Pointe du Hoc and Carentan-les-Marais

We are continuing down the Normandy coast today and our first stop is at Pointe du Hoc.

This is a D-Day memorial site. The roads around the site have pictures on lampposts honouring the Army Rangers that died here.

Ahead of the beach landings on the 6th June 1944 a USA army ranger battalion attacked and captured Pointe du Hoc, taking out the German artillery, after scaling the cliffs that stand between Omaha and Utah beaches.

There’s a visitor centre showing a very moving video with surviving rangers talking about their experience.

We walk around the extensive site which is littered with gun emplacements and bunkers.

Inside a ‘Tobruk’, a reinforced concrete structure with an opening for a gunner or observer.

A monument to the rangers of a granite dagger stands on a bunker overlooking the cliffs below.

After a quick lunch we move onto Carentan-les-Marais, the south eastern base of the Contentin Peninsula in Normandy. This small town was in the thick of WWII as it was considered strategic on D-Day. The battle of Carentan took place between 6 and 13 June 1944, around and within the town between US army and the German Wehrmacht.

We are staying at Flower Camping Le Haut-Dic for a couple of nights. Our pitch is marina side. Not long after we arrive it starts bucketing it down. Eventually we enjoy chicken salad for dinner and then walking into the town in a light drizzle. Enjoy a beer at a couple of bars before watching TV for a bit.