Arromanches

Only a short ride today. 35km. Along the coast the entire way, only one Hill.

I rode along Sword beach first and down part of Juno to the Juno Beach Information centre, which is a Canadian museum. The entire ride along the coast from St Valery I've been seeing Canadian flags. Probably more than French flags. I figured it was most likely because the Canadians liberated those towns and today it was confirmed.

The information centre was ok. There was a tour of some bunkers, one which was only recently discovered. They showed a tunnel where French labourers had purposely built it wrong so it would collapse on the Germans, except I reckon they built it wrong because they didn't know what they are doing.

A lot of it was about the war in general with "and Canada" tacked on to the end. Eg. "The Lancaster bomber was the ultimate weapon of the RAF and some were built in Canada". I don't think that's because Canada had a small role, I think it is just that they are humble. Their role in liberating the Netherlands was enormous, and I didn't realise the relationship that still exists between those 2 countries.

Probably the coolest thing today was when I was riding along and could see boats offshore in the distance. When I got closer I realised it was actually the remnants of a massive artificial harbour that was towed over from England and was one of two used up until the capture of Cherbourg. It is enormous, but only a few segments remain.

I'm at a camp ground now and have tried again to get the receptionist to charge my battery. He has big sausage fingers and didn't speak English so I suppose I'll be back to McDonald's tomorrow.

My battery is nearly gone so I best be off.