Wapping's Wanders 2012 - A four-dayer Normandy and maybe Brittany - DEFINITE DATES

Work in progress.... Routes

At last I have got around to plotting some bits'n'bobs out for this Wander.

(a) The short hop from the train to our first night's hotel at Wierre Effroy. For those that have been on previous Wanders we have sometimes stopped for a coffee at the cafe in Wierre Effroy but I have never tried (nor seen) the hotel.

http://www.fermeduvert.com/uk/index.php

(b) The second day from Wierre Effroy to our hotel on the coast at Villerville.

http://www.bellevue-hotel.fr/

Again, it's a hotel plucked at random.

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The second day's jaunt is a fairly longish schlep of a bit over 200 miles. To give past Wanderers an idea, the run from Peronne up to the Chunnel is about 125 miles, which takes most of the afternoon between after lunch and about 16:30.

I suggest we crack off at about 09:00, which will give us time for lunch, two coffee stops and probably fuel somewhere (I have no idea where) along the way.

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I have marked out many of the WW2 Battle of Normandy coastal sites, too.

I will now do some work on rides around the area and, of course, the way back home.

Richard

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/14126843/CopyTrial run - Normandy - Copy-1.gdb
 
Return leg hacked out.

Again, it's a reasonably long run of over 200 miles. But, it has the possibility of picking up the main Rouen, Boulogne to Calais motorway much earlier. I have anyway taken us onto a stretch of motorway to cut out Boulogne and a bit of the congested coastal route up to Audinghen. As before, a resaonably good departure at nine should see us on our way.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/14126843/CopyTrial run - Normandy - Copy-1.gdb
 
I have now created all the basic routes for the Wander.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/14126843/Normandy Easter 2011 - UKGSer.gdb

(1) The routes down to our first night's hotel and on to our second hotel on the coast.

(2) A ride-out to take in the main D-Day landing sites etc. I have added a possible extension to take in the battery museum / tunnels at Azeville and the famous church at Sainte-Mère-Église.

This would be a long day - Coastal roads can be a bit of a grind - if we spend lots of time at each of the sights. I have simply plotted a 'fastest route' for our return to the hotel.

(3) A ride-out down to Falaise, the site of the closing of the Allied pincers, trapping the remnants of the German army to effectively finish the 'Battle of Normandy' some months after D-Day.

(4) The route back from our hotel to the Chunnel.

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Of course the routes can all be altered to suit the weather / bods' preferences and / or whatever. All I have tried to do is get some half decent riding (so quite a few miles) mixed in with possible things to see and do over quite a large area. Making an earlyish start each day will help, for sure.

I half half an eye that we are very close to the museum holding the Bayeux Tapestry, which is definitely worth seeing.

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Besides very good bits'n'bobs and ideas gleaned from UKGSer's 'Battle fields' section, I found Major & Mrs Holt's D-Day pocket guide quite useful.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pocket-Batt...=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1332420244&sr=1-1

The reprinted Michelin map of the Battle of Normandy is quite fun, too. It was first published in 1947 when a huge area of that part of France would still have been smashed to pieces.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Michelin-Hi...=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1332420376&sr=1-1

Thanks too to a friend of mine, John Tipper, who made some good suggestions.

Richard
 
Tunnel booked :thumb2

Can't get out of work on the Thursday so I will be playing catch up on Friday as only departing at 1050am in the morning.

Returning on the 1750 Monday (the 1820 was full)
 
Tunnel booked :thumb2

Can't get out of work on the Thursday so I will be playing catch up on Friday as only departing at 1050am in the morning.

Returning on the 1750 Monday (the 1820 was full)

Hi Dave,

That's not a problem, we can work out where to meet I'm sure.

Now I know your train, I will work out where along the route we hope to be. 10:50 is 11:50 Frog time. 40 minutes to cross and ten to bugger about = 50. That is 12:40 at Calais. If we leave the hotel at 09:00 we will be a bit short of halfway round I would guess, as you leave Calais. You'll then go much quicker than us, down the motorway I guess? It's just a question of a bit of sums and a bit of Mapsource jiggery-pokery to work out where our paths might cross.

We may well have had lunch, so you might want to bring a sandwich or grab something en-route.

Richard
 
Hi Dave,

That's not a problem, we can work out where to meet I'm sure.

Now I know your train, I will work out where along the route we hope to be. 10:50 is 11:50 Frog time. 40 minutes to cross and ten to bugger about = 50. That is 12:40 at Calais. If we leave the hotel at 09:00 we will be a bit short of halfway round I would guess, as you leave Calais. You'll then go much quicker than us, down the motorway I guess? It's just a question of a bit of sums and a bit of Mapsource jiggery-pokery to work out where our paths might cross.

