Bikepacking to Caen: Pegasus Bridge & Ferry Home

In the final part of my Normandy bikepacking adventure, we ride into Caen to visit one of the most iconic sites of WWII history — Pegasus Bridge. This legendary crossing was captured by British airborne troops in the early hours of D-Day, June 6th 1944, and remains a symbol of courage and precision.

Our journey takes us along the Normandy coastline, reflecting on the incredible stories we’ve experienced at Pointe du Hoc, Omaha Beach, Arromanches, Juno, and now Pegasus Bridge. After a last ride through the French countryside, it’s time to board the ferry back home, marking the end of an unforgettable cycling and history-filled adventure.

This series has combined bikepacking, cycle touring, and WWII history, offering a unique perspective on the D-Day Landings and the soldiers who fought here. Join me for this final ride, as we close the chapter on an emotional and inspiring journey through Normandy.

If you’ve enjoyed this series, don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more cycling adventures and history-focused travel.

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We’re just a few days away now from our next bike packing adventure. This time a 4-day ride through Normandy for someone has nicked something and not told me and haven’t noticed. First sponsorship deal. Free t-shirt. Here we see Andy in his natural habitat. So, how excited Andy on a scale of 1 to 10 are you about going in the sea? Do it. Nice one. Cheers. Well done everybody. Cheers. Easy ride tomorrow. Yes. [Music] Yeah, really nice to have some sunshine this morning. Hopefully dry the tents off and dry off the grass. It’s the bread man. The pan. My favorite pan of raisin. Get your bif in there. Thank you very much indeed. Oh, look at that beauty. Morning. Welcome to day four of tour to Normandy. Today will be a short day about 15 miles to Khn to get the ferry back to Portsmouth. Probably have a bit of an explore when we get there as well. Curry is about 4:00, so we should have plenty of time to have a look around. Absolutely covered in condensation. What? Condensation. Is it slightly different packing today? Got this bum bag on the back. Packed up ready with everything. I went for the ferry. Um, those two nearly ready. Lovely sunny day. Very, very hot. Been using these to try and stop myself from getting cramp. Seems to be working. Yeah. Read as many plaques as you want today. Andy, [Music] he’s not interested in plaques today. This is Juno Beach. Lovely. We’re about to go right along the seafront. My favorite. So, we’re not actually going to Khan. We’re going to Easter, but it’s called Kport. Khan’s quite a long way from Easter really. [Music] This route is extremely well sunbursted. All these cycle tracks are so nice. Love being by the sea. A massive sundial. Very cool. about 3 miles till we get to Easter and then we’re going to go down the canal to Pegasus Bridge which played a significant role in the Allied operations. Here at the port now we’re about to start following Phil’s nose to find our way to Pegasus Bridge. So we’re going to follow this water canal river. I don’t know what it is. Down to Pegasus Bridge about four miles. Well, that was very quick coming down there. And here’s Pegasus Bridge. There it is. So, the Allied troops took control of this. Yeah. Early on to stop or to cut back on German reinforcements come across. Was that basically stopped the supply chains and they um well they landed by glider. Oh that was a really big glider as you were talking about. Yeah. Thank you very much. Phil just fell off his chair. I didn’t get it on camera but he’s cushioned his globe with a cigarette on the tab end. I’ll do it again if you want. Just put the leg Perch the leg. Yeah. Would you mind? Nice coffee. Now for some lunch at a different place. Cheers. Cheers, boys. Well done. Nearly finished. Andy’s finally got proper food. Yeah. Something that I would not by the sea. I would twist that with a large proper seafood. No, I wouldn’t eat that in a million years. That’s proper. Look at that. That’s a proper SeaCow burger. Yeah, that was a very nice lunch. Ate and drank far too much. At least we’ve only got 3 miles to go back to the ferry. So, apparently that’s a glider or replica of a glider that came over here. So these three, that one over there and then these two show where the gliders, three gliders landed right before taking that bridge. 28 people on each glider. Hard to believe. Some Andy cam going on behind me. So, we are cycling along the canal to the ferry, having had a superb time at Pegasus Bridge, reading packs. And finally, finally, we’re on our way back to the ferry. We’ve finished all of the plaque reading that we need to do on the Normandy beaches and all of the reviewing all of the history from the 5th of June 1944 to around about 16th of June 194. I loved it. Gentle ride back to the ferry now about 3 miles along this wonderful canal. So, some credits for this film from Andy Cam. Yeah, from Andy Cam. Right. Thank you very much to Phil for being our navigation leader and getting lost several times, of course. followed by obviously myself as uh deputy uh uh director and of course the filmmaker of the year. Yeah. Ginge full logistics organizer. Yeah. And logistics organizer for this year and the lover of plaque reading. Oh, I can’t get enough of it. I want to read every last bit of a plaque. Yeah. the historical, how would you describe the the the level of historic interest on this trip? I honestly when we planned this had no idea that we were coming to do any history at all? I thought we were just coming to eat French cheese. Yeah. And uh how was the trip today? Did you find it a bit too slow for your liking? Too much stopping to read plaques or There was a lot more Were you less tense? More of it yesterday. Uh-huh. Yeah. Late late. a late one yesterday, wasn’t it? Uh so we are now on our way back to the port having done Pegasus Bridge. Uh which was remarkable really. Uh just 2 miles to go now. Back at the port. Passports at the ready. Hopefully we don’t have to have our bags all removed and searched like before. Phil just threw his knife away because they gave him a hassle about that on the way in. If I get the ticket ready. Got my ticket thing here. Lane number 10. Here we go. Thank you. Passport control done. Security check done. Bags taken off. Scanned. Now to get on the ferry. Look at that badger. Look at the size of that badger. Yeah. A lot bigger than on the way over. Far too hot downstairs. Got to come out here and cool off a bit. Hopefully they’ll get the air con going once we get moving. A few moments later. So, while we’re waiting here to get off the boat, what do we think of this trip? Had a great historical content. Phil, what do you think of this trip? Fabulous. Amazing trip. Yeah, very good. Really good. Amazing place. Very slippery on here. This is terrifying being chased by the cars. Phil says like wacky races. If you like these videos, click the like button down below and subscribe to the channel. I’ll see you next time. [Music]