Normandy 2025 - 15th -18th of January

The tiny roads of Normandy

We awoke to a beautiful sunrise this morning. The fog was mostly gone, although some mist still hung over the fields.

After a light breakfast and coffee, we showered and headed out at about 10.30am. We wanted to visit the village of Crepon to look at The Green Howards memorial, which we had seen signposted when we'd been driving through before, on previous visits. They had landed on D-Day and had fought their way inland to the village, the furthest of any of the Allied units.

We found the memorial and a café nearby called Le Green Howards!

It was a lovely, quirky café with several villagers enjoying coffee. One man gave up his table for us, and we ordered hot chocolate and coffee from the friendly owner. A silly French game show was on the television. What is it with the French and Spanish and weird game shows?!

Sophie snapped a pic of a local enjoying his morning newspaper!

The café was obviously a popular meeting place for people who lived in Crepon. It was open until 1pm and then again in the afternoon and evening. I should imagine it would be lovely and cosy on a winter's night!

When we finished our drinks, we strolled back down to the memorial and read the information boards. One of the Green Howards had been awarded a Victoria Cross for his bravery on June 6th.

From Crepon we drove slowly along tiny Normandy roads to the American Cemetery at Omaha Beach. It took us about forty minutes as the road was closed at one point and we had to make a detour. The countryside was stunning with beautiful villages set amongst rolling arable fields, and every now and again a reference to the war. Sometimes we saw a glimpse of the sea in the distance.

Mistletoe balls in the trees!

Following directions on Sophie's phone, we finally arrived at the Normandy American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer. It was immaculate and beautifully laid out. There is a Visitor Centre you can go into but we were short of time as we wanted to eat at lunchtime. We used the facilities - some of the cleanest and most modern public toilets I've ever visited - and walked to the Overlook with Omaha Beach below us.

We were so lucky that the weather was beautiful. Sophie said she felt like she was back in the US, somewhere like California, as the surroundings were so well-maintained. We walked up towards the graves which stretched away in rows into the distance. So many lives were lost. Around two and a half thousand US soldiers died on the 6th of June, 1944.

There were a few people about, but not many, and I wonder just how busy it gets in the warmer months. We walked past a frozen ornamental pond to a memorial building and statue. 

There was a large section of the wall dedicated to a map of the landing beaches with information. I just wish we'd had more time to look at everything but the time was marching on and we knew that we had a two-hour window to have lunch in nearby Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer.

As we walked back to the car, a tour group had just arrived and were talking to their guide about Pearl Harbour. We were to see them again in the restaurant we'd chosen for lunch!

In fact, the restaurant was doing a roaring lunchtime trade and I reckoned that Americans definitely outnumbered the French! A few workmen were lingering over their meals, but La Crémaillere was set up for D-Day tours visiting the area and catered for the tourists. It was a great restaurant, though, with a good menu and friendly staff.

We took a seat right at the front of the restaurant and ordered a plate of charcuterie and cheese to start. Keith chose a local beer, while Sophie, for some reason, chose a Ruby Leffe! I was intrigued by a Rosé cider! It was served in a teacup! I later found out that this is called a "bolée".

The plate of charcuterie was delicious and filled with different hams, salad, and cheeses served with bread. Our main courses were pizza for Sophie, fish and chips for Keith and turkey in a cream sauce for me. People constantly arrived and left and the place was buzzing. An American couple from Louisiana came over to us and asked us what the plate of charcuterie was! The man obviously liked the look of it! There was also a couple from Costa Rica sitting in front of us, so the clientele was truly international.

As the afternoon wore on, the restaurant emptied out, but tour groups were still arriving for lunch. I can just imagine how busy this place was back in June 2024! Sophie and I indulged in desserts - fondant au chocolat, naturally, for me, while Sophie tackled the largest plate of profiteroles I'd ever seen!

We paid the bill and decided to drive to Omaha Beach, a few minutes away. There were more coaches here and people strolling on the sands. 

Sand had been blown up onto the road and, again, the houses lining the beach were shuttered up and forlorn. These all looked more modern than the houses we'd seen driving from Deauville up the coast, though.

A step back in time

We drove a little further along the coast until the road ended and then returned to the house via small country roads and the faster N13. Back at the house, we used the loo and then ventured out to Creully to explore a little. Sophie wanted to visit a "Brocante" a kind of antique shop she'd seen previously, so we parked opposite and went in. It was a treasure trove of every kind of object you can imagine and it was freezing cold! The woman running the place said hello and left us to wander about. There were big old French armoires for sale, glasses by the hundred, paintings, china, kitchen utensils, white goods, the lot! They obviously dealt with house clearances, and there were even a couple of half-empty bottles of perfume! Sophie spotted three pretty glasses, and then another three she liked, and then she hit the jackpot with a cluster of Gigondas wine glasses that she just had to have!

None of the smaller items had a price attached so we went to the counter and asked how much the nine glasses would be. The answer was five euros! Sophie grabbed them, (we weren't given a bag or newspaper to wrap them in) paid, and we scarpered before she changed her mind!

We drove through Creully, which was a pretty town with honey-coloured stone buildings and a couple of bars and restaurants. Before going back to the house we called in at the Carrefour supermarket and bought a bag of wooden logs for the fire, some more beer and gifts of chocolates to take home.

The evening was spent relaxing, dozing by the fire (we used up the whole bag of logs which cost 7 euros) and watching Spectre on the DVD player as the remote stopped working for Netflix! It had been a truly lovely and very interesting day!