Our holiday in Normandy, France did not start well. The plan was to break the journey by staying in Kent overnight with mother in law before catching the Dover ferry first thing on Easter Saturday. The Good Friday traffic was not a pleasurable experience, not the best time to be on the M25. And to cap it all, our clutch went. Luckily we were only 5 miles from our destination and we were able to limp on.
The AA chap fixed the problem but it was only a temporary fix. We had the night to debate whether we should throw caution to the wind and go for the ferry anyway. We were close to doing it – after all we have European breakdown cover so we would be okay wouldn’t we? But although we talked about it we couldn’t bring ourselves to be so irresponsible with two children to think about as well as ourselves. So, deep breath, we decided to opt for going all the way home, back to Bristol. On the bright side, our son was pleased that we would be able to watch the first episode of the new Doctor Who, which we did.. and it was good wasn’t it?
Thankfully our second attempt at the journey went as smooth as silk. Bristol to Dover. Dover ferry crossing to Calais. Calais to Caen. We arrived at our cottage in a small village called Ragny at around 4pm (French time). The setting was beautiful. Our cottage was in the grounds of a Chateau. The approach was via an archway of the original 14th century castle.
This area of France is really lovely, the countryside is beautiful and the coast is close by too. Most days I got up early and went for a run in the early morning sunshine. Very nice apart from the fierce dogs I kept coming across, thankfully safely behind fences, but on one or two occasions I was convinced they were coming after me!!
The beaches in this area are the D-Day landing beaches. We explored them all. Omaha Beach in particular is the classic golden sands and rolling waves. The kids loved playing there. But it was impossible to forget the thousands of soldiers that died there 65 years ago.
Before we go home we always ask the same question..if you could, would you stay, go somewhere else or go home? My answer is usually go home.. although I often qualify my answer with.. just for a few days..then off again maybe.