THREE SAINT'S WAY - DAY SEVEN

SAINTE-MERE-EGLISE TO CARENTAN 13.35 MILES

We left our hotel in Valognes and set off by bus to Sainte-Mère-Église. Getting off opposite the Hotel de Ville we walked onward to the centre of the town (0.15 miles) and turned left on the Rue Eisenhower  passing to the right of the 11th century Church of St. Mary and left of the Airborne Museum and the Centre Paroissial, then forking right on the D17 heading for Beuzeville. We took the right fork again signposted to the camp site along the Rue 505E Airborne (0.36 miles). After passing a football ground, a coach park, tennis courts and the entrance to the camp site it became a narrow road between hedges and then an unsurfaced road. At a cross road of rough vehicular tracks we went right on the Chemin de Tortevas which took us along the back of the camp site. At 0.97 miles we found ourselves crossing a new road not on our maps. The Chemin de Tortevas continued on the other side and then we followed it left at a fork shortly afterwards. At 1.21 miles we found ourselves crossing the new road again to continue on the old road the other side. This new road connects with the E3 motorway to the south east of Sainte-Mère-Église and opens up the east side of the town for development. At 1.28 miles we reached the end of the Chemin de Tortevas where it joined the tarmac surfaced D67 and turned left along it.

At 1.43 miles where there was a cottage called La Tournerie on the left we left the road on the right down a rough vehicular track with grass down the middle. The Chemin de Fauville and the Manoir du Roueur (B&B location) joined our track from the right (1,59 miles) and we continued in the same direction now on that minor road. At 1.64 miles we turned left on a track which would take us to Econqueneauville where we emerged at 2.16 miles onto the Rue de la Capelle and turned left, and at 2.21 miles we reached the D67 again and went right. After passing the church with its prominent square tower we crossed  the Ruisseau de Foi where there was crude form of cloth washing area with the water fed from the Ruisseau in which there was a collection of fish.  Although we were to end up there we ignored the D387 (2.51 miles) to Sebeville on the right and continued on the winding D67 through the hamlet of Le Grand Hameau until at a left hand bend we took an unsigned minor road on the right (2.77 miles). The narrow tarmac road with grass growing in the middle continued between hedges and at a sharp left hand bend in the road (3.20 miles) there was a track ahead and one on the right, we took the latter.

The track continued between hedges and fields and at 3.71 reached a T-junction with the D387 (which we had passed earlier) with a house opposite. Turning left along the D387 we went through a slight dip in the road where we were only 9 metres above sea ;level despite being miles inland. We were in the Parc Naturel Regionaie des Marais du Contentin  http://www.parc-cotentin-bessin.fr/ . We climbed along the route to enter the village of Sebeville, Most of the houses in this area were built of stone but this was one that appeared to be built of a mixture of mud (see photo below).

Just beyond it at a left hand bend in the road (4.06 miles) was the entrance to the Chateau which is a private property (see photo below).

Just beyond the chateau at 4.10 miles we turned left down another minor road and left the village behind heading east. To the left their were views across the valley to the route we had traversed earlier. At 4.86 miles we reached a T-junction with the larger D129 and went right but for only 30 metres and then turned left down a rough vehicular track continuing east. After right, left and right bends it came out onto the D524 (5.22 miles) where we went left towards the signposted cross roads ahead. We turned right down the D524E towards Sainte Marie du Mont. At a cross roads with the large D70 we went straight across the vehicular track opposite (5.68 miles). Shortly after we forked left to continue in the same south easterly direction passing the farm of St Martin on the left (5.89 miles).  At 6.39 miles the track joined another coming from the right and continued in the same direction. On reaching the tarmac Rue de Holdy (6.53 miles) with hamlet of Holdy visible to the left. we continued on in the same direction along it. At the junction with the slightly larger D329E1 (6.57 miles) we again continued in the same south easterly direction along it. It almost immediately went left and we continued straight on down a rough vehicular track, still going south east. Sainte-Marie-du-Mont was across the fields to the north east. At 6.87 miles we turned right down another track, south west which at 7.79 miles took us out onto the Route du Limarais near the centre of the village of Vierville. Turning left we soon reached the T-junction of the D913 with Utah Beach 8 kilometres to the left and Carentan 8 kilometres to the right. We turned right but only as far as the Church of St. Eloi where we decided to have our picnic lunch. We were entering the territory made famous by the films The Longest Day and Brothers in Arms and the route taken by the US forces on 7th June 1944 (D-Day+1) after they extracted themselves from the difficult beach landing. This village was the site of their first temporary cemetery.

