Normandie & UK Day 4

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Reasonable night's sleep, but of course this IS a picnic area by a fairly busy road - one which never really fell silent.

A bit more coming and going during the morning, but by lunchtime the place was starting to fill up with people from all over Europe. We spotted number plates from UK, France, Holland, Belgium, Denmark, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Czech Rep, and Poland.
First, a random Spitfire went through its paces.Then, a display by French paras, jumping with WW2 round 'chutes from several squadrons of aeroplanes. Some that looked like C130 Hercules, others (I think) C160 Transall. Plus the odd Dakota to whet our appetites for later.Bit of a delay after these warm-up acts (which the Brits and French will doubtless both blame each other for), so the main event was much nearer 19.00 than the advertised 17.30.But at last, around 30 Dakotas (which had flown together from Duxford) arrived, and each of them dropped between 7 and 12 parachutists, all using those authentic round canopies.It was a sight (and sound) to behold, and to remember.But also to remind us of the very different situation facing those who did this 75 years ago, and what they achieved for the whole of our continent."Lest we forget."(Sorry the pics aren't brilliant, but I'm afraid my priority was the experience, rather than photography)





Once it was all over, we headed off to the Aire at Dives sur Mer, half an hour away (except that the amount of traffic on the roads, including an amazing number of WW2 vehicles, meant it tool a little longer).

496 km, so 24 today

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