June 9 Bayeux - D-Day Beaches - Bayeux 35 kms
First stop was at a small Commonwealth Cemetery with only 1000 graves - 650 Commonwealth and 350 German. So many young lives lost. Towards the end of the war the Germans were recruiting 16 year olds. All the cemeteries and war memorials are beautifully looked after and respected by the locals.
Rode on to Arromanches and saw the huge floating harbour towed over in sections from Britain to assist in the Allied landing. Something like 500,000 men, 300,000 vehicles, 3 million tons of supplies landed here over a few days.
On the way back to Bayeux we had a look at some cliff-top batteries at Le Chaos.
We had intended to do the full D-Day Beaches tour, but were so emotionally affected by the little we had seen that we felt that we could not cope with the huge American cemetery at Omaha Beach.
Back in town, we did our washing, had dinner and an early night in preparation for hitting the road once more.