The Church of St Eloi. St Eloi is French for Saint Eligius c. 588 – 1 December 660) is the patron saint of goldsmiths, other metalworkers, and coin collectors. He is also the patron saint of veterinarians, the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME), a corps of the British Army, but he is best known for being the patron saint of horses and those who work with them. Eligius was chief counsellor to Dagobert I, Merovingian king of France. Appointed the bishop of Noyon-Tournai three years after the king's death in 642, Eligius worked for twenty years to convert the pagan population of Flanders to Christianity. Extract from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Eligius

The markers commemorate the route taken by the US Forces.

We continued down the D913 out of the village and down to Pont Perrat, keeping out of the way of the traffic something we had not had to do all morning. After a slight climb the other side we turned left down the D913E1 in the direction of Angoville au Plain (8.59 miles). Here the American flag still flies on poles next to the French one. We stopped at a cross roads with this memorial to the 101st Airborne. (8.90 miles).

We walked across the road to the church (see below) and went inside

It is home to a famous church that was used by 2 US Army Medics as an aide station during the Battle of Normandy in World War II. Robert Wright and Ken Moore of the 101st Airborne treated a mix of 80 injured American and German wounded Soldiers and a child. Blood stains are still visible on the pews. Two stained glass windows commemorate the 101st Airborne Division, the first one is dedicated to the two medics of the 2nd Battalion of the 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment (101st Airborne Division). The second one honoured the American parachutists. Extract from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angoville-au-Plain

From here we headed south along the Rue de l'Eglise. After ignoring a no through road on the left we arrived at a fork in the road and went left down the Rue des Presles (9.10 miles) forking left again at 9.22 miles, the route to the right leading into the farm of the same name. The track continued to another tarmac road in the village of La Haute Addeville (9.52 miles) and at the junction was another memorial to 2nd Lieutenant George E Schmidt  flanked by American and French flags. He was killed taking the farm from the Germans. Here we turned left along the road passing an old covered wash house on the right, forked left by a bus shelter at 9.67 miles and after a right hand bend turned left at a T-junction (9.92 miles). At 10.01 miles it was right fork and ten we entered the hamlet of Le Basse Addeville where it was a right fork again (10.11 miles). We soon had the grounds of the Chateau du Bel Esnault on our left and on reaching a cross roads went briefly left to look at its lovely façade (see picture below) (10.45 miles). Here a display board recounts the exploits of Colonel Johnson who had the misfortune to land by parachute close to this German held building. It was also at this point that we re-joined the GR223.

Returning uphill to the crossroads we went left and then the road went under the N13. At a large farmhouse with lovely stone farm outbuildings we went down left along a vehicular track. (10.79 miles). This was to take us down towards the La Douve River meandering around in a large flat alluvial plain. At a T-junction (11.30 miles) quite close to the river we turned right and followed the track nervously passing a messy itinerant camp. The narrow road at only 4 metres above sea level took us to  a T-junction with the D974 (11.66 miles) opposite the headquarters of the Regional Park. It was a large and well trafficked road and  we turned left along it towards Carentan on the other side of the valley. The first bridge we crossed was that over the River Jourdan with the old stone bridge next to the modern one. We were now back on the Route de la Voie de la Liberte and the scene of fierce battles to capture Carentan. The next bridge was over the La Douve River at 11.86 miles. My companions ignored the bar on the left and I had no choice but to do likewise. The next bridge was over the River La Groult and then we reached a roundabout 12.24 miles where we continued straight on through an area of showrooms and industrial premises towards the centre of town.

At 12 80 miles and just before we reached the older part of the town we diverted into Le 101Airborne Restaurant-Bar for refreshment. Continuing on we forked left into the quieter Rue Sebline through old residential areas finally emerging after 13.32 miles in the Place Vauban (see picture below).

