Last week, on the beaches of Normandy, the last of them returned.
The 82nd Anniversary of D-Day was commemorated 12 days ago, June 6th at Sword Beach and among the dignitaries, the flags, and the solemn ceremonies, a handful of men in their late nineties made the journey one more time. The youngest soldiers who stormed those beaches in 1944 are now 96 or older. Each year the numbers diminish. Each year the ceremonies carry a little more weight, a little more urgency – the quiet understanding that we are running out of time to stand beside the people who were actually there.
Our Allies Odyssey is on the road right now, pedalling through those same Normandy lanes, past the hedgerows and the cemeteries and the small roadside memorials that appear around every corner. It is not a history lesson – for many of our riders, this is personal territory, the fields and lanes where their fathers or grandfathers fought. For those without that direct connection, the ground makes its own case – it is impossible to cycle past these places and remain a stranger to them.
Today our Allies riders roll from Honfleur to Rouen, resting in the beautiful 5* Hotel de Bourgtheroulde and Spa. A classic 15th-century listed historic property in the heart of the ancient capital of Normandy.
