Normandy - Juno Beach and La Pommeraye

We left La Louviere after three wonderful nights and headed to our next destination, Chateau  De La Pommeraye near Clecy, Calvados.

A detour to visit Chateau d'O (sadly not yet open for the season) and the Tiger Tank at Vimoutiers added a bit to the drive but we didn't mind as driving in the French countryside is a treat when the weather is as perfect as it was.

Before arriving at our B&B we also stopped for a lunch of moules mariniers at an odd roadside restaurant.

Being the only patrons there (there had been a few others but we arrived late) we ended up chatting with the little old lady that ran the place.

Inevitably she hit it off with Christos and ended up giving him a record of Pierre Spiers, of which she had a stack of perhaps a half dozen for sale at 2 euros each, as a parting gift.

We also popped into a small Calvados producer that had been in operation since 1769 but was just a family business. Inevitably a bottle came home with us.

We arrived at our next B&B in the late afternoon and booked dinner at the Chateau. Dinner was very good with wonderful grilled shrimp, (superb) scallops, risotto and (of course) cheese followed by an after dinner calvados for Christos.

As there were few guests and Alexander the manager (owner?) liked Canadians, he upgraded us to a suite!

The Chateau and grounds were simply lovely and idyllic with tame horses nearby, a walk along a "roman road" to a nearby ruined castle (we opted not to enter as it was undergoing excavations), a fish pond, gorgeous common rooms on the first floor filled with art and books, rooms with amazing views, nearby tame horses and the calm serenity of the country.

The next day we headed off to visit Juno Beach, the site of the Allied landing in Normandy on June 6, 1944.  Juno Beach had been stormed by (amongst others) Canadian troops and it was quite a costly landing. We visited the museum and then toured an old German fortification, part of which had only been uncovered in 2010.



After the moving experience at Juno Beach, we headed to Bayeux to see the famous tapestry as well as the lovely cathedral followed by a wander through the quaint old town.

We made it back to the B&B with enough time to rest a bit before it was time to head to nearby Pont D'Ouilly for dinner we had the best meal of our entire time in France! It was in fact one of the best meals we have ever had ....

The restaurant was the Pomme D'Ouilly and Lisa started with foie gras (superb) while Christos had a parsnip veloute with bacon and raspberry (!?) that was amazing. Lisa had an amazing cut of beef with a wonderful spicy sauce while Christos had five lovely scallops served with a side of mashed celery as entrees. Desert was a wonderful poached pear for Lisa and a two mousse chocolate cake for Christos.

We stayed up late sitting by the Chateau's fish pond drinking wine, chatting and listening to the sounds of the countryside before retiring to bed and watching a little "Rick and Morty" on the iPad until we both drifted off.

The next day was a Sunday and we opted for a visit to a nearby lookout and hiking park called Roch D'Oetre.

The view from the rock was stellar and the hike down into the ravine, along the Rouvre river and then out into the countryside before arriving back at the start was a wonderful 6.7km, 2 hour trek.

After a brief lunch of fries and beer (water only for Lisa) we decided to do another small (1.8 km) hike down into the ravine and back out.

Finally at 5PM we attended about a 1/2 hour of a concert given by a Anglo-Rock Duo known as Potlatch. Quite fun but we had to get back to the B&B with enough time to freshen up and rest before dinner so we could not stay for the 2 hour event!

We arrived back at La Pommeraye for a bit of relaxation before our 8PM reservation at a different local restaurant called La Gavotine (as Pomme D'Ouilly was closed this evening) where we had a wonderful meal. Christos started with the home smoked salmon which he loved so much that he ordered a take away portion for lunch the next day! Lisa started with escargot, a French classic. We both had the slow roasted pork with potatoes, veg and gravy. All very rustic and excellent stuff; perfect after our day hiking in the sun!

Then it was back to La Pommeraye for another evening outside with wine before retiring to bed in preparation for the next day's drive east towards Paris.