The accommodation at the end of that stage of the walk was the Hotel Le Vauban at No 3 Rue Sebline, Carentan 50500 France facing the square. Email levaubanhotelcarentan@yahoo.com It was a small hotel centrally located with plenty of parking nearby. We had a good breakfast and gave it 8 out of 10.

 

The evening meal was taken at the Hotel Restaurant L'Escapade, 28 rue du docteur caillard, 50500 Carentan, France. (Picture below) It served very good food, was doing a good trade, had a good atmosphere and was full of bric-a-brac of all descriptions.

 

For those seeking pictures of the battle for Carentan with archive footage see the video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkB_ke1sPOM

For an account of the break out from the Normandy beaches see

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYcsO-PMZzY

There is plenty more on YouTube.

THREE SAINT'S WAY - DAY SIX

MONTEBOURG TO SAINT-MERE-EGLISE 7.05 MILES

The day started by walking from the hotel in Valognes to the bus station and then getting the No 1 Maneo Bus back to Montebourg. Alighting from the bus where we had got on yesterday in the Place Albert L'Pelerin we headed south east down what is the main street. We passed the Hotel de Ville on the left and the road ahead changed its name to Rue Paul Lecacheaux, named after a Montebourg born archivist and historian of the Channel (1873 -1938). At 0.21 miles we turned left on the D42 in the St Vaast direction but almost immediately turned right down an alleyway. We passed the ancient wash house in the picture below.

Below was the view looking back to the town on its slight hill, the lavoir (washhouse) can be seen on the left and just in the picture and to the right was a lake. 

At a T-junction with a rough track at 0.36 miles we followed the way-marks right onto a newish road and went straight across on to a waymarked narrow vehicular track that passed to the right of a coach park and then a football stadium and out into the countryside. At 0.66 miles at a T-junction with another track called Chasse de Jerusalem we followed the GR223 left. The track then turned right and at 1,04 miles came onto a road at a bend where we bore slightly to the right nearly in the same direction. At 1.17 miles there was a cross roads with the larger D115 where we went straight across onto another narrow tarmac road. It bent right and after a straight at 1.47 miles we were in the hamlet of Joret. The road abruptly changed to a footpath between hedges and continued in the same south easterly direction and at 1.68 miles we could look into the yard of the Chateau in the photo below.

Immediately after there was a crossroads of tracks with a farm on the right, we continued straight on along the track which later bent left and at 1.91 miles exited onto the D115 where we followed the road to the right. At 2.09 miles we crossed the bridge over the Ruisseau de Coisel in the picture below.

The road then took us into the village of Joganville. At 2.17 miles at a crossroads, with the church on our left, we went right on the D69 signed to Ecausseville. Almost immediately we forked left on to another road signed to Hameau Picad. The narrow road bent around to the left and after a straight (see photo below) and just before the buildings in Picard we forked right off the road onto a vehicular track at 2.39 miles.

On reaching a road at 2.92 miles we turn right along it and entered the village of Edmondeville. At 3.12 miles we were in the centre at a crossroads with a larger road with the church on our left. We went straight across onto the D214 and 3.20 miles went left off the road onto a vehicular track. At 3.58 miles it was straight across a crossroads of tracks. Photo below taken on the track.

At 3.80 miles we went straight on where a track went off to the left. At 4.03 miles we joined a tarmac road at a bend in it. The hamlet of Le Bisson was to the left but we continued straight on along the road, at 4.13 miles passing a track on the right. We were on a route called Chasse des Parraugues (name has something to do with dog kennels). At 4.55 miles we went left at a fork in the road, crossed a bridge over a stream called Pont Perce and then at 4.60 miles forked right off the road onto another rough vehicular track. At 4.82 miles where a track went left we went straight on. At 5.11 miles there was the remains of an ancient building on the right and then we reached a crossroads with a road. We went straight across on another road towards a farm ahead where at 5.34 miles the tarmac abruptly ended and a rough vehicular track continued and we took the right fork (almost straight on) immediately afterwards. This was the Chasse du Monet. The route got rather muddy and narrow at times and at 5.79 miles we emerged onto a road and went straight across onto a wider rough vehicular road. At 6.29 miles at a fork near some houses we went right down a track signposted as a no through road for cars. We followed the GR223 which takes the track on the left at 6.38 miles which comes out onto a road in the village of Beauvais at 6.54 miles where we went right on the Chemin de Beauvais. At 6.69 miles at a road junction with the Ferme-Musee du Cotentin on the right ( http://patrimoine.manche.fr/ferme-musee-cotentin-N.asp ) we went left on a road called Rue de Beauvais, After going straight on at the first cross roads and then forking and bending right we reached at 6.90 miles the D974 the Voie de la Liberte which is the main road through the town of Sainte-Mere-Eglise although the town now has a bypass (the E3).

