Following on from our Euro trips to France in 2022, Netherlands in 2023 & 2024 we decided we were going back to France for 2025.
This video captures day 2 with us leaving the ferry in Cherbourg travelling along the coast to Phare du Gatteville then down through Barfleur to the northern edge of Utah Beach before heading inland to overnight in Ste Mere Eglise.
Our route followed main roads, beach paths, grass tracks and gravel tracks and wound it’s way along the coast dipping inland at times. We were also following Eurovelo 4 for part of the day.
Our plan was to visit some of the main D-Day & WWII historical sites over the 3 days on the road.
Today we visit Pointe du Brick, Batterie du Caqueret, Phare Du Gatteville, Barfleur and Le Havre de Quineville.
Music:
Filmora Wondershare Free Library
You Tube Music Library
Camera Kit:
DJI Osmo Action 3
DJI Neo drone
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra
Bike Kit:
Merlin Malt G2P
Garmin Edge 530
Topeak Top Tube Bag
Topeak MTX2 Trunk Bag
Topeak Mondopack
Ortlieb Back Roller Panniers (new this year)
Podsacs bottle holders
Also starring The green Hiperdino coolbag for the carryout!
heat heat [Music] [Music] heat heat [Music] morning folks welcome back to the channel so it’s just outside Sherborg it’s a little bit windy it’s warmish and probably done about 7 km since we left the ferry probably the best 5 and a half hour sleep I managed to get on a on a boat before new ship comfy beds it’s all good and quite quiet sailing so we were almost the first off through customs all painless and then we found a a we belong peticer for some breakfast a coffee so just heading on through the little villages [Music] we’re about 9 km east of Sherburg at a place called Point Dubri we stopped here to have a look at the old tunnels but disappointingly they’ve been bricked up having done some digging online it looks as though this area was a German encampment where they had some barracks observation point some mortars some heavy artillery a railway line where it’s believed the Germans could operate their heavy railway guns from [Music] this was our first non-tarmac section of the day as you’ll soon see it wasn’t the last or the most difficult heat heat n [Music] [Music] a little further along the coast we’ve arrived at Battery Dukakiri was built in 1942 by the German Navy the creeks marine and it consisted of around 30 blockouses all linked together it was engaged in the 6th of June 1944 against allied landings and attacked several naval convoys forcing them to turn back the occupiers finally scuttled it on the 18th of June as part of a plan to concentrate defenses nearer to Sherborg there are some blockouses that are accessible and others that have been filled with sand over the years there’s definitely some interesting bits of graffiti in and on some of the buildings as you can see from the video this was one of the few times I actually managed to get the drone up in the air over the 3 days even then it was crying at me to bring it down due to the high winds [Music] i wonder how many you know how many more steps [Music] Heat heat [Music] hey hey [Music] hey [Music] heat [Music] up here heat heat [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] so bit of a hike a bike and appear that this route is sandier than we maybe first thought oh oh the sun’s come out the wind’s still here but the uh what we coast the sea it’s absolutely beautiful and I’ve been left one of the batteries that we stopped at earlier you just cannot imagine what it was like back during the Second World War there’s Gus back there somewhere playing with the sand and I’m hoping where the two guys are over there that’s us back on the road again we shall see in a second [Music] [Music] faru gat view was built between 1829 and 1835 to replace an original lighthouse the original stood at 25 m tall it was topped with a coal fire and first lit in 1775 and originally called far de barl floor the current tower at 75 m is the third tallest traditional lighthouse in the world and is one of the tallest in France visitors can climb the 365 stairs to reach the gallery but we gave it a miss cuz we still have plenty of cycling and walking to do so you’ve already seen some of the paths that we’ve been on today that Kimoot has on record as being suitable for bikes this one in particular has this message up in the corner what do you think [Music] [Music] So that’s us just knocking on 50 km since we left the ferry this morning it’s been a actually riding for about 3 years 20 minutes or so spend a bit of time walking my time sightsee and see what’s going on with the um the battery earlier today and with the the lighthouse at Yakat V as well stop for lunchon and bar and uh actually not 100% sure where we are now but we’re somewhere on the Euro Vel 4 kind of zigzag zigzagging h out to the coast and then back in land again appear to be a mixture of nice tarmac like this and some gravel stuff so a we bit we bit of a change every now and again are we live Right Gus what’s that over there on the left Well now that we’re southeast of Sherbrook that is that island that’s that island genius it’s good to see you’ve done a bit of research yeah not a problem mate heat heat [Music] [Music] heat [Music] [Applause] [Music] so if you’ve seen F of Ventura videos you’ll know that I had a an e- mountain bike on her for a couple of days if you haven’t seen them I will try and stick a link up in the corner somewhere you can go and have a a we watch but um normally I ride a gravel bike so drop bars but not been on a mountain bike for a long long time that’s a a story for another day but um so I was out in the mountain bike for two or three days and what I found because there was no change of hand position on it I’ve actually irritated my ner nerves um more so in my right hand than my left and it’s still giving me a little bit of trouble i mean you see the physio but there’s not an awful lot they can do for it so what they reckon is that it just needs to to rest and I I think I think she said 16 weeks which is not a long time I’ve not been on the bike so kind of chancing my arm a little bit and risking making it worse but hey ho luckily given that h I’m on my own bike and not a mountain bike this time I’ve got the the luxury of um changing my hand position since I can ride tops can ride drops or I can ride on the the bars themselves so nearly finished day one well day two really seems as day one was the traveling through Britain and uh it’s not giving me too much grief so far but we’ll see how it pans out across the next couple of days [Music] heat heat [Music] [Music] so that’s us at the end of day two just arrived in San Mar um got an Airbnb type accommodation for tonight we’re probably about a kilometer or so to go so a couple of minutes we’re not far away we’ll get in away showered out go and find some dinner it’s been a good ride it’s been a bit more of a bit different um to done previously in in the Netherlands bit more of a challenge with the the different types of surfaces in the road different countryside and not quite so many cycle paths as as the Dutch have over there however it’s been a good day sun came out in the afternoon it’s been nice and warm still warm just now hopefully we get more tomorrow i’m going to leave you at that and I will uh we’ll see you in the next one [Music] heat