Any suggestions please

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fatbob99

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my Wife has always wanted to see the monastery at St mont michel, was planning to get the ferry to St malo and then spend 3-4 days on the way back up to Calais and home .
Wondered if anyone had any suggestions of places to visit of historical lovelyness on the way back up the country ?

Thanks in advance :hippy
 
Three places on my bucket list for that area are Honfleur, and the fields at Agincourt and Crecy. IIRC the French spell Agincourt, Azincourt. Recently been to the Alpes de Haute Provence via the Gorges du Tarn and the locals don't seem to have changed their driving speeds.
 
Have a bimble around the Contentin - Avranches, Granville, Coustances, Carteret & along the coast to the Nez de Jobourg. Then cut back east to Cherbourg & on to Barfleur, then south to St.Vaaste-la-Hougue (boat mad here, nice overnight). Then carry on south along the coast to pick up the Normandy Landings story, staring at Utah - take an excursion inland to see KM1 & the museum at Ste-Mere-Eglise. Then back to Carentan, Isigny & along the coast - Point du Hoc, Omaha (war cemetary), Gold beach Arromanches (museum), Juno & Sword beaches, then after Riva Bella, follow the Orne river inland to Ranville-Benouville & Pegasus Bridge. Then back to the coast, Deauville, Trouville & Honfleur (very lively on market days & a good ON).

Then a possible detour to Rouen, or over the bridge to Le Havre, Etretat, Fecamp (nice ON), Dieppe, Le Touquet PP. & back to Calais.

That should keep you busy. If the D-Day landings are of interest, Michelin do a green guide devoted to the subject.

Others may disagree, but bike/gear theft can be a problem in La Belle France, so take the obvious precautions & try to get Garage/secure parking overnight where possible.

Have a good trip.
 
If the WW2 ‘Must do’ beaches bore you and / or your wife, miss them out.

When are you planning on going?

What interests you / her?

For example, the Bayeux Tapestry is to some boring, to others it’s a UNESCO Heritage site worth making a visit to.
 
Thanks for the input , going next month .
Will take a look at some of that
 
Bayeux tapestry. William the conquerors grave in Caen.
Do not miss the Memorial in Caen. - one of the best war-related things I have ever seen.
 
Bayeux is worth a visit, if you want to stick to the coast then Fecamp is a nice little town or if you don’t mind cutting inland a fair bit and have done the standard war sites why not go to the Champagne caves in Reims?
 
If you are going to Reims, or close to, see the old race circuit:

https://virtualglobetrotting.com/map/remains-of-the-reims-gueux-circuit/view/google/

The cathedral is worth a look too. But it means a significant detour from the French coast.

Rouen, too. As you can celebrate the doing-in of Joan of Arc and it’s much less of a detour. The catederal also has the tomb of a very early English ‘queen’, the Empress Matilda, daughter of Henry I (the son of William the Conqueror) and the wife of the Holy Roman Emperor, whose enscription reads:

“Here lies Henry’s daughter, wife and mother; great by birth, greater by marriage, but greatest in motherhood”
 
Three places on my bucket list for that area are Honfleur, and the fields at Agincourt and Crecy. IIRC the French spell Agincourt, Azincourt.

They do indeed spell it with a ‘z’.

There’s a nice little museum on the Agincourt site and a much simpler one at Crecy.
 
...was planning to get the ferry to St malo and then spend 3-4 days on the way back up to Calais and home .
Wondered if anyone had any suggestions...

Does your 3-4 days include your maybe inevitable day to get from Dover back to the Peak District? If so, you are maybe down to two to ride from Mont St Michel to Calais. Bods might need to take this into account when suggesting ideas. Can you clarify please:

1. When your ferry arrives at St Malo

2. When and how long you intend to spend satisfying your wife’s desire to see Mont St Michel, which at least is in the direction of Calais

3. When you plan to board the ferry / train at Calais to return to the UK

That’ll give everyone a much better idea of what you can slot into the time available. If you plan on traveling in late October, you’ll start to run into the reduced hours of daylight and inevitably the lost hour when the clocks fall back. The autumn storms can start to batter, too. There again, it’s very often nice.