We turned left along the D974 towards the town centre. There are a series of display boards explaining the war time history and its liberation. Outside the Hotel de Ville at 7.05 miles was the bus stop we needed to get the No 1 Maneo bus back again to Valognes but it was lunchtime and we went to explore the town. As featured in the film "The Longest Day" the liberation of the town did not go entirely to plan and The early landings, at about 0140 directly on the town, resulted in heavy casualties for the paratroopers. Some buildings in town were on fire that night, and they illuminated the sky, making easy targets of the descending men. Some were sucked into the fire. Many hanging from trees and utility poles were shot before they could cut loose.

In italics above and below is an extract from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sainte-M%C3%A8re-%C3%89glise

A well-known incident involved paratrooper John Steele of the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment (PIR), whose parachute caught on the spire of the town church, and could only observe the fighting going on below. He hung there limply for two hours, pretending to be dead, before the Germans took him prisoner. Steele later escaped from the Germans and rejoined his division when US troops of the 3rd Battalion, 505 Parachute Infantry Regiment attacked the village, capturing thirty Germans and killing another eleven. The incident was portrayed in the movie The Longest Day by actor Red Buttons.

A dummy is still hanging from the tower and is much photographed by visitors to the nearby D-Day Museum https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airborne_Museum_(Sainte-M%C3%A8re-%C3%89glise) 

There are plenty of souvenir shops catering for the thousands of visitors every year, I could not resist having a photograph taken by a dummy outside one of the shops.

 

Re-enactment of the parachute landing in the square - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzHme4zIkPQ

THREE SAINT'S WAY - DAY FIVE

QUETTEHOU TO MONTEBOURG 13.56 MILES 

The day started by retracing our steps back to where we had left off the previous day by walking from the Hotel to the bus station in Valognes and getting the bus to Quettehou and after  buying our picnic lunch walking back to the coast by which time we had done 0.91 miles from the bus stop. Once again we were looking across the mud towards the fortified island of La Hougue - see photo below.

We arrived at the coast on the road called Chasse du Bourg and turned right south west. It was a no through road and when it ended at 1.02 miles at Le Dic Moulin where a sign warned no access to vehicles, but the coast path continued by it. Ahead could be seen the village of Le Rivage - see the photo below.

At 1.07 miles we crossed a stream Le Vaupreux its waters rushing out on to the muddy bay - see photo below.

At 1.16 miles residential properties block progress along the coast and it is necessary to go right inland, the track goes left and then right on a road called Rue du Buissonnet. Just before there are fields on both sides the GR223 goes left along another track working its way around the remaining property back to the coast. After a short beach the route works seaward around other properties and at 1.47 passes an access to the beach at the end of the Chemin d'Isamberville. At 1.65 miles it was necessary to leave the shore again this time onto a narrow road called the Chasse aux Mesles. At 1.66 miles the GR223 goes left up some concrete steps and along a path fenced on both sides. The path goes straight through to another road called the Rue du Rivage at 1.74 miles which is crossed and another set of concrete steps marks the start of another path fenced on both sides between properties and then straight on along the south west side of a field. In the far left corner it goes left and then right and then left and then right again around some tennis courts to exit onto a tiny road in the village of Le Rivage. The route goes right along the road, turns right at a T-junction and the road widens and heads inland. After passing a display board next to a track on the left (that should be ignored), the GR223 uses the next vehicular track between buildings (waymarked) at 2.05 miles. The route goes left then right then left then right and after working along the back of some coastal properties on a track called Les Campagnettes ends up at the coast again. After passing some concrete blockhouses the path becomes a vehicular track and parking area at the end of a road coming from the hamlet of Morsalines on the hill inland at 2.69 miles. The beach was full of shells - see picture below

Navigation wise the route was much easier now and a track used by vehicles keeps next to the coast and progress is easy.

