Out & About Autumn 2019

LOCAL VIEW

JONATHAN HOPSON

D-Day 75th anniversary bike ride to Normandy

D uring early July I was 2019 Velocity racing syndicate on a memorable five-day cycling trip to Normandy. The key aim of the syndicate is to combine cycling and horse racing and the tour fulfilled this admirably, taking in more than 170 miles of cycling along the Normandy coastline, including visits to some of the D-Day beaches, finishing with a day at Deauville races. The tour was meticulously planned by our tour leader, Charlie Corbett. During numerous visits to sites of Second World War significance, we had the benefit of background historical narrative, kindly provided by the knowledgeable director of the Gurkha Museum in Winchester, Gavin Edgerley-Harris. The visit to the British cemetery at Hermanville-sur-Mer, behind Sword beach, was particularly poignant, with row upon row of immaculately tended headstones. The cemetery contains 1,003 Second World War burials, 103 of them unidentified. A personal highlight of the tour was the visit to the D-Day landings museum in Arromanches-les-Bains. We watched a film, Normandy’s 100 days , on a 360-degree nine-screen cinema with excerpts of footage from 1944 and the sounds of battle producing a powerful and somewhat disorientating experience. Adjacent to the cinema is the D-Day fortunate to join Lambourn trainer Harry Dunlop’s

75 garden, a memorial featuring two statues of the late Bill Pendell, who lived near Wantage and died last year aged 97. He came ashore on Gold beach on June 1944 with 11th Armoured Division. One statue portrays Mr Pendell as a veteran proudly wearing his medals, the other depicts him as a 22-year-

old rushing out of the water. The tour also incorporated a

British cemetery at Hermanville-sur-Mer

fascinating visit to the stables of one of France’s leading racehorse trainers, Criquette Head at Haras du Quesnay, followed by a day at the

races at nearby Deauville. Memorable high points here

included a particularly delicious lunch and watching Frankie Dettori guide Too Darn Hot to success in the big race of the day. There is much to recommend a visit to the D-Day beaches and surrounding area, particularly during this 75th anniversary year of the landings, but I should add a cautionary note. Anyone wishing to visit the British Normandy memorial at Ver-sur- Mer, unveiled by Theresa May and Emmanuel Macron on June 6 this year, will have to wait a while, as the memorial is currently clad in a protective wooden covering while construction work on the surrounding area is finished. Progress updates on these works are available at https://www. normandymemorialtrust.org/

D-Day 75 garden memorial at Arromanches-les-Bains

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O&A AUTUMN 2019