anyone recommend somewhere great to go in the drive between Calais and Caen to look at Atlantic wall defences ?
2, what to see in Normandy ?

Hmmm…let’s see. Well just drive along the coast. Arromanches is great to see the remains of the Mulberry harbour still on the beach.

Ouistreham beach has some big observation towers in the main town.

Pegasus Bridge for some quality viewing.

Various gun emplacements just back from the beach in Colleville.

Plenty of cemeteries to get a good perspective on what is important in life and what is not.

And on an entirely unrelated matter go to the harbour in Deauville/Trouville for the best choice of places to eat.

you know the ‘wall’ was mainly a propaganda exercise tho. Mainly it’s gun emplacements that were connected by barbed wire and trenches backed up by batteries set back from the beach

Pegasus Bridge and read Stephen Ambroses accoun, then mentally work out how they actually landed gliders there in the dark

Honfleur is also a must see. Beautiful, picturesque harbour, historic town, great restaurants.

Rouen is a great city again with tons of history. The gros horloge or big clock followed by seeing the spot where those dastardly English burned Joan of Arc at the stake.

Bayeux, again a beautiful town, go and see the tapestry. It really is very impressive

Normandy is one of my favourite places in France. So much history, both modern and medieval.

How about La Coupole for a bit of proper nutty nazi concrete ?

http://www.lacoupole-france.com/

An daft thing to build when you don’t have air superiority, but I think impressive, none the less.

Atlantic wall

You don’t need to leave to see them.

Bunker Simulations

A little bit further round, but Le chaos at longues sur mer, large gun implacements, guns still in place, weirdly beautiful at sunset. Also the look out point is the point where the nazis first spot the fleet from in the longest day film.

Try to find a parc acrobranche like http://accrofury.com/accrobranche-en-normandie/ lots better than the Go Ape stuff we have in the UK 😀

You don’t need to leave to see them.

http://www.bldgblog.com/2014/07/bunker-simulations/

fascinating! 🙂

La Coupola is the plan for Monday afternoon, and we are heading towards Normandy afterwards – I was hoping to find a bunker complex on route to break up the drive on Tuesday Morning.

I shall work through the suggestions thanks – Pegasus is a def !

I never knew about the English building simulation, but I guess it all makes sense

I was there last month. Arromanches is great and the American cemetery just a few miles west is really well done.

Point Du Hoc is worth a visit too it’s amazing to see all the bomb craters and wonder what it must have been like when the bombing started, it is pretty much left as is after the war.

Cheers all I have quickly put them onto a Google map if anyone wanted – any other suggestions gratefully received

I used to live on Juno Beach. Loved it!

Arromanches, as others have said, is worth a trip.
The cemeteries are chilling, moving places. The one that sticks in my mind is the small Canadian one just to the east of Reviers.
The Musée de la Paix in Caen is worth a trip, as is Caen itself. Great town.
Further south, the area around Alençon and Suisse Normande is glorious. Bungee at the Viaduc de le Souleuvre, if it’s still going.

Mangez Pont-l’Évêque et puis Galettes du Roix, buvez du Calva! Santé!

Cheers Flashy, a few to add to the list !

Just been down the Atlantic coast…

Lots of evidence that the Germans were enjoying the beaches all along the coast.

Had a look at a few of the beaches and visited the cemetery in Bayeux and had a look at Pegasus bridge.

The remnants of the bigger bunkers are still there on the beaches.

The cemetery was probably the most impressive/moving bit.

Further down the coast and camped next to a gun emplacement in Brittany, visited the U-Boot pens in St Nazaire and wandered among the displaced and almost ship wrecked remnants of some bunkers further south.

The Atlantic wall was more than a propaganda exercise.

No worries, Andy.

I have some more detailed recommendations that might help if you’re spending time in Caen and/or Courseulles, but some may be a little out of date!

It’s good country, with good people, and some excellent food!

Did I mention the galettes? The Cheese? The Calvados? 🙂

Gallettes will be a must, but not sure about the Calvados for small people ! Although it will make them sleep well 😀

Which beaches for big bunkers ?

+1 for Bayeaux and the tapestry.

We stopped off there on our way home from Britanny. Well worth the detour.

Also stopped at Utah beach, and we were met with a company of reenatcment troops, an armoured column of about 50. Made it very real.

Which beaches for big bunkers ?

