Battle of St Valery-en-caux
Bonjour mes amis!
Not so earlier in the week.. It cleared up on Thursday and we had 2 beautiful days stopping near Tours on the Loire and Payrac in the Dordogne on the way south, but our first night in France was amidst a raging storm. The crossing to Dieppe was a bit choppy but it wasn't till that evening, having sought out an 'idylic' wild parking spot on the cliffs above St Valery-en-Caux, that the onslaught of weather began. I had my ear plugs in and was woken at 2am by Buzz going to 'have a look outside'. Good ear plugs... I'm normally the first to want to assess a risky situation! It was only then that I really heard the wind and felt the growing movement of the van. Buzz came back in to declare that we were luckily not in range of any falling trees (good) but that the storm looked to worsen for the next few hours. Checking it out myself half an hour later, we were basically parked broadside to the wind at the top of an exposed cliff, wind buffeting us unbroken across the fields. We decided to retreat to the shelter of the town. We didn't hear anything of it over the storm at the time but next morning we realised that the van had suffered injuries - a scratched and broken wheel arch which we suspect was done against a post leaving the carpark. Not a great start but it could have been a lot worse.
The reason we were actually in St Valery-en-Caux was to track the movements of my great Uncle Mo who, 77 years previously had taken part in the D-Day landings. As part of the 51st Highland Division he had landed on Gold beach in the Mulberry harbour near Arromanches, fought through Caen and Le Havre and ended up being requested to go and liberate the town of St Valery-en-Caux (see pic below). This was an honorary gesture as the division were met with no resistance, only celebrations once the local people emerged. In 1940 the same division had fought bitterly for the town to prevent it falling to the Nazis, suffering many losses, and the locals had a very strong connection with that particular group of soldiers.
It was wonderful to see that that connection lives on. The Scottish flag flies in the town square and we spotted an Ave de 51st Highland Division! Prior to the storm, on the day we visited, we got chatting to a local lady wearing a tartan coat. She started by saying how much she loved the UK and then spoke with great reverence about the annual piped parade which celebrates the town's liberation. When I mentioned Uncle Mo's involvement and how he had thankfully survived the war and lived to 101, she said how the last member of the French resistance from the town had just passed away this year, also 101.
A very poignant start to our travels and I was immensely proud of my great uncle. I can't begin to imagine the terrible scenes he witnessed and experiences he had in Normandy all those years ago, he certainly never wanted to talk about it. He later, aged 99, received the legion d'honour for the part he played.
Back to our journey... We are planning a 2 day trek with the donkeys up to a nearby refuge Thurs/Friday. A night under the stars, cooking round the fire 😁 Then it will be time to get our costumes ready for hallowe'en. We couldn't fit the dressing up box in the van so we're going to have to get creative... Bring it on!
Comments
Post a Comment