The forecast for the day was for no improvement over those earlier in the week, some channels saying that Friday was to be the wettest we would experience. On that basis we had planned to spend the day locally in Arromanches visiting the 3 museums in the town and having a lazy time ahead of the long ride home that would be Saturday. Well it just goes to prove that weather forecasters know nothing and are about as useful as a chocolate tea pot when it comes to their predictions. We had the driest day of our visit with just a couple of very light showers. We first visited the museum owned and run by Hans (our B&B host) with the elder of his 2 sons. It is a very intimate museum dedicated to WW2 veterans that Hans and his family have met and befriended over the years, with many personal stories, memorabilia, artifacts and accounts of their D-Day landings and their march to Paris and beyond. One of the displayed articles is a very rare American D-Day parachute as these were a single use item which was discarded and then frequently collected and cut up by French peasants to make under garments, night clothes and shirts.
Walking to the main square the "tourist train" (another dressed up tractor with dressed up carriages) was ready to leave so we jumped on boarded and got off at the first stop, the German emplacement on the top of the cliffs to the east of the town where there is a another museum with a 360 degree projector. While waiting for that main show we watched news reel footage taken and shown at the time of the encounter and in the post-war era as propaganda for folks back in England. Again there are static displays to wander around.
Last on the list was the main museum on the side of the square where large displays show off hand made models that recreate scenes from D-Day 6-June through to August 1944. There are mannequin displays, personal accounts and all sorts of stuff from the landing including guns, a mine and replica landing craft. While we were there we watched a "slide show" style presentation of the events of D-Day with a school party who were there doing the same Normandy Beaches type trip that we were doing - I can't however imagine that they got as wet as us riding around in their grand coach. Indeed, we were pleasantly surprised just how many school trips we encountered (along with those of veterans and their families) of all nationalities. This museum was laying on these shows with commentary in a number of languages with showing to suit the nationalities of the coach load in the museum at the time.
All 3 museums visited are worth their admission charge but you wouldn't get a coach load into Hans's museum, it's not that size nor aimed at that sort of audience. Veterans and family parties would best appreciate it and anybody researching that era would be well advised to give it a look, especially if Hans is on the desk and has time to regale all the personal stories that have yet to be written down for others to appreciate.
With the museums visited we walked out to one of the sections of the Mulberry harbour that has been pushed closer to the shore by coastal storms. Following the end of WW2 much of the steel used in the harbour constructions was reclaimed, along with all the ships that were sunk to provide a breakwater and safe haven for unloading materials needed to support the war effort. Those that remain today are mostly units that were damaged and with high concrete content that made recovery uneconomic. The tide was out so we walked out to the one nearest to the Arromanche beach to have a gander and take some snaps, and get caught in yet another short, sharp shower. We retreated to The Normandie, a hotel & restaurant that we'd discovered did excellent cups of "English" tea along with assorted snacks or a la carte menus.
We then retreated to the B&B for a few hours to start packing and loading stuff onto the bikes before venturing out to dine at 6 Juni for our last evening meal out in France. In spite of what had been forecast this had turned out to be the driest day of the trip even though we hadn't benefited from it by riding the bikes.
Total mileage Day7 = 0 miles.
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