We started our cruising for 2026 in company with Alana of Lerwyn as part of the RNSA cruise to Normandy. Leaving Gosport on 11 May we stayed overnight in Lymington before heading off on a beautiful morning for Cherbourg. A good sail across in 15-17knts and no encounters with Russian warships we docked about 7pm and had our usual cross channel rum to celebrate. A quick supermarket (wine mainly) top up and we then headed off to St Vaast. That was a cracking sail with us reaching 12kts around the Barfleur peninsula and the boat rising and sliding down the 3mtre swell with ease. We thoroughly enjoyed that sail although nearly lost our barge boards over the side.
Spent a couple of days in St Vaast (not tasting the renowned oysters but did discover the many oyster beds and training pens on our lovely long walk out to Tatihou.) Even at low water we had wet feet and as always its quite difficult to dry wet shoes on board. The smell lasted a few days! We found and enjoyed the great emporium of Grosselin also hiding from the rain there. Local Saturday market was good and of course the food stalls all met with Nick’s approval.
High Tide St Vaast
Low Tide St Vaast
Before Ouistreham I flew the drone for some aerial shots of sword beach
Our next stop was Ouistreham after a fairly long sail of 46 miles in variable winds. But this was the start of the reason for our Normandy trip. We really wanted to explore the Normandy beaches and especially the D Day landings. Our walk along the canal was easy and our arrival at the Pegasus bridge was quite sobering. How on earth with limited navigation dark nights and old craft did those brave souls manage to land just by the bridge, help secure the area and rescue the first citizens of France from the clutches of the Nazi occupation? The museum was well worth a visit and told the story very well. So many artefacts and so well preserved by the local populations of all the squadrons who participated. We even had lunch out at the famous café, The café Gondree which was the first house liberated in France. It is still in the Gondree family today with its current owner Madame Arlett still there to talk to visitors and show them the tiny packed out museum she has in the interior of the café.
The replaced Pegasus Bridge
Cafe Gondree
Taken on D Day itself - the real Pegasus bridge still in place
The 3 gliders on their landing spots
Memorials for 2 of the glider landing spots
The original Pegasus bridge in the museum
Sword Beach
British and French memorial overlooking the Beaches
We departed Ouistreham on 20th May and although we had planned a visit to Fecamp the harbour was closed for a sailing event so we headed off to Honfleur, a delightful harbour with plenty of history and pretty cafes and streets to explore. It was here we said goodbye to Alana as they were heading back to UK and the weather gave them a good opportunity for a hassle free motor sail across to Gosport. Sad to say goodbye as we had such a fun time cruising in company. We nipped across to LeHavre to give ourselves a good boost up the beautiful Alabaster coast in very little wind to Dieppe. Had the peremptory VHF call from the owners of the nuclear power station we were passing as we strayed into their very protected zone of water where they were conducting some experiments! In our defence the wind angle was better but we did a very swift turn to port and just skirted the edge of their protection zone. Hey ho!
Dieppe gave us a very good representation of the story of the Dieppe Raid of August 1942. It was one of the most tragic operations of world war 2 with many thousands of allied soldiers losing their lives on the 5 beaches there. There are memorials all along the 14km promenade with many of them citing the names and ages of the youngsters killed there. Probably the only good thing to come out of the raid was the lessons learnt that could be adapted for the D Day raids in June 1944. Dieppe is a major remembrance destination and we are glad we visited although some of it made me very sad. Sacrificium tuum salute, gratias ago. To all those from Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword. And of course the countless civilians who died in the raids and bombardments.
Alabaster Coast
Dieppe Beach Head
Chateau Musee de Dieppe
