Dear All,
As some of you may know, I run annual battlefield tours to Normandy for cadets and I've also run the odd private tour and research trip for friends and family (as Eclaireur will attest). As a consequence, an increasing number of wargaming friends have asked if I'd run something similar for wargamers.
What I therefore propose is a four-day tour sometime in May or June 2015 (avoiding the 6th June anniversary to reduce costs) – travelling out on a Thursday and then touring on the Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday before travelling back on the Tuesday. Alternatively, this could be reduced to a three-day tour, just concentrating on D-Day itself.
Here's my rough itinerary:
Day 1: Arrival and hit the bright lights of Bayeux.
Day 2: Pegasus Bridge & Museum, Ranville Cemetery, Merville Battery, Cafe Gondree, Strongpoint Hillman, Sword Beach (Hermanville), Juno Beach (Bernieres), Gold Beach (Ver), Creully, Crepon.
Day 3: Longues-sur-Mer Battery, Omaha Beach (Easy/Fox & WN62), US Cemetery, Omaha Beach Museum, Omaha Beach (Dog), Pointe du Hoc Battery, Bayeux Cemetery.
Day 4: La Cambes German Cemetery, Crisbecq Battery, Utah Beach (Dunes de Varraville), Utah Beach (La Madelline), Brecourt Manor, Ste Mere Eglise, Airborne Museum, Dead Man's Corner Museum.
Day 5: Cristot, Lingevres, Villers-Bocage, Hill 112, Grimbosq, Falaise, St Lambert-sur-Dives, Chambois, Mont Ormel, The Vimoutiers Tiger, St Aignan-de-Cramesnil, Bourguebus.
Day 6: Arromanches & sail home
As mentioned above, we can cut this down by a day. I can also completely re-write it on the hoof to suit the interest an/or mood of the group. Day 5 in particular, is very flexible indeed.
Yes, the programme is fairly packed – FAR more so than most commercial battlefield tours – but this is roughly the itinerary I run for 30-40 cadets, so I know that it's eminently possible.
In terms of cost; this is not my business so I'll run it purely for the fun of it, at cost. Assuming a rendezvous at Portsmouth, it'll cost around £80.00 GBP-£100 per head for the ferry crossing (approx £300.00 GBP-400 per car) and then approx £50.00 GBP per head for fuel. There are plenty of very good B&B options in Bayeux for around £60.00 GBP-80 per night. Total cost of museum tickets will be about £30.00 GBP-£50. So all in all around £550.00 GBP, though I've taken the worst possible prices, so it might work out less. We can do lunch cheaply enough by grabbing a load of baguettes and packs of sliced cheese, meat, etc from LeClerc's on our way out of Bayeux each morning.
Note that this assumes us taking private cars (or just my car!). I could hire an 8-seater or a small coach, though that might add cost.
Alternatively, there is always the camping option at the excellent Chateau de Martragny campsite, which is what I do with cadets – that will considerably reduce the accommodation costs.
I'll leave evening meals up to individuals – there are lots of restaurants in Bayeux doing superb three-course set menus for a very reasonable £13.00 GBP-£20, though you can always pay more, of course.
So if you're interested please do drop me a line with your e-mail address. I should be able to firm up dates within a few days. I'll be able to give more exact costings once I know the level of interest.
