Dickybeau Posted July 21, 2018 Share Posted July 21, 2018 I’m in early stages of planning a trip to the Normandy beaches next year. I’ll arrive via Ijmuiden and planning to visit Ypres, Arras and surrounding areas before trundling towards Normandy. I have set aside about 2 weeks to do this part but my companion needs to fly back to the U.K. so I need to join it all up with an airport that does flights to Glasgow or Edinburgh (assuming that planes will still be flying into and out of regional airports to the UK). I’m sure this is an area where many people have visited. I’d be interested to ge some advice on Aires, campsites and suggested itinerary. I’ll be in a 7m van so would probably prefer to park it up for some visits and either cycle or join an organise tour. For obvious reasons I plan on NOT being in the beaches area until after 6 June. If anyone has any links to blogs or other accounts I’d be interested to read them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vindiboy Posted July 21, 2018 Share Posted July 21, 2018 http://s358.photobucket.com/user/vindiboy1/library/WISSANT%20FRANCE A good starting place is Wissant, it has a good free Aire , nice town and beaches with remains of Pill boxes and gun emplacemets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
witzend Posted July 21, 2018 Share Posted July 21, 2018 https://acidcow.com/pics/3772-normandy_1944_then_and_now_204_pics.html see if you can find any of these photos http://battlefieldsww2.50megs.com/ interesting site http://www.normandie-tourisme.fr/decouvrir-110-1.html there own web site with several pages of stop overs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dickybeau Posted July 21, 2018 Author Share Posted July 21, 2018 Thanks for these contributions Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted July 21, 2018 Share Posted July 21, 2018 This link may be useful: http://en.normandie-tourisme.fr/sites-and-attractions/the-d-day-landing-beaches-5-2.html and a GOOGLE-search on “Normandy campsites” should produce a map showing campsites that you might stay at. (If you’ll be abroad in the latter half of June, it might be worth you joining the ACSI scheme.) Regarding ‘aires’, the campingcar-infos website https://www.campingcar-infos.com/Francais/cci.php?pays=FRANCE can be used for information on aires/parking/campsites in departements 14 (Calvados) and 50 (Manche) There is an abundance of D-Day museums to choose from http://www.brittany-ferries.co.uk/guides/france/d-day/museums Logically (I suppose) Cherbourg would be the airport to fly from, but I don’t think there’s a direct service to Glasgow or Edinburgh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wirehaired Posted July 21, 2018 Share Posted July 21, 2018 https://alanrogers.com/campsite/camping-les-capucines-fr14330 I stayed on this site last year in June,i am interested in WW2 History and wanted to see some sites,this site is in the village of Ranville walking or cycling distance to Pegasus Bridge,public transport you can forget it didn't seem to exist,i have a 6m PV so used it to go out to see the beaches etc I can recommend a visit to the Merville battery short drive away.,i plan on going next year if things work out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted July 22, 2018 Share Posted July 22, 2018 I echo Wirehead’s suggestiion that WW2 sites in the Caen area would be worth visiting, though my experience is that public transport (“Bus Verts”) in Calvados is good. In the past we’ve stayed at the Herouvillette ‘aire’ and caught the bus (bus-stop opposite aire) to Caen. Moving north-west it might be worth visiting the Bayeux WW2 Museum and Arromanches. Then there are the WW2 museums at Sainte-Mère-Église and Utah Beach. GOOGLE-ing any of these museums/places and looking at the comments should give a reasonable idea of which to select. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wirehaired Posted July 22, 2018 Share Posted July 22, 2018 Maybe I didn't look enough but I think I only saw one Bus in the village so decided to use the van. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dickybeau Posted July 22, 2018 Author Share Posted July 22, 2018 Thanks for all replies. Very helpful. I have the Aires books, ACSI and Parkings app. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted July 23, 2018 Share Posted July 23, 2018 A good many of the WW2-related places in Normandy will have parking areas suitable for a 7-metre motorhome. That’s certainly the case with the Pegasus Bridge Museum and the Merville Battery installation. The museum at Bayeux has a large car-park and there’s an aire adjacent https://www.campingcar-infos.com/Francais/cci.php?numero=26458 Arromanches has an aire’ (but it’s often jam-packed) and there are 2 campsites - one next to the aire and a 2nd (quieter and cheaper) at Tracy-sur-Mer that’s stil within easy walking distance of the town. Parking alongside the road above the campsite may be possible if you wanted to visit Arromanches but not stay there. There’s also ‘viewpoint’ parking to the north-west of the town. All these places are shown on the map here https://www.campingcar-infos.com/Francais/cci.php?numero=921 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
W3526602 Posted July 23, 2018 Share Posted July 23, 2018 Hi, On the one occasion we sailed from Poole, thr French Customs decided to go on strike, so no ferries for 24 hours. We had the caravan on the hook, so we just parked up, in the long lines of other digruntleds. A huge American truck pulled up alongside us, (Think MASH 6-wheel Chevy). He left it idling, fas,t for about ten minutes. Whe I complained, he said he had to let the turbo cool down. I commented on the smell. He explained it was a dual-fuel engine (petrol or diesel). In 900 miles, he had spent £15 on fuel ... garages were happy to give him the mixture that they had sucked out of mis-fueled cars. Gaaged have to pay about £0.60 per litre to dispose of the stuff. The six lads were off to tour the Normandy beaches. Within 20 minutes, they had a BBQ going IN the back of the truck. 602 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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