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Bayeaux, France
Sunday, Aug 27, 2006

Storming of the Beaches

David Murray
2007-03-04 10:08:23

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Another long weekend was coming up in England, and work was getting me down, so there was only one thing I could do. Get on the web, look at the trains and book a trip. The idea was to leave on the Friday, drive to Arras, stay over, up early, and get down to Limoges, as we want to see a village called Oradour-Sur-Glane. It was a place where the Nazis had rounded everyone up and killed them all. And now the town is a living memorial.

Looking on the web, the prices were ridiculous. The first time I looked, the price was £140. Next day, it was £180. The third time I looked, it was now up to £205. Realising I had fucked up, we decided to buy an overnight trip instead as it was only £60. As I have now done this, we decided to change our choice. A quick look on the map, and we are now going to go to Bayeaux to see the Tapestry, and then onto the WW2 landing beaches. The plan was now set in stone.

Pissing down rain in the morning as we left England, we were slightly worried because we were going to be camping in France. As we drove South in France, the rains became harder, and it was getting harder to drive. We were aquaplaning all over the road. It was quite scary.

As we came closer to Bayeaux, the sun came out to play. This was more like it. We parked the car up, and went to visit the Tapestry. Just in case you don't know what this Tapestry is, I will give you all a brief history lesson. Back in the 1060's, a little shit went down in France and England, and a guy called Harry became King of England. Willy the Bastard, as he was known, reckoned that Harry said he would let him become King. As it didn't happen, Willy decided to invade England and the Battle of Hastings, 1066 took place. Harry took an arrow in his eye, and Willy became King. And to commemorate this little event, and the events leading up to it, Willy had some Monks in the UK re-create this on what was the ...