Pegasus Bridge and Memorial

 

Saturday 14th June 2025

It was quite a storm we had yesterday evening, thunder, lightning and giant hailstones which were quite scary as I thought they might have shattered the skylights being fairly elderly and maybe a bit brittle ?

But I need not have worried, we escaped unscathed.

Unlike some nearby trees which had their leaves shredded by the hailstones and we were showered in a swirling blizzard of leaves, rain and hail.

But thankfully everything was fine, most of the storm was just after tea with a less violent storm about 9pm.

By nightfall it had all quietened down.

It had all stopped by about 10pm and we woke to a fresher day this morning with sun and intermittent clouds.

I decided to get my bike out and go for a cycle along the sea front path and back to Pegasus Bridge in Benouville. 

An interesting read here

What became apparent is the whole of this coast is lined with memorials to the fallen of D Day 1944.

Some large, some small, but all very moving.

The original bridge was built in 1934 and now froms the center piece of the nearby Pegasus Memorial after it was moved.

The present bridge was built in 1994 and like the original bridge, is a Bascule design.

The memorial museum is interesting with lots of memorabilia and even a replica of the Horsa gliders that were used to transport British troops to the bridge in order to secure it in the first wave of the D Day landings.

The original Horsas used mostly crashed on landing, and the locals recycled the wreckage. Being nearly all timber, canvas and plywood construction, I expect they were burned as fire wood.

The new Pegasus bridge

And the original Pegasus bridge in the museum

The Horsa Glider

It was an interesting cycle ride and a visit to the local fish market at Ouistreham revealed some interesting sights of fresh lobsters and crabs. 

After lunch we had a walk along the sea front and a delicious ice cream was enjoyed  🍦 

One of the Villas named for Louis !

There's a marathon being run tomorrow and it passes the Aire we're parked on so the road outside will be closed until 1115.

When it reopens we'll continue our trip heading further west along the coast road.