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.
325 km from Grandcamp-Maisy to Grandcamp-Maisy, about 5 h 13 of riding. On the way it passes Beaches of the D-Day Landings, Juno Beach, Le Havre and back through Juno Beach. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Pointe du Hoc is a headland of grey cliffs, about thirty metres high, between Omaha and Utah beaches on the Normandy coast, and it is one of the most moving places on the whole D-Day shore. On the morning of 6 June 1944, some two hundred and twenty-five US Army Rangers under Lieutenant Colonel James Rudder came in by landing craft, fired grappling hooks and rope ladders up the cliff, and climbed under fire to take a German battery thought to threaten both beaches. They found the guns had been moved inland, tracked them down and disabled them, then held the position for two days against counterattacks. Fewer than a hundred were still able to fight when they were relieved.
Read the complete Pointe du Hoc write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Pointe du Hoc 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 24 km into the recorded legs. Next is Juno Beach.
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.
about 49 km into the recorded legs you reach Juno Beach. 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.
Le Havre, about halfway. Next is back through 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 through Juno Beach sits at 151 km, about halfway. 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 comes up about 301 km into the recorded legs. Next is Pointe du Hoc.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Pointe du Hoc write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Pointe du Hoc closes the day.
Pointe du Hoc → Beaches of the D-Day Landings is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Beaches of the D-Day Landings → Juno Beach is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Juno Beach → Le Havre is 115 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Le Havre → back through Juno Beach is 112 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Juno Beach → back through Beaches of the D-Day Landings is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Beaches of the D-Day Landings → Pointe du Hoc is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.