We may well have had lunch, so you might want to bring a sandwich or grab something en-route.

Richard

Sounds like a plan. Worse case I can just meet at the hotel. Get there early, bag a good room, few beers, etc :thumb
 
Dave, I think I have worked it out.

You leave Calais at 12:40.

None stop on the motorway you should be in a place called Caily in about two hours. That is 14:40. Add twenty minutes for a stop somewhere = 15:00.

Caily

It looks OK in Google Streetview.

We leave the hotel at 09:00. None stop we should be in Cally in four hours = 13:00. Add 30 minutes for a coffee stop = 13:30 and an hour for lunch somewhere = 14:30.

Give or take half an hour we should meet up, which is not too bad.

Ours is the longer leg, so the half hour could slip anywhere.

I have created a separate Mapsouce file, marking a suggested place to meet with a cross. It is on the junction of the D6 with the D4, where we will turn left. Google shows that there is quite an open area right on the junction, so it's maybe not a bad spot.

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From Caily it's either 2 hours twenty to the hotel, or one hour thirty if we go direct.

I suggest we all take a view when we meet up. If the day has gone well. let's do the longer leg. If it is lashing down or anyone has had a problem, let's cut our losses. It's meant to be a social sort of holiday type Wander and we are all grown up.

If it all goes tits up, everyone head for the hotel.
 

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Dave, I think I have worked it out.

You leave Calais at 12:40.

None stop on the motorway you should be in a place called Caily in about two hours. That is 14:40. Add twenty minutes for a stop somewhere = 15:00.

Caily

It looks OK in Google Streetview.

We leave the hotel at 09:00. None stop we should be in Cally in four hours = 13:00. Add 30 minutes for a coffee stop = 13:30 and an hour for lunch somewhere = 14:30.

Give or take half an hour we should meet up, which is not too bad.

Ours is the longer leg, so the half hour could slip anywhere.

I have created a separate Mapsouce file, marking a suggested place to meet with a cross. It is on the junction of the D6 with the D4, where we will turn left. Google shows that there is quite an open area right on the junction, so it's maybe not a bad spot.

--------

From Caily it's either 2 hours twenty to the hotel, or one hour thirty if we go direct.

I suggest we all take a view when we meet up. If the day has gone well. let's do the longer leg. If it is lashing down or anyone has had a problem, let's cut our losses. It's meant to be a social sort of holiday type Wander and we are all grown up.

If it all goes tits up, everyone head for the hotel.

Perfect.

Looking forward to a good weekend.

Note to self, don't drink as much as the last wander
 
UPDATED ROUTES AND EXCEL FILE ALL DAYS

(1) I have simplified a little bit of the route for our last day. It is still 200 milkes, so a decent enough schlep from the hotel. We always have the option of cutting it short when it starts to snow!

Here are all the routes again on one file.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/14126843/Normandy Easter 2011 - UKGSer.gdb

(2) I have carved the all the routes out in excel, too.

The route for our day out to Falaise, I borrowed from a friend of mine (John Tipper), hence the different style.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/14126843/Normandy Wander UKGSer - April 2012.xls

Richard
 
Bring your thermals and your waterproofs

It's not looking scorchio in northern France.

A week ago 20c and above..... Now, 8c..... Bloody northerners, exporting cold.
 
Back home five PM....

The usual chaos of immigration and then a very haphazard loading, resulting in one poor sod dropping his bike. The train staff certainly went out of their way to display every quality of imbecility and a few extra.

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I really enjoyed the Wander, one of the best I thought. Made so because everyone got on, were happy to go with the flow and /or make good suggestions of things to do and see. A good pace maintained throughout; the run back today was excellent..... a reasonably long schlep across country, with a detour for the closed village and still in plenty of time to make an earlier train.

Cheers,

Richard

PS When I have a minute I'll tidy up the routes and lob them up here. They might be useful if anyone wants to do something similar another time.
 
A great weekend. From being told all trains are full and will have to go on my booked train they just waved me through onto the first train home. Result.

Great company, roads, sites, food, etc.
 
Come on then .....post your Pics ...

I want to see Trixies new(ish) rocket ship ...... :rolleyes:
 
Got back to Leigh on Sea at about 5.30pm.Great weekend and company excellent hotels and top routes.Many thanks Richard for organising another super trip. :thumb
 
Hello Richard,

Thanks for a lovely trip really enjoyed it. Good choice of hotels and routes. We thoroughly enjoyed the bunkers. A good team of riders and friends as well.


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Thanks
David & Pauline
 


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