June 13 Day 4 – Granville to Canisy

June 13 Day 4 – Granville to Canisy – 49 miles, 1000’ elevation gain

Here are a few things I forgot to mention yesterday. Granville calls itself “the Monaco of the North.” From my impression of the city, that sounds rather grandiose, but I only saw a small portion of it.

Secondly, Granville is the birthplace of fashion designer, Christian Dior. Yes, it okay to yawn now. His museum is near our hotel. I did not go.

More interestingly, after WWII ended, some really zealous Nazis who were stationed in the nearby Channel Islands. Even after all other areas were captured, the Nazis in the Channel Islands refused to surrender. Some escaped to Granville and briefly retook the town.

Today we traveled to the town of Canisy. Along the way we rode on many narrow, low-traffic roads, with unending undulating hills. Some of them were so narrow that they reminded me of woodlot roads in the Adirondacks. None of them were particularly difficult with grades varying from 5 to 10%.

There were three noteworthy highlights today. First, was visiting the remains of Abbaye d’Hambye a lovely 12th century Benedictine medieval monument. The skeleton of it remains and it is quite impressive. How such a marvelous building was built in the 1100’s is an engineering marvel. See some pictures of it below.

Secondly, was a visit to another German military cemetery at Marigny. It was first used by American authority to bury its dead and German dead that had been killed in the ‘Bocage’ gridlock. Some American units were within 8km / 5mi of Saint-Lo by June 13^th (following the June 6 Allied invasion at Normandy Beach). It would take another month to move that last stretch, in the labyrinth of hedgerows. The German war graves commission started relocating its dead to Marigny in 1957. The grave markers here are flat, with generally two names on each, or unknown. Groups of crosses are dispersed across the burial site in an ornamental manner. The total burial is 11,169 people.

Our description of today’s ride states, “Many of the 11,172 soldiers buried there belonged to the Panzer-Lehr Division. Allied bombing almost wiped out the Division during the Battle of St-Lô on July 25, 1944.

Over 2,000 allied bombers launched a massive air raid between St-Lô and Périers in order to break the German lines. The American Infantry managed to dismantle the first German lines despite the counter-attack of the Panzer Division. They then progressed towards La Chapelle-en-Juger, where they linked up with other regiments.

The German survivors withdrew to Marigny, where they put up a fierce resistance. However, the 3rd Armored tanks and Infantry defeated them the next day. La Chapelle-en-Juger was reduced to a pile of rubble but was free!

This attack was part of the Operation Cobra-La Percee, the great break through the Cotentin Peninsula conducted by the U.S. troops from July 25 to 31, 1944.”

I looked at many of the gravestones which each contained two German men. According to the birthdates on them, many of these men were only 19 years old. What a tragedy that so many men lost their lives. See some pictures of the cemetery below.

Lastly, our lodging for tonight is an authentic castle, also from the 1100’s. Château de Canisy is not as impressive as castles in the Loire Valley but is impressive by any standard. See pictures of it below. The owner of the castle gave us a history of it, including occupation of it by German officers during WWII. Except for those few years, the castle has been owned by members of her family for the last 1000 years!