Well, there was this one time under the Croix de Lorraine on Juno Beach……

Oh. Sorry. You said bunkers. 😉

Most of the coast is full of stuff. As before, I’d suggest Arromanches as a good start point. The beach to the west of the Courseulles channel has a few, too. And a big Croix de Lorraine!

Awesome, cheers all – the kids love big bunker 😯

This site might be useful when you get to a particular location, for showing you what you are looking at:

http://bunkersite.com/locations/france.php

As above there are a few military cemetries, we have visted a few inc just outside Ouestreum/Caen. From memory there is not much on the UK landing beach there.
Just outside Deauville there is a German hill top fortification at Mont Canisy (network of underground tunnels but they are only open with a tour, some smaller bunkers and large gun positions you can wander round.
The new American museum and cemetry at Utah is worth the drive but its a fair way past Caen (1.5hrs ?)

Honfleur – definitely
Lovely long beaches at Deauville with some nice beach bars/restarants. Fresh seafood (La Centrale) just over the river in Trouville.
Drive around a little inland to see the traditional buildings and lovely countryside, lots of horses. Beaumont-en-Auge is typically pretty, hill top Abbey and one restaurant with a lovely setting (Cafe des Arts)

cheers cranberry the bunker sites look exactly what I am after –

Jambalaya – thank for these, Mount Canisy looks excellent, but not sure we are there for any of the gilded tour dates – shame as it sounds great

For breaking up the journey what about Dieppe for a failed landing? I went via Amiens last time and took some sites round there and then drove back via Rouen. Places in Normandy – some good suggestions on here which are musts to see, Merville Battery, Saint mere Eglise, st mer du mont is lovely behind Utah beach, Ranville, +1 for Du Hoc. I brake the area into sections and do as much as you can in a day. Every spot with a visit to the local cemetery. I have even done the route of 101st Airborne from landing. Most important is research now and plan.

Cool, I have come across the liberte way – following patton to Bastogne

Bungee at the Viaduc de le Souleuvre, if it’s still going.

Last couple f times we’ve been the bungee wasn’t open but the tobogan track was which is a bit of fun!

If you are travelling down from Calais in that direction, Merville battery is on that side of the D day landing beaches. The ranville British cemetery is nearby and worth keeping an eye out for a dog and it’s handler buried together in it. Also keep an eye out for the cemetery cat that will follow you around looking some attention.

Then if you go in the direction of Caen you will go over the new Pegasus bridge and the Pegasus memorial museum bedside it.

It’s also worth having a coffee in the first house to be liberated on D day, the cafe at Pegasus bridge. It is still owned by the family that lived there at the time and there is a photo of a wee girl standing outside it with troops, she is the old lady that you’ll see about the cafe. Just a note that she is very very french!! Or maybe I’m just not cultured enough for her liking.

I never knew about the English British building simulation, but I guess it all makes sense

Ftfy.

Bike ride inland to see the countryside around Caen and the falaise pocket gives you a real feel for the task that they faced afterwards.

Cycling/ driving from Caen you can follow the route the allies took. It’s well sign posted and last time I was over there were war era signs and directions, buildings still bullet scarred and lots of small places where two or three soldiers died. My mum lives in land near domfront and if you have the time to look, every village and town has a story

I used to live on Juno Beach. Loved it!

My neighbor Steve scaled those cliffs. He was a sniper with 46 commando assigned to support the Canadians. He never gives much away about what he did but at Rots you can see the memorial to his friends and colleagues who didn’t come home. A very modest man who always plays down what he did. He’s just celebrated his 95th Birthday, his mind as sharp as ever and a joy to spend time with but sadly his legs show the price he paid and his mobility is now a real problem for him. The fights not left him though, you can see the pain he is in to move around on his walking frame but he’ll be damned if he’ll let you help him. I feel very privileged to know him and should any of you ever get the chance to sit and talk to a veteran of D day you’ll find it means so much more when visit the area.

We went on a cycle tour there and halfway down the Cherbkurg peninsula there was a coastal battery that had been converted to a visitors museum. One of the larg gun bunkers had a 365mm diameter shell in the back room. This had been fired by a US ship and had come into the bunker through massive concrete walls…..i couldnt even roll it, it was so heavy.

The compound had also been sheeled by german guns inland when it had fallen into allied hands. A very sobering place.