Plages du débarquement - Mt St-Michel
Destination « The D-Day beaches »
This unique véloroute, or special cycle path, links two of Normandy's most iconic sights. It starts at the D-Day beaches, where the Allied troops famously landed in June 1944 in order to overthrow the German forces occupying France. It then takes you west to the glorious vision of the Mont St-Michel, the famed island crowned by a stunning medieval monastery. The route allows you to explore the two Normandy départements (or counties) of Calvados and Manche. Immerse yourself in the typical Norman atmosphere of this exceptional cycle path, which takes you along via beautiful, now-tranquil hedgerows, hills and valleys.
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Utah Beach La Ferrière-Harang (viaduc de la Souleuvre) [113 km]
Utah Beach > Carentan > St-Jean-de-Daye > St-Lô > Condé-sur-Vire > Pont-Farcy > La Ferrière-Harang- Family from Carentan to St-Jean-de-Daye and from St-Jean-de-Daye to St-Lô and from St-Lô to Condé-sur-Vire and from Condé-sur-Vire to Pont-Farcy
- Intermediate from Utah Beach to Carentan
- Expert from Pont-Farcy to La Ferrière-Harang
Utah Beach, one of the famed D-Day landing beaches of June 1944, acts as your assembly point before you set out along quiet country roads without much traffic. The charming town of Carentan with its medieval vestiges, a marina and small heritage delights (including medieval arches and an old washhouse) marks the meeting point between the Tour de Manche and Plages du Débarquement au Mont Saint-Michel cycle routes. So this cycling adventure starts in parts crammed full of history.
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Arromanches-les-Bains > La Ferrière-Harang (viaduc de la Souleuvre) [80 km]
Arromanches-les-Bains > Port-en-Bessin > Bayeux > Tilly-sur-Seulles > Villers-Bocage > La Ferrière-Harang- Intermediate from Arromanches-les-Bains to Port-en-Bessin and from Bayeux to Tilly-sur-Seulles and from Tilly-sur-Seulles to Villers-Bocage and from Villers-Bocage to La Ferrière-Harang
The Véloroute Plages du Débarquement Mont Saint-Michel leads you along ways packed full of history, notably relating to the Second World War Battle of Normandy. The city of Bayeux was mercifully spared by air raids then and has retained much of its charming medieval atmosphere. As you cycle through the local countryside on this section, you can admire the glorious, typical architecture of the area around Bayeux known as the Bessin and take in the beautiful fields and hedgerows of the area known as the Bocage Normand. It all feels so quintessentially Norman, with its centuries-old pasturelands, its grazing cows and its delightful valleys through which many rivers flow.
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La Ferrière-Harang (viaduc de la Souleuvre) > Mortain [60.8 km]
La Ferrière-Harang > Vire > Sourdeval > Mortain- Family from Vire to Sourdeval and from Sourdeval to Mortain
- Intermediate from La Ferrière-Harang to Vire
Here you arrive in the Vire Valley, renowned for its undulating banks and spectacular gorges. In the midst of the area's countryside with its typical Norman patchwork of fields divided by hedgerows, don't miss the Roches de Ham, rising some 100m above the river, forming a vertiginous rocky cliff.
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Mortain > Le Mont St-Michel [65 km]
Mortain > St-Hilaire-du-Harcouët > Ducey > Mont-Saint-Michel- Family from Mortain to St-Hilaire-du-Harcouët
- Intermediate from St-Hilaire-du-Harcouët to Ducey and from Ducey to Mont-Saint-Michel
Head westwards for the home straight on this route between the D-Day landing beaches and the Mont St-Michel. Enjoy the typically Norman fields and hedgerows at a gentle pace as you follow a disused railway line. The final greenway runs alongside the Couesnon River and allows you to keep in your sights, for a good long way, the timeless UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Mont St-Michel itself.
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