Rain in Normandy, Sunshine in Brittany and Hot at Home

June 2025: 

First day of June and the last day of the twinning visit. Another moving day.  We set off in the bus for Ver sur Mer to the British Memorial site overlooking Gold Beach where the British came ashore and died on D Day.  

The memorial begins with stone tablets that give an overview of the D-Day landings, then leads into a large open pavilion. At the centre is a tomb of the unknown soldier, surrounded by a pergola-like structure made up of stone pillars. Each pillar is inscribed with the names of the fallen, organised by the date they died, along with their rank and age.

   

 Known as "Standing with Giants", the adjacent field is covered with 1,754 x 2m silhouettes of soldiers, as far as the eye can see.IEach silhouette represents an actual casualty of the landing, creating a particularly emotional and moving experience. Two other ‘giants’ represent the only two women on the Memorial, nurses Sisters Evershed and Field, who died while saving 75 men from a sinking hospital ship.

The bases of the stillages used to transport the silhouettes are decorated with a total of 22,442 knitted poppies, made by the Women's Institute (WI), representing the total number of fallen service personnel on D-Day and the Battle of Normandy combined.

2.6.25: Time to Wave Goodbye and Move On 

The bus set off for the village and I went to Caen to take the train to Le Havre, which was 50 minutes late due to a child having been reported to be on the line. 

Jojo met me where we fell into our usual routine of an overnight, scallops, some shopping, lunch out, a beer on a terrace near her flat and a walk to the sea. This time I discovered the Parc St Roch with its pond and waterfowl.

3.6.25: Another Bed in Another Part of Town: 

Valérie's turn to host me with the added bonus of her having taken some time from work. A couple of days with a mix of Relaxation and Chat with a visit to Maureen and Maxym's new house and night's in watching Department Q on Netflix 

 

 

Culture with a visit to the Musée Malraux for an exhibition of posters relating to the Transatlantic Cruise Lines. Nostalgia at it's best that you could almost imagine yourself in a Ginger Rogers and Fred Astair film! 

 

Normandy Countryside with a day out in Beuvron en Auge, a picturesque village with timbered buildings, craft shops and several restaurants. Had lunch at the "La Forge" and visited the (uninteresting) church in the pourring rain. 

 

Afterwards as the rain eased we went up to the viewpoint and a nearby small church a few km from the village.

Stopped off in Pont Levêque' where the very tasty , soft cheese comes from, to stretch our legs before Valérie dropped me off at cousins Kathy & Sylvain's. Should have been at Sylvie and Christophe's along with Irene and Alain but as he had been taken into hospital for heart surgery plan B kicked into action. didn't get to See Cousin Janine and Yves as they were off in Turkey for a grandson's wedding.Nice evening; cooking and serving done to perfection by Sylvain.

7.6.25: No Surprise that Normandy is very Green!

It was raining  when the other Valérie came to pick me up to take me on to the next leg of the visit and it continued to rain all day. So once in the house, we stayed there.

8.6.25:

 Took a Sunday morning walk en family with Léonie and Zoë joining us. 

After lunch  it was a trip to a circus festival in a verdant park.

 

In the evening the family expanded to 14 of us for dinner at the "Puits Fleuri".

9.6.25: Pastures New

The day dawned for a new adventure. Stéphanie in her little Audi whisked me off to St Malo. Missed out on lunch and when we'd puffed our way up the narrow, steep stairs to the top of the building we found the freezer had defrosted and there was rottten food to deal with. duty done, we alked down to the beach for a beer and then on for cider and crêpes.

10.6.25: Staying Local

Morning coffee, a visit to the market and discovered the boutiques, bookshops, Delis, wine merchants and bistros along the main street. What a pleasure to have access to independent shops rather than chain stores and charity outlets. Such charm is becoming rare.

  

 

After lunch at home we strolled into St Malo, which despite it's austere architecture was  every bit as charming not having fallen prey to tacky tourism. Had dinner at home and watched "Anatomy of a chute"  

 

 

11. 6.25: Took the ferry to Dinard with its Orson Wells connection and had a good walk around. Lunch was long and slow at the "Cartagena" owned by a friend of Léo's whonoffered us a glass of wine to go with the spritz royal and the bottle of wine that we'd already had.

 

 There was a full strawberry moon this evening but it was too cloudy to see. Watched "Sulemain" and it wasn't an easy watch either.

12.6.25:

Went out and walked the Pointe de Guerin 

and then went into Cancale 

and found the maison des épices. Last evening in St Sevran so we went out for dinner at "La Bourriche".

13.6.25: Paris Bound

For once I didn't go in search of any exhibitions; after a busy few days  I spent my time pottering, walking locally, a trip around the market, along the canal, took pleasure in dropping into oriental shops to look for spices, and catching up with the family. There was a visit to Nolwenn in her new flat for an apéro then I saw her again when we went to where she works for Sunday brunch. Elsa joined us so I caught up with her news, too. 

That just left Léo to see so it was over to Butte aux Cailles. Streets were busy with a vide grenier but we luckily we still found space at a café before we needed to head home and Léo needed to prepare for work in the evening.

16.6.25:

Was able to take it easy as my train home wasn't until the afternoon. Journey went fine even though it was hard going what with the heat and my case. Thankfully there were some helping hands when I was confronted with steps up and down. Jac C was at the station to meet me and in no time at all I was at home and enjoying the last episode of Dept Q. Yes, it was that good and anyway, it was too late to do anything that needed any kind of effort.

 

Rest of June:

 

Oh dear, my plants didn't fare well in my absence. Amazing how the weeds manage to survive though. Soon got back into the usual round of coffees, apéros and meals; there was even a dinner chez moi, which took me all day to prepare, with Mark and Trevor.

 

18th Dinner chez Jacques 

 

  

  

 

 

21st: Fête de la Musique   

 

  

22nd: Lunch in the Shade 

 

23rd Dinner with Joëlle 

 

So happens that the 23rd is the Feux de St Jean which involves torch light processions, bonfires and youngsters jumping over dying embers so our meal had an added extra.

 

 

Chez Frank & Penny 

 As the end of the month arrived the temperatures rose, hitting the high 30s. June's hottest was 39° while Patt and I were staying with Frank and Penny for the weekend. Any idea of doing sight seeing was hit on the head; too hot to be outside so we stayed in and the three of us talked and talked. One evening we were joined by Pauline so we were never short of topics of conversation.  Apart from meal times, when he was an attentive host, Frank wisely made himself scarce leaving us to range far and wide on subjects only of interest to women! 

 

Nature Notes: