France's Normandy D-Day Beaches Trail
Day 1:
Arrival at the train station in Bayeux around midday, where your English speaking guide will meet you and take you to your hotel for the week. Your hotel is a charming country inn where you will be able to settle in briefly before enjoying a lunch of traditional coastal seafood and delicacies at the village restaurant. Afterwards, you’ll change into your riding clothes for your first afternoon of riding in the beautiful Normandy countryside for 8-9 miles. It is an enchanting afternoon to get to know the area and your horse for the ride.
After the ride, you will visit the Arromanches Museum and the Artificial Harbor which are the remains of the famous Mulberry harbour, the most extraordinary industrial and maritime achievement of World War II.
Day 2:
After breakfast, you will ride through charming fields and woods until you reach the seaside village of Ver sur Mer (19 miles) which is best known as the main British bridgehead for Gold Beach. There is a wonderful view of the cliffs of Arromanches. Lunch is a picnic in the country with a chance to relax and enjoy the scenery.
After your return to the farm, you will be taken to the German Battery in Longues Sur Mer. Built on a picturesque cliff, where you can walk right up to one of the four German guns which were in control of both Gold and Omaha beach. Before leaving, you will also visit, on the very edge of the cliff, the observation post and control room which was the setting of one of the most famous scenes of the film The Longest Day.
Day 3:
Breakfast at your hotel, you will ride through the countryside until you reach the village of Bayeux, the first town to be liberated in the war. Lunch will be “drive thru” at McDonald’s – make sure you pull right up to the window. After lunch, the trail will wander back through the farmland and fields that make up this beautiful area until you reach the farm. After riding, you have a chance to change clothes for a visit to the older section of Bayeux and a tour of the Cathedral which still keeps watch over the town with its flying buttresses, bell turrets and crypt.
Day 4:
This morning, you will be driven to the American Cemetery which is suspended in a tranquil green lawn overlooking the ocean and Omaha Beach. The Cemetery is the home to 9,385 American soldiers, each honored with a white Carrara marble cross bearing their name and home town. Afterward, you will go to Pointe du Hoc, most widely known as the key place where the first company of Rangers landed in Omaha Beach. You will have ample time to see the landing area and explore the bunkers to see what life was like for the soldiers. A picnic lunch awaits you on the verge of a fertile pasture where local horses graze and enjoy the sunny afternoon.
In the afternoon, you will ride near the cliffs (12 miles) with the spectacular views, and have a mid afternoon break to see and learn (tasting available) how the local cider Pommeau, and its more potent cousin, Calvados are made.
Day 5:
After breakfast, you will ride through the villages and woods to the priory of St Gabriel – about 17.50 miles. The trail winds through the charming towns and gives you a glimpse of the lifestyle slightly removed from the coastal towns. Another picnic lunch awaits you. After your ride, you will have the chance to see the famous Bayeux Tapestry, which is over 1,000 years old and tells the magnificent story of William the Conqueror, the only non English ruler of England.
Day 6:
Breakfast this last morning and then a short drive to the train station in Bayeux.
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