The tide was coming in now very fast and the coastal marshes were disappearing under water (see photo above). At 4.17 miles another road came to the shoreline and the T-junction with the coastal track was recognisable by a triangular area of grass in the junction. Continuing along the coastal track it split into two and then rejoined again at 4.41 miles. At 4.89 miles the coastal track joins a road at Les Bergeries which was followed along the coast. Just before it becomes a rough vehicular track at 4.98 miles a track on the left enables the walker to keep closer to the coastal margin. The two tracks run parallel with each other until at 5.44 miles and a line of wooden posts marks the furthest point vehicles can go along the coast. They are forced to go inland along a road called La Maison du Garde. Here we passed through the posts and carried on along a path near the shore. At 5.74 miles and at a car park defined by more wooden posts we turned inland to join a substantial tarmac road going inland. We were to leave the GR223 and the signposted route to Mont St Michel. It would be several days after we left this eastern shore before we would reach the coast on the west side.

The road was straight going towards the hills inland and we passed the field in the above photo where there was a store of the metal work needed to harvest the produce of the sea. At 6.51 miles after passing a farm on the right called La Cour de Lestre the road bent left and then there was a T-junction with a larger road at 6.59 miles. We turned right and climbed up the road towards the village of Le Bourg de Lestre. At 6.74 miles we turned left down a narrow lane called Le Moulin Hue signposted to Chapelle St Michel which was the reason that we had departed from the GR223 earlier. Forking right almost immediately we followed a track to the Chapelle. It dates from 1160 and was related to the Abbey Blanchelande it was sold after the French Revolution in 1817 and a lot of stone has been looted. We had our picnic lunch in the grounds.

This was a decapitated statue of St Jacques dating from 15th century. 

A relief in a side chapel of St Cosmos and Damian. Saint Comos (or Como or Cosme) is the patron saint of surgeons and Damian his brother the patron saint of pharmacists. They practiced medicine, were born on in Cilicia and lived on the Roman Syrian coast. They suffered martyrdom under Diocletian in 303 or 310 and were tortured and beheaded along with their three brothers.

We returned back to the main  road in the village at 6.92 miles and turned left. As the road bent right we went left along along another road at 6.99 miles and then almost immediately left again down a minor road. It went right and then when it went left we continued on a footpath between hedges. It exited onto another minor road where we turned down left along it at 7.25 miles. We left it at 7.28 miles down a vehicular track to cross a bridge over the River Sinop and then forked left along a vehicular track which bent round to the right and climbed to a T-junction with a road called Chemin des Landes and went right along it at 7.51 miles.We were back on the GR223 again and followed it to the left at a fork just after. It continued to climb. At 7.78 miles we passed a road off to the right, continuing to climb. At a cross roads with the D42 we went left along this larger road at 7.92 miles. At 8.07 miles we branched right off it down another road the Rue du Bas de Launey. Descending into the valley and after a few sharp bends in the hamlet of Launey we reached and crossed a stream via the Pont Barbot at 8.34 miles. A rough track continued ahead, turned left and then bent right and climbed out of the valley between fields. At 8.60 miles it bent left and then right and at 8.86 miles it was straight across a crossroads of vehicular tracks. At 9.25 miles we reached a cross roads in the middle of a collection of farms called Le Bas de Fontenay and turned right along a road called Vierge du Bas de Fontenay with a tennis court on the right. At 9.43 miles at a T-junction we went right and then shortly after left along a road called Avenue de Courcy between a pair of walls. At 9.59 miles I took the picture below of the Chateau de Courcy. If you are made of money you can stay here!

http://www.chateaudecourcy.com/en/chateau-de-courcy/history-castle

We continued on the lovely tree lined avenue. 

