St Valery en Caux

Today we drove 21 miles, to St Valery en Caux; a smaller, much nicer version of Dieppe.  The stopover was right on the harbour with views out to sea.

I made a bit of a faux pas with this one as I had thought it was free, but it would appear that there’s still a fee payable at weekends and on bank holidays between 16 September and 31 October...we arrived on a Sunday, so it cost us €5.40 for the night.  Didn’t exactly break the bank, but when you’re on a budget as tight as ours, every cent counts.  However, as it was Sunday, we managed not to spend any more money as everything except bars and restaurants was closed.

The sky was pretty grey and threatening to rain when we arrived, but within an hour, it had brightened and warmed up enough for another show of Pete’s legs!

We could see a monument on a cliff top on the other side of the harbour, so, taking advantage of the glorious sunshine, we took Powell for a wander to see what it was.  It turned out to be 2 separate monuments; one to commemorate the first Paris to New York flight in 1930 and the second, in memory of all members of the 51^st Highland Division who gave their lives during WW2.  There was also an old bunker up there, which had been built into the cliff side and could be accessed from just beyond the monument.   I’m sure there are loads of them scattered along this stretch of coastline, but this is the first one that we’ve seen that was still in such good condition.  It was pretty creepy if I’m honest, especially given the close proximity of the monument; something that I imagine was probably done on purpose to make people think a little bit more, or maybe that’s just me.

I did some research when we got back and just for a bit of background information for those reading, in June 1940, approx 10,000 members of 51^st Highland Division were taken prisoner following their surrender after a failed allied offensive in St Valery.  The majority (less some 130 odd who escaped en route), were marched to Germany and ended up in a Stalag XXA, a POW camp in Torun, Poland.  In 1945, after the Russians advanced, the camps were evacuated further west on the infamous ‘Long March’ and a number of the 51^st  Division ended up in Stalag XIB in Fallingbostel, Germany.  For those who don’t already know, we spent the last 5 years living in Fallingbostel...

Strange to think how our lives have ended up, thanks to the sacrifices made by these and other brave men.  We have a lot to be thankful for and we really are.

Dora's the one with the bike cover on the back!

The view from the memorial