CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
A 591 km round trip from Port-en-Bessin-Huppain - roughly 8 h 05 in the saddle. The stops in between: Les tours-observatoires de Tatihou et de l, Le Havre and back through Les tours-observatoires de Tatihou et de l. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Port-en-Bessin is a working fishing harbour squeezed into a gap in the cliffs, and on the morning of 6 June 1944 it sat exactly on the seam between Omaha Beach to the west and Gold Beach to the east. British commandos took the port in the days that followed, linking the American and British sectors. Today the trawlers still come in with scallops in season, the boats crowd the inner basin, and a stubby stone tower designed by Vauban's engineers watches over the entrance. It is a fine base for exploring the whole stretch of the Normandy landing beaches.
Read the complete Beaches of the D-Day Landings write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Beaches of the D-Day Landings is where the day begins. Next is Les tours-observatoires de Tatihou et de l.
On the eastern shore of the Cotentin peninsula, in Normandy, the little port of Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue looks out at a low island called Tatihou, and on the island and on the headland of La Hougue stand two stout stone towers designed by Vauban, the military engineer of Louis XIV. They belong to the group of Vauban fortifications that UNESCO inscribed in 2008, and they are among the least known of the twelve sites.
Read the complete Les tours-observatoires de Tatihou et de l write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Les tours-observatoires de Tatihou et de l comes up about 85 km into the recorded legs. Next is Le Havre.
Le Havre was flattened. Allied bombing in September 1944 destroyed the old centre, and the French state hired the architect Auguste Perret to rebuild it, which he did in reinforced concrete, with straight boulevards, uniform apartment blocks and a grid of open squares. At first the town seemed grim. Today UNESCO calls it a masterpiece of postwar reconstruction, listed in 2005, and in the right light the concrete takes on a warm, pale-gold tone. The tower of the church of Saint-Joseph, over a hundred metres high, is the landmark, and inside, the light through its coloured glass is dazzling, a thing worth ten minutes of anyone's time.
Read the complete Le Havre write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 294 km into the recorded legs you reach Le Havre. Next is back through Les tours-observatoires de Tatihou et de l.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Les tours-observatoires de Tatihou et de l write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Les tours-observatoires de Tatihou et de l, late in the day. Next is Beaches of the D-Day Landings.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Beaches of the D-Day Landings write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Beaches of the D-Day Landings. That is the ride.
Beaches of the D-Day Landings → Les tours-observatoires de Tatihou et de l is 85 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Les tours-observatoires de Tatihou et de l → Le Havre is 209 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Le Havre → back through Les tours-observatoires de Tatihou et de l is 207 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Les tours-observatoires de Tatihou et de l → Beaches of the D-Day Landings is 90 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.