What you could do is spend most of your time around St Malo, seeing the local sites and then just motorway back to Calais, via St Michel.

http://www.brittanytourism.com/discover-our-destinations/saint-malo-mont-saint-michel-bay

But, it’s your holiday, not ours. If the idea of ever touching a motorway is abhorrent (even if it means significant time saved and an opportunity to see / experience more) then you’ll know what it is you need to plan on.
 
Wapping I like your idea of
"What you could do is spend most of your time around St Malo, seeing the local sites and then just motorway back to Calais, via St Michel"

So that's what I'm going with , going in the car as my Doris ,doesn't like going on the back of the bike , which nicely coincides with me not liking her being on the back of the bike.
Apparently if we fit in the Carnac stone circles and the Mont Michel monastery my 2019 Bosnia bike trip is nailed on so happy days.
Thanks for the input by the way , much appreciated.;)
 
Just my thoughts.
Granville is nice for a wander around the walls and port, villedieu les poeles is worth a stop for a coffee and bun, St Lo is also worth a wander around the town especially on Sat which is market day.
 
The other thing I would consider is the Portsmouth ferry as this drops you in Normandy and will save a good slog of motorway on the French side, the ferry is more expensive but counter that with reduced mileage, no tolls and a time saving and you might think that it is money well spent, you might even fancy a night on the ferry, a few drinks in the bar and then retire to your cabin arriving in France in time for breakfast.

I have a code for Brittany ferries which will save you 10%, pm me if you want it.

Whatever you do enjoy your time there.
 
Bayeux is worth a visit, if you want to stick to the coast then Fecamp is a nice little town or if you don’t mind cutting inland a fair bit and have done the standard war sites why not go to the Champagne caves in Reims?

We spent three weeks on the Normandy coast and the only WW2 thing we visited was the Caen Memorial.
Normandy didn't pop into being with the D Day landings.
Spend a morning in Rouen for its spectacular cathedrals the go to Monets garden at Giverny for the afternoon.
Or lunch on the quayside at Honfleur and wander round the old town in the afternoon.
Go the the Oiseau Blanc monument at Etretat (via the Pont de Normandie) its on a clifftop and is a monument to two French pilots who tried to cross the Atlantic from there - they failed.
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Monument+%22l'Oiseau+Blanc%22+-+Nungesser+et+Coli/@49.7108167,0.2059502,300m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m13!1m7!3m6!1s0x47e1bd6c23f8c087:0x26f2f1561148e202!2sNormandy,+France!3b1!8m2!3d48.8798704!4d0.1712529!3m4!1s0x47e017c7872189b9:0xb1a1139aacd2a129!8m2!3d49.7112365!4d0.2071584
The village of Camembert has a small museum about the history of the cheese - worth a visit for tastings and for its amazing connection with WW1.
 
We spent three weeks on the Normandy coast and the only WW2 thing we visited was the Caen Memorial.
Normandy didn't pop into being with the D Day landings.
Spend a morning in Rouen for its spectacular cathedrals the go to Monets garden at Giverny for the afternoon.
Or lunch on the quayside at Honfleur and wander round the old town in the afternoon.
There's a very good little mechanical museum just down the road from Monet's garden if you happen to like that sort of thing. Honfleur is indeed delightful.

Enjoy!

PS, just found it:
Postcard from Google Earth

https://earth.app.goo.gl/VMc7GS
#googleearth
 
Cheers for the info gents ,
Ended up in Carnac/Quiberon
Rennes , Dinan , Mont Saint Michel
Utah and Omaha Beach and Horn fleur.
Last night in St omer visited the La Coupole.
Had a great time , thanks for everyone's input
 
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