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.
From Bernières-sur-Mer it runs 247 km to Bernières-sur-Mer; allow about 4 h 01 of riding. The stops in between: Omaha Beach, Les tours-observatoires de Tatihou et de l and back through Omaha Beach. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
On the morning of 6 June 1944 the Canadian 3rd Infantry Division landed here, between Courseulles-sur-Mer and Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer, in the middle of the five Normandy landing beaches. Rough seas delayed the first wave, so the troops arrived after the naval bombardment had lifted and the German defenders had recovered. The fighting on the sea wall and in the seaside villages was fierce, and Canadian casualties that day were heavy, but by evening the division had pushed further inland than any other Allied force. Today the beach is a long, quiet strand of sand, with low dunes, villas with shuttered windows, and a few concrete bunkers still half-buried at the water's edge.
Read the complete Juno Beach write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Juno Beach is where the day begins. Next is Omaha Beach.
The coast here is long, shallow and sandy, backed by low bluffs, and on the morning of 6 June 1944 it became one of the most terrible places in the history of the Second World War. Omaha was the code name given to a stretch of beach in the Allied landings in Normandy, assigned to American troops, and it was the hardest of the five beaches: the German defences on the bluffs were strong, the bombardment had missed many positions, and the tide and weather scattered the landing craft. Thousands of men were killed or wounded on the sand and the shingle in the first hours, though by evening the beachhead held.
Read the complete Omaha Beach write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Omaha Beach comes up about 50 km into the recorded legs. 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.
about 124 km into the recorded legs you reach Les tours-observatoires de Tatihou et de l. Next is back through Omaha Beach.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Omaha Beach write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Omaha Beach, late in the day. Next is Juno Beach.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Juno Beach write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Juno Beach. That is the ride.
Juno Beach → Omaha Beach is 50 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Omaha Beach → Les tours-observatoires de Tatihou et de l is 74 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Les tours-observatoires de Tatihou et de l → back through Omaha Beach is 74 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Omaha Beach → Juno Beach is 50 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.