A maverick green way shared path starts a few miles to the
east of Coutances. After about 24 miles of winding north this joins the TdM at
La Haye de Puits. This was Sunday and the usual ghost town feel of the villages
was added to the towns as well. We left the TdM briefly to enter Saint Sauveur
Lendelin. The roads surrounding the eerily silent church were packed with cars
and it was as if the entire town has been sucked in through the teak doors. But,
to our surprise, we found the butcher, baker and candlestick maker all open for
business – well, the baker at least – plus a bar and a shop open all day on
Sundays – very unusual.
The path heading west to Carentan is straight and flat and
by the time we left it behind to join the D338 just past St Jores the tedium
was beginning to set in. Just as with the previous day, there were very few
people out enjoying this great resource. Ideal for walking, running, cycling we
only saw one group of cyclists and they were from Barnstaple, doggedly
following the exact route of the TdM.
We’d shot off north west on the D338 to get to Saint Mère Église
–and expected hillage to match Saturday’s but this short ride was easy and
pretty, with very little traffic.
Saint Mère Église was an infamous site in the Battle of
Normandy. Being the main town and road junction west of the Utah beachhead, it
had been targeted by the allies in an airborne attack. Unfortunately as the
parachutists descended upon the town they were greeted by spotlights from the town’s
buildings and were picked off easily by the Germans. Many never got to the
ground and were shot as they hung in trees. The parachute of one paratrooper,
John Steele, was caught in the spire of the town’s church. Seeing what had gone
on before, Steel pretended to be dead for two hours until the scene below
calmed down t which point he was taken prisoner. He escaped and rejoined his
division. His story, among others, is depicted in The Longest Day. An action-man style figurine, complete with chute,
hangs from the church as a memorial to that day.
On a brighter note, from the D-Day invasion of seventy-six
years ago to the Grand Départ of 2016. The TdF is coursing through the Manche
in its first three stages and the presentation of the teams will take place in
the town square below the church in Saint Mère Église.
There is a short ride down to the beach passing through
flatlands that were flooded by the Germans as a defence against an invasion. In
the end, the flooding, instead, prevented an effective German counter attack. To
honour some of the GIs that died in the Utah Beach landings roads have been renamed.Utah Beach Campsite 14€50 for two. There is very little in the way of café-life at this sombre end of the beach. The campsite’s bar and shop shut at 7.00pm – maybe as we were not in peak season. The shop does have basics and takes a bread order for the morning. Good shower block.
49.2 miles 1299ft elevation
