Why this ride
A 209 km round trip from Sainte-Mère-Église - roughly 3 h 56 in the saddle. The stops in between: Omaha Beach, Gold Beach, Sword Beach and back through Gold Beach.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Utah Beach and Sword Beach
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 209 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 56
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
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.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Utah Beach
Low dunes, a wide grey-gold beach and a sky that seems to go on forever: the westernmost of the D-Day landing beaches looks peaceful today. On 6 June 1944, troops of the US 4th Infantry Division came ashore here, on the eastern coast of the Cotentin peninsula, after paratroopers had dropped inland during the night. A current pushed the first landing craft south of their intended sector, onto a less defended stretch of sand, and Brigadier General Theodore Roosevelt Jr., walking the beach with a cane, decided to start the war from right there. Casualties at Utah were far lower than at Omaha, a few kilometres to the east.
Read the complete Utah Beach write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Utah Beach is where the day begins. Next is Omaha Beach.
2. 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.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Omaha Beach comes up about 50 km into the recorded legs. Next is Gold Beach.
3. Gold Beach
On the morning of 6 June 1944 the British 50th Northumbrian Division came ashore along this low, sandy coast between La Rivière and Arromanches, and almost everything you see from the dunes at Ver-sur-Mer is shaped by that day. Gold Beach was the middle of the five Allied landing zones, with Juno to the east and Omaha to the west, and it is the quietest of them to ride today: a string of small seaside villages, wide flat sands at low tide and a coast road that ambles rather than races.
Read the complete Gold Beach write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 78 km into the recorded legs you reach Gold Beach. Next is Sword Beach.
4. Sword Beach
On the morning of 6 June 1944 this long, flat stretch of sand between Ouistreham and Lion-sur-Mer was the easternmost of the five Allied landing beaches in Normandy. British troops of the 3rd Infantry Division came ashore here, supported by commandos, including a small unit of French commandos under Philippe Kieffer, who fought their way into Ouistreham. The beach linked up with the airborne forces who had taken the bridges over the Orne and the Caen canal during the night, among them the famous Pegasus Bridge at Bénouville, a few kilometres inland. Lord Lovat's commandos marched to relieve the paratroopers there, led, according to the well-known story, by piper Bill Millin playing on the beach under fire.
Read the complete Sword Beach write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Sword Beach, about halfway. Next is back through Gold Beach.
5. back through Gold Beach
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Gold Beach write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Gold Beach sits at 120 km, about halfway. Next is back through Omaha Beach.
6. back through Omaha Beach
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Omaha Beach write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Omaha Beach comes up about 160 km into the recorded legs. Next is Utah Beach.
7. Utah Beach
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Utah Beach write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Utah Beach closes the day.
Leg by leg
Utah Beach to Omaha Beach
Utah Beach → Omaha Beach is 50 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Omaha Beach to Gold Beach
Omaha Beach → Gold Beach is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Gold Beach to Sword Beach
Gold Beach → Sword Beach is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Sword Beach to back through Gold Beach
Sword Beach → back through Gold Beach is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Gold Beach to back through Omaha Beach
back through Gold Beach → back through Omaha Beach is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Omaha Beach to Utah Beach
back through Omaha Beach → Utah Beach is 49 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.