At 9.70 miles we  got this view looking back at the Chateau along a driveway. At 9.96 miles after passing through another pair of walls we reached a staggered cross roads and turned right signed to "Quettehou 12".  At 10.13 miles we branched left on a minor vehicular track between hedges. Long grass indicated it had not be used lately. At 10.46 miles we reached a minor road, Le Rond Buquet, where we went right and then almost immediately left down another road, forking left at 10.59 miles in the hamlet of Village de l'Eglise passing to the left of the church with its large square tower. Immediately after the church at 10.68 miles the road went left and we went straight on a farm track called Chasse du Moulin. The track crossed the Rau du Vau-Doux (a stream) at 10.89 miles. The track continued as a footpath between hedges with fields on both sides. At 11.57 miles at a T- junction with another vehicular track we went right along it along a wooded valley and passing the farm of Le Renoufs where the track went left and became a minor road. We followed it straight on ignoring other tracks until a crossroads with a slightly larger road at 12.04 miles where we went straight across along a rough vehicular track. At 12.04 miles and after a right hand bend it met another track, the Chasse des Murs, at a T-junction where we turned left along it. At 12.69 miles it went straight on where another track went right into some farm buildings. At 12.82 miles at a three way junction we went down right descending into a valley and crossing a little stream and then the track improved as we climbed up the other side into the town of Montebourg with large buildings on the right. On reaching a road at 13.05 miles we went left along the Rue de L'Abbaye. We took the second road on the right the Rue du Rivet which climbed up into the town, At the top there was a market square full of parked cars and we turned left passing a bar with "Welcome bikers" on the sign above. Continuing in the same direction passing "La Poste" we arrived at the main shopping street. Turning right up it the space between the buildings widened with large parking areas on both sides and further up there were bus stops on both sides (see photo below), We needed the one on the right. With time to spare we adjourned to the bar behind it. We had done 13.56 miles.

The bus needed to get back to Valognes was the Maneo Bus No 1 coming from St Lo to Cherbourg-Octeville an eight minute trip.  http://transports.manche.fr/lignes-horaires-maneo-express.asp

THREE SAINT'S WAY - DAY FOUR

BARFLEUR TO QUETTEHOU - 11.34 MILES

We left the hotel and walked back to the harbour and turned right along the harbour wall next to the Rue Alfred Rossel. At 0.14 miles where the road went right we turned left along a path keeping to the harbour wall. It emerges at the other end at 0.25 miles on the Rue du Pont Salley where there is a beach and a view back across Barfleur harbour - see photo below. We turned left along it.

The next road on the right is the Rue du Lavoir (wash house road) and we went a short way down it to look into a church on the left, the Notre Dame de Postel. The inside is dedicated to Mary Magdalene Postel (photo below), born Julie Françoise-Catherine at Barfleur on 28 November 1756 and who died in Saint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte on 16 July1846. During the Revolution, she helped hunted priests to escape to England and organized clandestine Masses. When calm was restored she worked to help the poor and founded in 1807, the Congregation of the Sisters of the Christian Schools of Mercy. The congregation moved successively  to Octeville-Avenel, Valognes and Tamerville before finding in 1832 in the old Benedictine abbey of Saint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte, dating from the eleventh century, its final home, which the sisters rebuilt. Beatified in 1908, canonized on 24 May 1925. Source https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie-Madeleine_Postel  

We returned to the Rue du Pont Salley and turned right and took the next road to the left, the Rue Julie Postel a narrow lane with some attractive cottages. After ignoring a right fork onto  the Rue du 24 Juin 1944 we ended up at the harbour shore at 0.61 miles with a view across to the church - see two photos below.

Above is  the view looking back to where we had started the walk. We walked along the shore and reached the other end of the Rue du 24 Juin 1944 (the date of the towns liberation from the German occupation) and the beginning of the sea wall that protects the entrance to the harbour. We were able to walk along the sea wall nearly to the end and enjoyed the lovely view of the harbour and boats coming in and out. By the time we had returned to the road we had done a leisurely 0.98 miles and it was time to get a move on. We only needed to walk down the road a short way as there was a footpath on the left called La Sambiere which led us to a coast path. At 1.25 miles the path led to a car park at the end of the Rue de Reville. We continued following the coast path.

View back towards the Barfleur harbour entrance and the church.

