Back in the car, to the D-Day Museum at Arromaches. As per plan, I was there mega-early so initially it was nice and quiet ! It’s been built with panoramic windows looking out over the beach where all the happened. Apart from the “usual” displays and cinema/video presentations, there were some excellent working scale models of the various type of caissons, wharfs and causeways that made up the working part of the harbour. Very interesting from an engineering point of view as it showed how they were able to compensate for the tides, weather,etc. Models made by Bassett-Lowke, who in my day made 00 gauge train sets. Also very useful was that presentations were made in both English and French – loads of English speaking visitors on the day I went, so just as well.
Then on to Thouars to see my sister Alison and brother in law Steve. a 4 hour drag down the autoroute punctuated by the compulsory lunch stop at the services at Alencon. Reason being that they have a Paul Patisserie. It’s roughly half way to Thouars, so both humans and car get re-fuelled. A bit pricey, but ALWAYS absolutely sumptuous. By now the temperature had got to 30 Deg C, so my traditional gourmet feast was taken outside under the trees.
The idea was to have a few days R + R before I plunged into 4 days of completely selfish, self indulgent and all-absorbing days at the Le Mans Classic race meeting. It worked ! They have an outdoor pool, so with respect of the high temperatures, I was in !
Shopping, there’s always shopping….. my contribution to the French economy was to buy a new bike pump and a new electric razor at Super U !!!
On the Thursday, went for lunch at the Restaraunt Le Lac with Alison and Steve, together with their friend Helen. As it suggests, it overlooking a lake. So busy eating and talking, that I forgot to take any pix…….. Some good ones on their website. See link above. Very nice, in the middle of nowhere near Argentonnay.