My greatest cycle ride: the D Day landing beaches

I have enjoyed my cycling more this summer than I have for years. However it was two years ago that I completed my best ride ever. I entered a solo challenge to ride 200 km in Normandy taking in the main D Day landing beaches. I drove down to Portsmouth and caught the night ferry to Caen. With only a brief sleep I began the first leg of the cycle to Bayeux: that proved a magical experience spinning rapidly through the flat Normandy countryside and seeing the twin towers of the cathedral appear from the morning mists. To prove I did the ride I had to get my card stamped and timed at various shops and offices en route. The rest of the ride went well apart from a spell near Juno beach when I was hopelessly lost and my attempts to get directions in French were laughable and embarrassing. As darkness fell I pedalled back into Caen (or more accurately the port town of Ouistreham) to celebrate with beer and cakes. Then it was the night ferry once again back to Portsmouth.

Countless memorials can be seen marking the allied invasion of Normandy in June 1944.