Day Two - The Long Rain of Henry IV

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As much as I ended-up loving France, I mean Normandy, on this trip, there is one aspect of travel where the French fail miserably against their Germand and English competitors: breakfast. The French breakfasts were very good when we chose to have them but whereas the Brits and Krauts offer breakfast as part of the hotel or B&B price, the French choose to tack on the cost as an extra. 8 Euro per person for breakfast quickly adds up to $40 just for breakfast for our group of four. I guess you actually get your money's worth because the few times we did buy the breakfasts we were served big baguettes, croissants, jams, fresh Normandy butter, cheese, meats, cereal, coffee, tea, hot chocolate, fruit and yoghurt at our table, but for me breakfast is the least important meal of the day. I'd rather save that money for a nice lunch.

Our first morning in France we decided to forego the offered 7.50€ breakfast and start our long drive North toward Dieppe. Instead of taking the highway which would've gotten us there in an hour and a half, I had plotted a route through the more scenic hills and forests. Once we checked-out of the hotel and hauled our suitcases back to the underground parking lot we found a completely empty lot except for our Renault. The day before we had to wait for people to leave the lot to find a space.

Back on the road we headed right into a rainstorm. Nothing too intense and thankfully with temperatures well above freezing. It just made for a lousy day to take pictures. It wasn't long before the rest of the car was back asleep. I headed Northeast toward the town of Saint-Saenz. The Michelin green guide had noted that this was an interesting small town noted for its stone and brick buildings.

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Photos

Our Home Away from Home
Since we decided not to overpay for breakfast, once we were on the road and as soon as I spotted an open store, I made a pit stop. This would be our first of our almost daily shopping trips to Carrefour. Kind of like a French Walmart in some locations and like a Quickee Mart in others. No matter what size, they always had fresh bread, fruit and pre-fab sandwiches. On this particular day Cassie and I went with the chicken salad sandwich and Coke Zero. French Coke Zero tastes much sweeter than ours. (Photo borowed from Google Earth because I was not concious enough to take my own picture of the place).

Oops! I Don't Need this U/V Filter Now
After gulping down our on-the-go breakfasts (breakfast for 4 of us cost less than one hotel breakfast), we continued on taking the scenic route between Rouen and Dieppe. Saint Saens was to be the first of countless quaint, "charming" villages we'd drive through on this trip. Stupidly, I forgot that I had installed a filter on my camera lens to cut down on the sun's glare.

Like a Postcard
While Rouen was a pleasant little mid-sized city, Saint Saens was our first experience in a typical Normandy village. It seemed so totally different than any other place we had been in in France. In my haste to try to squeeze in as much as possible on this day I sped through this historically interesting little town. It seems the Norman Kings of England fought often in this area and burned down the town more than once.

Country Church in Le Bois Robert
Already my Garmin Nuvi was down to less than half a charge. It was getting very tough to follow my pre-planned driving route. We relied on the car's Tom Tom GPS most of the time instead, but it refused to take us on the scenic route we wanted. For some reason I had marked Le Bois Robert as a place we needed to see, but other than this little church there wasn't much to entertain us.

Scenic Overlook
We were about to leave town when we noticed a sign indicating "Panorama". I assumed that might be worth a brief detour. It wasn't too brief a detour and we ended up a couple of miles off course. However, the view over the flooding Varenne River was worth it. This was only the first day of contant rain; as our trip continued we saw more and more severe flooding.

Certainly Not the Jersey Shore
Before we really had the chance to enjoy the scenic route I supposedly put together, we were in Dieppe. My original reason for going here was to learn more about the Dieppe Raid of 1942. Canadian commandos were basically sacrificed in a ill-conceived raid on the German stronghold at Dieppe. Of the 6000 troops involved, more than 3600 were killed, captured or wounded. The intent was to test German defenses, steal intelligence, and to determine whether it would be possible to attack and hold a German port city for very long. The Allies also wanted to prove to the Russians that they were doing their part at a time when most of the fighting seemed concentrated in Eastern Europe. It was a miserable failure. So much so that there really is nothing of note left from that time. The town was never seized, important Allied documents were captured by the Germans instead and German treatment of POWs became more harsh as a result. Perhaps the one positive was that based on the ineptitude of the assault, they were far too confident in their own defenses along the Normandy coast.

I Bet It's Hoppin' in the Summer
This is the main drag of Dieppe along the shoreline. Plenty of parking but virtually no one was around on this day. We thought about parking closer to the shopping district but the traffic pattern was so odd that we never could find the actual downtown.

