Normandy: Visiting Redington at his new home in the UK
The week of Oct 24th I went over to the UK to visit Redington during his Autumn break. His school is year round and he has three extra one week breaks scattered through out the year. I was anxious to see how he was getting on and very excited at the prospect of seeing him again.
This is the first of a set of seven posts on our Normandy trip. I apologize for the length. We did a lot in one day. I hope you find it interesting.
For the vacation Redington suggested we visit Normandy and see the D-Day beaches and museums. He is a huge military history buff. The days before the visit I had bought a copy of Stephen Ambrose's D-DAY. Redington began reading chapters on the way to Normandy. He would finish the book by the end of the trip. It provided some illuminating context for our travels. As you will see we visited exactly places described in the book and read stories from both the defenders and attackers what happened in that exact location.
Redington lives north of London in the town of Bedford. The map below gives you an idea where it is. Remember you can click on any image to enlarge it.
Map of England with Bedford
A little more can be garnered from the next picture from Google Earth. The aerial photo shows Bedford on the Great Ouse River and the marina where Redington lives. He lives with his mother on a barge in a marina.
Bedford from Google Earth
Here is a closer view of the marina. The photo was taken some time ago as the marina is quite a bit more crowded than shown in this photo.
Priory Marina
I arrived a little before 9:00 AM and got a chance to look around. It was a strange feeling to be meeting my son in a place I had never been to before.
Priory Marina where Redington's new home is
The barge he lives on is near the end of a locked dock. You could see evidence of the
difference in living here with bicylces crowded onto the railing.
Redington's 'street'
Shortly later Redington came out accompanied by his mother. He was grinning sheepishly when he saw me. I think we were both struck by the oddity of this place of reunion. Certainly I was. I was so happy to see him again. He already looked taller and bigger since I had seen him last when I dropped him at Los Angeles.
The Grace and Favour Redington's new home (red with black hull) If you look carefully to the right you can see swans that Redington often discusses seeing.
This is a picture Redington took with his phone of the swans and cignets.
Here he is with his new friends from earlier in the summer. If I remember correctly their names are James, James, and Jake.
Well after a look around the place we had to get going. We had to get to Abbeville, France today about 250 miles away. The Europeans are not doing their part to warm the globe like us Americans so I felt compelled to create some extra greenhouse gases while I was there. At $7.00 a gallon it takes a serious commitment to climate change to make an impact though.
English countryside
After driving down the east side of London we headed south and finally to Dover. We started out in nice sunny weather though by the time we hit Dover they were finishing with the remnants of a gale.
Waiting at Dover for the ferry
We had to wait for a ferry as some had been cancelled. It was surprising to note the ferry traffic was strong despite the Chunnel.
Redington reads Stephen Ambrose's D-Day while we wait for the ferry. Because of the gale there were 4-5 foot seas and the passage was rough. With my propensity for motion sickness I spent all my time staring at the horizon. Redington read and talked for a while until he too stopped everything as he became nauseous.
This is Redington's photo of the cliffs of Dover as we leave.
After an hour we could see France and another ferry heading back to Dover.
Our mirror ferry heading for Dover
The French shore at Calais
after disembarking I oriented myself now to driving on the correct side of the road but in a car with the steering wheel on the wrong side.
French Countryside
Now we had to make our way down to Abbeville, scene of another famous WWII battle after D-Day. It would also take use through the Somme region famous for the horrendous casualties that occurred there in WWI.
Here is the town of Etaples. The region of the Somme and Picardie were incomparably beautiful. Farmland dotted with church spires, small French villages, and rivers and wetlands. Unfortunately we were on a timetable to our objective and I was racing against jet-lag; at 130 km/hr.
Pont du Seine
At the Pont du Seine we paid a toll to cross the massive bridge. Here Hitler thought the invasion would happen north of the Seine and he positioned his troops accordingly. The allies were not going to disabuse him of this notion so they set in motion operation Fortitude; an elaborate decoy involving inflatable tanks in Britain, and explosive laden dummies dropped from parachutes on D-day. It worked beyond expectation.
