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.
449 km from Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue to Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue, about 6 h 19 of riding. It goes by way of Beaches of the D-Day Landings, Mont-Saint-Michel and its Bay and back through Beaches of the D-Day Landings. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
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 is where the day begins. Next is Beaches of the D-Day Landings.
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 comes up about 90 km into the recorded legs. Next is Mont-Saint-Michel and its Bay.
The tide here is one of the great shows of Europe. In the bay of Mont-Saint-Michel the sea can retreat for kilometres and return with a speed that has caught out many walkers, and at the biggest tides the difference between high and low water is around fourteen metres. On those days the mount, a rocky island crowned with a Benedictine abbey, can be surrounded by water, or stand alone on a plain of wet sand, depending on the hour. The causeway that used to link it to the shore has been replaced by a bridge so that the water can flow freely again.
Read the complete Mont-Saint-Michel and its Bay write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 227 km into the recorded legs you reach Mont-Saint-Michel and its Bay. Next is back through 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 through Beaches of the D-Day Landings, late in the day. Next is 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 at Les tours-observatoires de Tatihou et de l. That is the ride.
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.
Beaches of the D-Day Landings → Mont-Saint-Michel and its Bay is 137 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Mont-Saint-Michel and its Bay → back through Beaches of the D-Day Landings is 137 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through 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.