We woke up this morning to a real pea-souper - could barely see to the opposite side of the car park through the fog. This changed our plans for the day! Originally we were going to get on the bikes and head out to the D-Day landing beaches. With the heavy fog around we decided to explore Bayeux and visit the beaches later in the day when we expected the fog to lift.

After breakfast in a Patisserrie we wandered over to Bayeux Cathedral. The spires were hidden by the fog but we were going to explore the inside - no fog in there. Bayeux Cathedral is also known as the Cathedral of Our Lady of Bayeux This cathedral is a mix of Gothic, Romanesque and Norman architecture. It was consecrated in the presence of William the Conqueror in July 1077. Amazingly, the massive structure was untouched during the events of June 1944.

When we came out of the cathedral the fog had lifted a little, but not enough so we decided to visit La Tapisserie de Bayeux. This tapestry is a 70 metre long embroidery that tells the tale of the conquest of England in 1066 by William Duke of Normandie, late to become King. This unique work is considered as one of the first comic strips in history. The tapestry depicts more than 600 characters, 200 horses, forty ships and hundreds of animal and mythological creature - truly amazing. No photos were allowed near the tapestry but we got photos of some examples of what was on the tapestry on the walls of the museum.

Still too much fog when we had finished at the tapestry so we set off to check out the Musee Memorial Bataille de Normandie. This museum is dedicated to the events of D-Day and the time that followed. It presents a month by month retell of the military operations of the region between 7th June and 29th August 1944. Displays were of uniforms, artillery, military vehicles and information about all aspect of D-Day.

After finishing at the Museum the fog had lifted enough for us to get on the bikes and go to see what we had really come for. Greg and I have visited this area 3 times but this visit was for Christopher who has not been here before. As it was still quite foggy we decided to visit the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial first.

The cemetery is located at Colleville-sur-Mer, above Omaha Beach where American Infantry divisions landed on June 6th 1944. The cemetery is huge and includes statues, gardens, memorials, a chapel and the graves of 9387 American soldiers who fell in combat. The headstones are made of white marble and are laid out in perfectly straight lines no matter which way you look at them. Each headstone had a French and American flag planted in front of it and some had flowers that had been laid by visitors. The Garden of the Missing has a wall where the names of 1557 soldiers with no known resting place are engraved. Some notable graves are those of 2 of the 4 Niland brothers featured in the movie Saving Private Ryan, the brothers are buried side by side. Another grave featured is that of Brigadier General Theodore Roosevelt Jr, a Medal of Honour winner and son of President Theodore Roosevelt. You can not help but be moved by this cemetery.

We then visited the center of Omaha Beach where there are two impressive monuments. Les Braves memorial is located right on the beach in the sand and represents three things: The Wings of Hope, Rise of Freedom and the Wings of Fraternity - very impressive. The other monument is on the shore and is far more traditional.

The German Gun Bettery of Longues-sur-Mar was next. It includes a firing command post and four reinforced concrete pillbxes with a long range artillery piece of 150mm. This historic site is well preserved and you can climb in behind the guns for a look. We headed back to Bayeux for the night and a list of places still to visit in the morning.

Sunday was our last day in France so we had a bit of a sleep in and breakfast before heading off for a little more history. Our first stop was at Arromanches to see the remains of the artificial Mulberry harbour built by the Allies. The Mulberries were to enable the landing of vehilcles and supplies to the beaches. In 100 days, 220 000 soldiers, 530 000 tonnes of supplies and 30 000 vehicles were landed at "Port Winston". The remains of the concrete caissons are still clearly visible off the shore.

Juno Beach at Courseuelles-sur-Mer was our next stop. This was the beach the Canadians landed on D-Day and as Chris has close connections to Canada so we thought this was a 'must see' for him! The Juno Beach Center details the role which Canada played during the Second World War, particularly in Normandy.

Our last visit for the day was Pegasus Bridge. This was where the men of the British Airborne Division were the first to set foot on the soil of Normandy during Operation Overlord on the night of 5th/6th June 1944 when they captured the Pagasus Bridge at Benouville.

History'd out we headed to our hotel to prepare for our ferry trip to Portsmouth in the morning. Our hotel is only about 500m from the ferry terminal so it won't have to be up too early for our 8.30 am departure.