Moving on to Normandy Beaches

This morning we left our beautiful hotel and set out to cover the 400 kilometers to our hotel at Sword Beach. We drove to St. Omer which is a rather Dutch looking city with canals running through and similar architecture to Holland. We thought as it seemed to be a hub on the map it would be easy to navigate to the main road which Google suggested we take - big mistake - no matter which way we turned we were always heading in the wrong direction. As Alan has found his way all over the world with no problems I found this rather distressing and I could see his frustration as time passed and we had not really started on the main journey.

With a concerted effort to find the roads mentioned by Google Maps we were finally on track and continually stopping and inserting the credit card at toll booths - goodness only knows how much the whole journey cost us but one bridge cost 10 Euros. This bridge loomed in the distance as the most terryfing looking amusement park ride and I said to Alan "I think I am afraid to drive across in this howling wind." He said that he wished I hadn't said that as he was not feeling at all good about the prospect. It was incredibly long and had an arch that was so high it didn't seem possible to drive over it without being blown into the water below, but somehow we did and then soon after we came upon another like it!

There were huge petrol, food and comfort stops along these toll ways and we stopped twice to get coffee and food. At the first stop we were trying to work out what was in the bread rolls and sandwiches and a young English tourist travelling with his Canadian cousin did some translating for us. They were also on their way to Normandy and we ended up sharing a table and having an interesting conversation with them. These are the nice encounters when you are travelling.

We sailed over the top of the city of Caen with no trouble and headed for the coast but then spent an incredible amount of time finding our villge of Hermanville sur Mer - there were signs to everywhere else but we just could not find it and when we did the office of the hotel was closed. There was a phone outside for emergencies and we deemed being locked out of our room an emergency. We were able to understand "the voice" enough to learn that our room was in a house somewhere across the street - the room was No 12 and the key was in the door but we didn't know the number of the house!

When we finally found the house and the attic room on the third floor it was 10.00 pm and there was no point in getting upset about the size of our room. Fortunately it was clean but there is just no ceiling and there is no way you can move around without ducking and weaving to avoid hitting your head and every other part of your body. You should have seen Alan trying to put in the power plug for the computer - the wall in that part of the room is only 10" high and then the ceiling slopes up all the way to allow only about 15" of ceiling before the opposite wall. I also had to move the desk out from the wall so I don't have to duck my head too much. There is a bath with a hose you can hold in your hand for a shower but you can't stand up properly because the ceiling slopes down to the bath.

Oh well the beds are OK and it is at least clean enough. It is a shame this is a five day stay.