"Ouistreham" Ouistreham by vichatherly

The principal purpose of the trip was to visit the World War II beaches of Normandy. The beaches cover an area of over 60 miles and so we based ourselves in Bayeux, which put us in a fantastic central location.

We packed into our short stay the following villages and towns Arromanches-les-Bains for Gold beach and the Mulberry Harbour, Sainte-Mère-Église for the church, Utah beach and the US Airborne museum, Maisy for the batteries at Maisy and Pointe du Hoc, Colleville-sur-Mer for Omaha beach and the American Cemetery, Courseulles-sur-Mer for Juno beach, Bénouville for Pegasus Bridge and the Memorial Museum, Ouistreham for Sword beach, Merville-Franceville-Plage for the gun battery and Ranville for the CWGC Cemetery.

D-Day Tour – Sword Beach

We had lunch on the beach before taking the ferry back to from Ouistreham to Portsmouth.

This is a vast expanse of a beach where the British 3rd Division landed back after being sent packing four years earlier at Dunkirk.