Omaha to Utah

I can’t remember when I became so fascinated to see the D-Day landing beaches in Normandy, but I know it was a long time ago. Having visited Arromanches on the motorbikes previously, I was really keen to see Omaha and Utah beaches where the US forces landed and so this stop had been on the top of our list for the Normandy leg of our trip.

Travelling across from Etretat, we picked a cracking campsite for a few nights that was right above the Omaha beach and I’m so pleased we did. Our pitch had a view of the sea and beach from the window, we had our own (well almost) indoor pool, washing machines and decent restaurant.

Knowing that we had two days of good weather, and that Sally had a workday, we made a plan to have a couple of good walks along the coast at the start of the week.

Firstly, it’s immediately clear that Omaha beach is really beautiful. The sand and sea are an amazing colour and it’s so flat that there’s a massive difference in appearance when the tide is in and out. I’m pleased we got chance to experience that change in our time here.

Secondly, there’s a tangible atmosphere here which is helped by the fact that there’s no-one swimming or surfing in the sea. Ofcourse, it’s out of season now in late September and I’m sure summer is packed with tourists but at this moment it was very peaceful. Along the length of the beach there are monuments to the soldiers that landed here on 6th June 1944.

Some 2500 men lost their lives on this 5km stretch of beach.

We walked on to the American Cemetry which is found at the other end of the beach from our campsite. I’m sure I’ve seen this place in films before but being here in person is really breath taking. The cemetery is incredibly moving. It’s immaculately maintained, there are some beautiful memorial and reflective spaces and the green grass contrasts with the rows upon rows of white crosses. I made me pause for some moments and made the walk back was a little more solemn and thoughtful.

There are almost 10,000 buried here and the crosses go on farther than the eye can see. I can’t help but think of Ukraine too.

Before moving on, we took a couple of related trips to see the German gun batteries at Longues-sur-Mer and Pont Du Hoc but the industrial nature of the concrete bunkers makes you feel a bit like ‘when you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all’. That said, the stories that were told of the individuals involved in the Pont Du Hoc raid help to bring it to life and the pock marked landscape is an indication of just how many bombs were dropped here before D-Day.

As we were so close, we took the opportunity to get ‘Sons of Anarchy’ (our little scooter) out of the garage and headed over to see the Bayeux tapestry. That was really great. I’m sure I’ve seen it before (??) but the narrated walkthrough does a good job of reminding us of our history lessons from some 35 odd years ago and being able to see the tapestry, that’s nearly 1000 years old, so close is very cool.

As we had started to watch the excellent Band of Brothers, the final stop on WW2 Normandy tour was to Utah beach via the Airbourne museum in Saint-Mere-Eglise. The museum did an excellent job of bringing the paratrooper raids to life, even if we were a bit historied out by this point, and I was left thinking that the Band of Brothers tale is probably one of many. After a super quiet night at Utah beach, we headed out for some shelter from the forecast 40mph winds of Friday night.

Normandy beaches route

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One response to “Omaha to Utah”

  1. […] remember that we’ve been following in the footsteps of the Band of Brothers for a few years. In 2022, we visited where they parachuted into Normandy. Last year we experienced Bastogne and the woods […]

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