Riders on the storm

 It was thundery all night seemingly all around us but we got very little rain at all. I wanted to get a feel for the area where Op Cobra had started with its massive carpet bombing so we went for a little drive in the countryside. Narrow country roads in bocage territory in a motorhome gave us a little anxiety every corner, but at least noone was firing at us! I could see no evidence at all of the bombardment, nor could I see any on GE, but I suppose there is some if you are in the know. 

Our first stop was Agon-Coutainville which is a village/town on the coast again. A huge shallow beach that stretches forever and used for oyster and mussel farming, and an eclectic mix of architecture. There used to be a train running into the town that brought visitors from nearby cities, though it's only cars doing that now. It's clearly a des-res now too, but rather motorhome unfriendly. Never mind, we found a park eventually and had a wander down the beach front.

Neo-colonial style with clear Moorish influences. Incidentally, the term Moorish is apparently rather meaningless as it applies to no specific ethnic group, was not commonly used at the time we attribute it to, and is now often used as a derogatory term. Lessish, on the other hand, is not a word.

Waiting for the boats to come in

A passing shot of a mussel truck, or a shot of a passing mussel truck?

Pont la Roque. If I read the plaque correctly there was a Bailey here until 20 years ago. The bridge was destroyed by Allied bombing intended to slow German reinforcements but of course the flip side is it also slowed the Allied advance.

After a glorious morning we got this...

But this makes up for any crappy weather!

We continued south to Avranches where our stop was in the carpark of the Art Museum and school of music. It overlooks the Baie Mont St Michel, so we got our first glimpse of the island.

All that overcast meant we were running low on power. On the other hand there were two pieces of better news - my brother has started to draw a Bailey bridge in his CAD software.

And there's been a nibble from a publisher about the wargame I've been working on for some time.