Invading Sword Beach

We drove to Sword beach, the easternmost of the Normandy invasion beaches, via Houlgate, a gun battery that fired on the beaches until the end of June, and Pegasus bridge . We'd already visited the bridge a couple years ago so didn't go in again. Our map didn't show Merville battery so we missed it and will have to backtrack to visit it. 

The bridge is a newer, larger one of similar type. The original is preserved in the museum beside the canal.

Plinths mark the spots that gliders landed: you can see them in the background.

Anyway, our park-up is in Lion-sur-Mer at the western end of the beach. The site's not quite completed but handily located and clean and tidy (and free). We were the third to arrive but now it's full with 10 motorhomes plus some outside in the carpark. 

We cycled up the beach to Riva-Bella/Ouistreham and had an expensive coffee & tea. I grabbed a handful of brochures and discovered two museums to visit tomorrow. Then rain clouds suggested we head back which we did (via a number of monuments). However, we stopped to listen to a poetry with musical accompaniment performance for a while, then had a beer/wine closer to home while listening to Frenchmen singing English-language songs. (I kissed my girl by the factory wall; Hallelujah; some Beatles, etc). It was very pleasant indeed. (Though London prices for beer: 7+€ a pint!)

Sword Beach Queen and Roger.

Sword Beach J. Paddling in the Channel

Poetry and music

Music on the beach front