A Blackout,or Blowout !

A wet and windy morning, with very black skies, which frequently sent hail showers tumbling down,had me doing the sensible thing…lying in bed, and reading !

However, eventually shortly after midday the rain stopped, and it looked potentially ‘nice’, so I got the bike out, and with my packed lunch, headed for the German Military Cemetery at La Camba http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Cambe_German_war_cemetery, it was about 7 miles away, and having seen it’s location, I decided I should go to see one of ‘theirs’ ! This is the largest German military cemetery, now containing over 22,000 bodies, in one place !

I battled the strong headwinds, as I rode inland,and eventually made it there, still dry, although slightly perspiring !It was laid out quite differently to any cemetery I had seen before, no upright stones, apart from lots of groupings of 5 crosses together, a common feature of all German military cemetery’s, and a central mound containing many bodies, unidentified,and many not even in one piece ! I was gladdened to see many school parties visiting, this forlorn piece of Normandy, indeed many British were also visiting ,but because of the lack of headstones, and small plaques, it was difficult to appreciate 22,000 + graves, the biggest cemetery I had ever been to.

Occasionally on the windswept fields some flowers had been placed over a gravestone. I said some prayers, and left the area saddened ,as always by such a waste of young,and not so young lives

Then it was back to the coast, through the Normandy countryside, viewing the old round farmhouses, and the local church at La Camba,with it’s  beautiful stained glass windows,and peacefulness, for some more windswept adventures- as I had looked along the sea front, I could see in the distance old German defensive positions,some of which were already being re-taken by the sea, and I set off for a look  ,as you do !

As I sheltered from a rain shower, inside the gun position, I could see the Normandy fishermen,at work on the Oyster beds, in the bay – I counted at least 20 tractors, busily doing their work before the next tide came in, a real hive of industry for the famous Normandy Oyster !http://wikitravel.org/en/Normandy 

I was still busily rooting through the old structures, sheltering from the rain, and being nosy…when ‘disaster ‘struck ! I had a puncture,and flat tyre, so had to walk back about a mile to repair the several holes, eventually resorting to a new inner tube to fix it, and a soaking into the bargain !

But the sun had again come out, so it was another BBQ, before packing up and ready to move on again tomorrow…Bonne Nuit !