At 1.67 miles after going along a sandy beach and around a rocky outcrop into the sea we arrived at another car park at the end of the Rue de la Cote des Vikings a reference to those who not only raided this coast but settled on it. The coastal footpath continued along this wild coast. At 2.34 miles and after another three beaches we passed the end of another road coming to the coast. We continued along the coast path towards the next headland where there is a view out to the Tour du Moulard which sits on an off-shore rocky island exposed at low tide - see photo below. This is not the original, that was swept away in a storm in February 1995, it had to be rebuilt in 1997 after a fund raising campaign. Source - http://www.decouvrir-montfarville.fr/montfarville_aujourdhui_chemin_balise7a.html

After rounding the Pointe de Landemer we went right and joined a little road called Rue du Cap serving properties nestling in the shelter of the bay of Landemer. This took us at 3.02 miles to a cross roads with the D1 where we turned left along this larger road down to the bay. At 3.14 miles we turned off left onto a rough road which followed the coast initially and then turned inland shortly after which at 3.48 miles there was a narrow vehicular track on the left which took us back to the coast and continued next to sandy beaches.

We started seeing a lot of these large signs demarcating the route to Saint Michel.

At 3.98 miles we reached the coastal end of the Route du Hommet from which a rough road called Chemin de la Loge followed the coast serving a number of beach side properties. At 4.26 miles our route took us right away from the coast along a vehicular track which after feeding grass to sheep and donkeys took us to a cross roads with a tarmac road called Chemin de la Saline at 4.61 miles where we turned left along it. We turned right off this narrow road at 5.00 miles following a signposted vehicular track which became a narrow tarmac road and took us through a hamlet arriving at 5.13 miles at a larger road (D10) where we turned right. After a left hand bend and at some large farm buildings we branched left along a more minor tarmac road. At 5.32 miles at a cross roads of tracks we went straight on along a rough track which took us at 5.51 miles to another tarmac road (D168) where we turned right along it with the spire of the church of Reville visible ahead. At a T-junction at 5.74 miles near a cemetery we turned left and headed towards Reville now close at hand. At a fork in the road at 5.93 miles we went left and then immediately right (signposted Camping Municipal) along the Rue des Ecoliers (Scholars Road). After a bend we turned right at another T-junction and walked towards the church ahead, forking left to pass to the left of the church and ended up at a car parking area serving the centre of the village at 6.10 miles. Lunch was now on  our minds and we turned right along the road ahead (signposted Barfleur 7) heading for the centre of the village. Here we found the Bar Estaminet, an alimentation and a boulangerie - patisserie.

Replenished we returned back along the road to the church and then continued straight on along the D1 - the Rue General de Gaulle, heading for St Vaast. At 6.49 miles at a road junction we followed the road around to the left and at 6.76 miles near the sea again and at a junction we followed the road around to the right still heading for St Vaast. Immediately there was a narrow road bridge crossing of the River La Saire near where it joins the sea. It rises in Mesnil-au-Val and reaches the sea after 31 kilometres. Its tributaries are the Querbe, Querbot, Fontaine des Saules and Butte. Immediately the other side of the creek we took a vehicular track on the left which took us to the coast and enabled us to follow the coastal sea wall with views across a vast sea of mud  We were only one field away from the road we had previously left. We crossed a car park at the end of a track coming from that road at 7.14 miles. The road crept closer to the shoreline and soon we were following the sea wall at the top of a bank looking down onto the road.  We were heading for St Vaast La Hougue that could be seen at the end of the bay ahead, a town twinned with Bridport in Dorset. As we approached the harbour walls there was an island off-shore - see the photo below. With an area of 29 hectares (72 acres) it is almost uninhabited  although there is a museum and botanical garden there and 500 people are allowed to visit there each day by boat although it can be reached via a route across the oyster beds at low tide. There was a naval battle off-shore in 1692 between the French and the English. In 1720 it was used for quarantining plague victims from Marseille. On 10 December 1803 the 36-gun frigate HMS Shannon grounded on the island, her crew were captured. It was burned the next day by the crew from HMS Merlin to prevent her arms and stores being taken by the French. The building on the right in the picture below is a fort, another one designed by the engineer Benjamin de Coombes a student of the French fort builder Vauban,

At 8.50 miles we reached the walls protecting the harbour of St-Vaast-La-Hougue. The harbour was established in the 19th century and a jetty built between 1828 and 1845 followed by the quayside from 1846 to 1852. Breakwaters were built around the harbour in 1982 and two hydraulic gates installed to maintain the water level at high tide. It was the first harbour to be freed by the Allies on the 1944 D-Day invasion. See the photo below.

Like Barfleur it still has a fishing fleet.