The White Cliffs of Dieppe
The same chalk cliffs that hover over Dover, England are present in this region of France. I would assume that this hill overlooking the port entrance and the town of Dieppe had to be heavily fortified during World War II. Since one of the goals of the raid was too destroy German radar, I would think that there would've been a station right where today's modern radar stands.

Pebble Beach
This is nothing like our beaches here in the US. Like Dover, England, Dieppe Beach is nothing but thick layers of round pebbles. Slippery and very difficult to walk through.

Another Strategic Vantage Point
The opposite end of the beach in Dieppe also has a high bluff overlooking the beachfront. Somewhere along these cliffs the Germans had built artillery batteries capable of shelling any British approach from the sea. They were also objectives of the failed raid.

Old Town Gatehouse
Also known as "les Tourelles" this is the only surviving section of the medieval town wall. During the French Revolution it was a prison. Now it's a private home.

Château de Dieppe
This castle strategically place above the town dates from the 15th Century. It is now the city museum filled with items from Dieppe's maritime history.

Varangeville Church
Leaving Dieppe my non-functioning Garmin was supposed to take us along the coastline through towns recommended in my green Michelin guide for Normandy. Instead we set the car's Tom Tom unit to take us toward Saint Valery-en-Caux where our hotel for the next two nights was located. We ignored most of the instructions given by the GPS and followed the coastline West. Somewhere along the way we stopped seeing water to our right so we pointed the car North and somehow ended-up on a narrow road leading to this church.

We Never Found It
We might have decided to just turn around and go back but I saw this green sign which piqued my interest. Gail and I got out of the car in the pouring rain intent on finding WWII graves. We looked all around the church traversing the well-kept cemetery numerous times, but could not find what we thought would be a section of British or Canadian graves. I later read that there was just one British soldier interned here: Lance Corporal Matthew Millar of the Seaforth Highlanders. Aged 21. This corner of Normandy was not part of the D-Day invasion, but saw much action in 1940 as the Germans were expelling the British and French armies off the Continent.

The Raindrops Keep Falling on Our Heads
As we got wetter and wetter then noticed that absolutely no one else seemed to be in the area we decided to try to get out of the wet by going inside the church. It took us a few tries to find an open door.

They Still Remember
What made this little church graveyard so unique was the beautiful contrast between the beach gravel ground and the ultra-shiny tombstones. I never saw a graveyard with so little erosion on the gravemarkers. A male member of this family was apparently a soldier.

Quite a View
Too bad the weather was so dismal. My photo fails to capture how high above the Channel we actually were and what a commanding view of the beach there was. Somewhere out there on one of the bluffs was the big Germany artillery battery at Pourville-sur-Mer. Acoording to the History Channel: "The forces in the western sector attacked with some degree of surprise. In contrast to the misfortune encountered by the No. 3 Commandos on the east flank, the No. 4 Commando operation was completely successful. The units landed as planned and successfully destroyed the guns in the battery near Varengeville, and then withdrew safely.
At Pourville the Canadians surprised the enemy. Initial opposition was light, as the South Saskatchewan Regiment and Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders of Canada assaulted the beaches. Resistance intensified as the Saskatchewans, supported by Camerons, crossed the River Scie. After heavy fighting, they were stopped well short of the town of Dieppe. The main force of the Camerons, meanwhile, pushed on towards their objective, an inland airfield, and advanced three kilometres before they were forced to halt as well. Both regiments then attempted to withdraw."

Inside St. Valery's
The flash from my camera makes the interior of the church appear much brighter than it actually was. In fact, we could barely find our way around inside because of the darkness. Then I found a lightswitch on one of the religious paintings.

Comments

[Home and Away]

"But for me breakfast is the least important meal of the day..."
I just started Following you, and have read big chunks of your blogs and then just the lead paragraphs of others. I would estimate that 99% of your blogs start with the detailed description of what was served for breakfast. Any breakfast without eggs is inferior. Just saying that perhaps you are fanatical about breakfast! Anyway, I'm enjoying your travels and look forward to reading more...the last blog was awhile ago.

[Zigeuner]

Breakfasts
Coincidently my favorite European breakfasts are served in Germany and the UK. Both include eggs whereas you don't see any style eggs in French, Spanish, or Italian breakfasts. I give a slight nod to the Brits over the Germans just because they know how to serve thick, chewy bacon.