French House near Abbeville
Here we near the quaint village of Abbeville. We stayed at he Hotel de France in the center of town. Strolled around town, had a French dinner before heading off to bed, tired after a long day.
This is the first of a set of seven posts on our Normandy trip. I apologize for the length. We did a lot in one day. I hope you find it interesting.
For the vacation Redington suggested we visit Normandy and see the D-Day beaches and museums. He is a huge military history buff. The days before the visit I had bought a copy of Stephen Ambrose's D-DAY. Redington began reading chapters on the way to Normandy. He would finish the book by the end of the trip. It provided some illuminating context for our travels. As you will see we visited exactly places described in the book and read stories from both the defenders and attackers what happened in that exact location.
Redington lives north of London in the town of Bedford. The map below gives you an idea where it is. Remember you can click on any image to enlarge it.
Map of England with Bedford
A little more can be garnered from the next picture from Google Earth. The aerial photo shows Bedford on the Great Ouse River and the marina where Redington lives. He lives with his mother on a barge in a marina.
Bedford from Google Earth
Here is a closer view of the marina. The photo was taken some time ago as the marina is quite a bit more crowded than shown in this photo.
Priory Marina
I arrived a little before 9:00 AM and got a chance to look around. It was a strange feeling to be meeting my son in a place I had never been to before.
Priory Marina where Redington's new home is
The barge he lives on is near the end of a locked dock. You could see evidence of the
difference in living here with bicylces crowded onto the railing.
Redington's 'street'
Shortly later Redington came out accompanied by his mother. He was grinning sheepishly when he saw me. I think we were both struck by the oddity of this place of reunion. Certainly I was. I was so happy to see him again. He already looked taller and bigger since I had seen him last when I dropped him at Los Angeles.
The Grace and Favour Redington's new home (red with black hull) If you look carefully to the right you can see swans that Redington often discusses seeing.
This is a picture Redington took with his phone of the swans and cignets.
Here he is with his new friends from earlier in the summer. If I remember correctly their names are James, James, and Jake.
Well after a look around the place we had to get going. We had to get to Abbeville, France today about 250 miles away. The Europeans are not doing their part to warm the globe like us Americans so I felt compelled to create some extra greenhouse gases while I was there. At $7.00 a gallon it takes a serious commitment to climate change to make an impact though.
English countryside
After driving down the east side of London we headed south and finally to Dover. We started out in nice sunny weather though by the time we hit Dover they were finishing with the remnants of a gale.
Waiting at Dover for the ferry
We had to wait for a ferry as some had been cancelled. It was surprising to note the ferry traffic was strong despite the Chunnel.
Redington reads Stephen Ambrose's D-Day while we wait for the ferry. Because of the gale there were 4-5 foot seas and the passage was rough. With my propensity for motion sickness I spent all my time staring at the horizon. Redington read and talked for a while until he too stopped everything as he became nauseous.
This is Redington's photo of the cliffs of Dover as we leave.
After an hour we could see France and another ferry heading back to Dover.
Our mirror ferry heading for Dover
The French shore at Calais
after disembarking I oriented myself now to driving on the correct side of the road but in a car with the steering wheel on the wrong side.
French Countryside
Now we had to make our way down to Abbeville, scene of another famous WWII battle after D-Day. It would also take use through the Somme region famous for the horrendous casualties that occurred there in WWI.
Here is the town of Etaples. The region of the Somme and Picardie were incomparably beautiful. Farmland dotted with church spires, small French villages, and rivers and wetlands. Unfortunately we were on a timetable to our objective and I was racing against jet-lag; at 130 km/hr.
Pont du Seine
At the Pont du Seine we paid a toll to cross the massive bridge. Here Hitler thought the invasion would happen north of the Seine and he positioned his troops accordingly. The allies were not going to disabuse him of this notion so they set in motion operation Fortitude; an elaborate decoy involving inflatable tanks in Britain, and explosive laden dummies dropped from parachutes on D-day. It worked beyond expectation.
French House near Abbeville
Here we near the quaint village of Abbeville. We stayed at he Hotel de France in the center of town. Strolled around town, had a French dinner before heading off to bed, tired after a long day.
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