Continuing along the quayside the front was getting more commercialised and the thought of a refreshment stop at one of the cafes came to mind and the Le Débarcadère (landing stage) was chosen at 8.79 miles. After that we followed the quayside in the direction of La Chapelle des Marins (see the photo below) It was beyond the harbour on the end of a promontory. It is all that remains of the old church of the town and was the choir.  It was built in the 11th century. As the name suggested its contents relates to sailors who perished or were saved on this tricky coastline. A statue of the virgin is on top of it.

Above is a picture of a statue of Saint Vaast or Vedast (in the chapel) who was born in western France about 453 and died at and was buried at Arras where he had been their first Bishop. Many miracles have been attributed to him. The Chapelle and the adjoining war memorial are on the Place du General Leclerc and we left the area down the Rue de la Vielle Eglise (Old Church Road) went left around a corner and then joined a path along a sea wall called Impasse Lecordier at 9.04 miles. Further along we could look down on the road that goes to the fortified island of La Hougue visible in the distance in the photo below taken from the sea wall. Our route only took us along the sea wall as far as the last house on the right and just after it we jumped off the wall (now relatively low) crossed the road and set off along a coastal path on a flood embankment. 9.29 miles.

We were following the waymarked GR223 and soon we had to go inland as we were faced with a lagoon and industrial premises on the shore where there was a windmill - see the photo below.

A track took us to a minor road called Chasse des Amours where we turned left along it, 9.56 miles. It led almost immediately to a T-Junction with the Rue d'Isamberville where we went left and then almost immediately forked left again still on the same road. Along this road were lots of premises specialising in oysters and mussels which were harvested at low tide out in the bay onto which they faced,  At 9.82 miles we reached the junction with the Rue de Morsalines and continued on along it in the same direction. At 9.90 miles the buildings on our left ended and we had a lovely view across the oyster beds in the bay and lots of tractors were taking harvesters out to bring some in. The road went to the right but a coast path continued in front of some houses and then in front of yards where the cages the oysters are harvested in were stored and taken out along a track out into the bay. There followed another such property and another ramp down into bay at 10.11 miles and beyond that we were soon out into the countryside following the coast path. At 10.28 miles the path joined a road called Le Carvallon where a stream emptied into the bay and we followed it along the coast. At 10.43 miles the road turned inland and this was the point where we were to return to the following day,

We had decided to base ourselves for a few days in the town of Valognes because from there we could do several sections of the walk. So we walked to Quettehou and got a bus from there to Valognes. The road inland was a narrow lane called Chasse du Bourg, as it neared the edge of Quettehou ahead it forked at 10.88 miles and we took the left fork the Chemin des Ecoles. As we reached the school we bore right across the car park and between hedges along a path which took us anti-clockwise around the school through their car park and onto a main road (D1) at 11.06 miles where we went left heading into the town centre, At a road junction at 11.20 miles with the D14 to Montebourg on the left we went straight on down the main high street with all the shops and cafes, getting ice creams on the way. At 11.28 miles at another junction we went right in the direction of Barfleur and opposite the Mairie was the bus stop and shelter. The bus will come past on the other side and go a bit further down and turn around and come back again to this bus shelter. We took Maneo Bus No 13 from here to Valognes. See http://transports.manche.fr  for timetables and route maps.

The statistics for this part of the day are 11.34 miles, 324 feet of climbing and 3 hours 48 minutes walking excluding stops.

To get from the bus station at Valognes to the Hotel - There is a new dedicated bus station just off the D974 the Voie de la Liberte (this was the route the allied troops came to liberate the town) go to it and turn right heading south east  into the centre of town. On reaching a roundabout with a large central car park ahead turn right passing the recommended Bar des Voyageurs and turn left down the Rue Leopold Delisle to find the Hotel Restaurant L'Agriculture at No 18 Rue Leopold Delisle, 50700 Valognes +33 2 33 95 02 02 www.hotel-agriculture.com Valognes is known as the Versailles of Normandy because of all its water channels and it is well worth exploring so ensure you have a street map if you visit it. The hotel is good value and the restaurant serves good meals. One other place I would recommend eating for which you will need the street map is the Hotel-Restaurant Saint-Malo, 7 Rue Saint-Malo, 50700 Valognes  +33 2 33 40 03 24  www.hotel-restaurant-saint-malo.com although book a table in advance as it is only a small place.