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Must say yesterday was a cool day for me. Was pretty tuckered when I got back....but the lounge called me. Kinda weird seems all the hotels here are saving money on bar staff...whoever works the night desk...also works the bar..so you have to find him when you want a drink. So I found the dude and had a few drinks before hitting the hay. Had no idea where I was going the next day when I woke up.
Beautiful day...the birds were chirping n all that .... felt bad I had to leave Trouville...its a cool town...old...lots of history...windy narrow roads....old buildings...pubs and cafes...oh heck I just described almost every town I've seen so far here LOL.
So did the normal ritual....hosed off to make meself presentable to others....and hit the breakfast....sure would like some bacon though...its been a while. I then commenced to pondering where to go.....and Amiens popped into me head. So found a hotel.....and that was that. It is halfway to Calais where i need to catch the train on Friday. It is suppose to have a cool cathedral....dig walking around cathedrals....I think it was built in like the year 1000.....that is old in my books. So I took a look at the map...and heyyyyyyy Dieppe is sort of on the way...except for all the extra miles to get there.....by going the wrong way. Hmmm hell ya I said....
History lesson time yet again.....Okay...this is an interesting one as only recently has the truth of what Dieppe was about did come to light. Dieppe was a raid conducted by Lord Mountbatten...of the British Admiralty...and he used Canadians.....to do what was to be the first raid on Germany in France. So long story short....we went in for this lightening raid...into what was a German strong hold and got annihilated. Sadly a lot of Canadians were killed that day and the rest captured, for the longest time it was questioned and seen as a total farce that they used us for cannon fodder. Welllll turns out I saw something not to long ago about Dieppe where they uncovered a bunch of secret documents and really went through the whole raid bit by bit. An important point came up....
Ian Fleming...yup of James bond stuff...was there...on a boat just off shore...this caused a lot of questions as he was super important and knew a ton of secrets...he was the head of SAS which became MI5 I believe (again jump in to correct me if I mix up a fact here) this made him an asset that could not be captured by the Germans....why was he there then...at risk..... turns out the whole raid was a massive diversion. The goal was to get another raiding party into the German Naval HQ building to ransack it and get the Enigma machine and code books.....this is what the Germans used to transmit messages encrypted....and was almost impossible to break the code.
Well sadly the mission was not a huge success....and they let it look like a massive blunder by Mountbatten in order to keep it secret of what the purpose of the raid really was. If the germans knew that was the goal they may have made it harder to get a machine or changed it....so..to sum up...a lot of our troops were killed...and the rest captured....but it was not for a stupid reason at least..it was a reason that was worth the effort. As the codes were very important to crack...Fleming was there to meet the Sargent in charge of the snatch team to get the goodies and steam back to England asap. Fleming did not just write James Bond...he lived it for those who don't know.....saw his house it was on a private island off of Tobago.....this stuff was so secret it only really came to light in the last few years.......still sad but desperate time called for desperate actions.
So I packed me bike up......put me ear plugs in and hit the road. Riding on the main hiways for a little bit...it is so nice....130 but its about 150.....and again...everybody just moves over...no one stays in the left lane. Had some good tunes blaring and by accident not by plan...I rolled into Dieppe from the south east....first sign I saw was for the Canadian cemetery.....so off I went....it was on the edge of town.
I pulled up and it has the same look and feel of a common wealth war cemetery...they are all very similar...except for size and minor changes. This one had a big marker...... starting with "Canadian......." this meant it was only Canadian..... and there were a lot of headstones...... I walked in and frankly my jaw dropped.....so many....and they all had a maple leaf on them...dated Aug 19, 42..... you can hear the stories and read the stories but his really put it into perspective. I just stared for a while I was the only person there just a breeze blowing and me......then I walked amongst the markers reading them.....all kids again.....so many of them. The grounds were spotless......and there were fresh poppies and memorial wreaths at the main memorial....
Importantly, they were not forgotten in this cemetery.... I saw many cemeteries in the fields in the distance on this trip and you can tell that no one goes to visit them as they are off the main highways....except the grounds keepers...that is sad. This one...it definitely has seen a lot of attention and respect. Made me feel a bit better about it all but sheesh.....takes the wind out of you. I ended up sitting on the memorial bench for a while...just contemplating...I think that is what you are suppose to do in places like this....and it was so calm and quiet...the odd bird....and a nice sunny day...and eventually after a while...decided time to go...so did one last walk to read some more names....and slowly walked out closing the gate behind me. As I got on the bike and put my helmet on a car drove up and parked...a couple got out. I started my bike and was turning my head and the guy starts talking to me asking if I am from Canada. I say yes he saw me flag on the back of the helmet. So were they....they traveled to Eurpoe from Kitchner and wanted to pay their respects too. That made my day......I chatted for a bit.....and slowly rolled of to explore the town.
Dieppe is a cool town...has a castle up on a cliff and the downtown core is super old and rustic....so slowly found me way to the center ville....found rock star parking ....and commenced to walking around...to where the battle occurred....the beach.....walked through a sort of gateway....and there it was. Looked left and there was a huge memorial to Canada!!! Felt some pride soon as I saw it. So went to explore it and was impressed......they definitely respect what we did...oh and Canadian and French flags are all over the place all the streets too....I walked down to the beach...its a rock beach...all pebbles just like the war footage I had seen before....I found a perfect commemorative stone ...picked it up and put it in me pocket to add to the collection. I headed back into town.....wandered about and found me a pub ordered a local beer.....and a chocolate crepe OMG Good to both. Digging crepes....but beer and crepes...probably not the best combo...ah welll.....sat there for a while people watching....chatted with the folks next to me for a bit and decided time to hit Amiens so off I went.
The trip there was quick....at 150 again...you can get to places fast if you want to that is for sure....stopped for gas on the way and a dude walked up to me...he was admiring the bike turns out he was a 1 liter superbike racer....so we hit it off..and chatted for a while...he warned me of the phantom ghost radar cars. Seems they have cars on the freeways here that look normal...and if you pass them...at speed it takes your picture and you get a fine in the mail frig.....I wonder........Sill have memories of Spain....
So I found Amiens and I found the church....holy crap ...its a doozy.......time to explore. Its something from the outside and even more in the inside..lil history lesson time. Amiens is in the Somme and very close to the major battle fields...so was a war city for a big part of WWI and was pounded by shelling quite a bit. You cant tell though....anyhoo...inside the Cathedral is pretty spectacular to say the least....and to top it off....they have a chunk of John the Baptists face, yup...his face, as a relic. I am not Catholic....and have to say...it looked pretty disturbing....and I am not sure why it has its own lil display case and is really revered. I think I have seen bits of John in other travels and.....perhaps the dude should have all his bits gathered....in one place...and give the poor guy a burial.....I dunno....just saying......
Cathedral cool.....took a bunch of picks and always fear the lightening bolt when walking around in em.....and a pub right next too it calling my name. So I ended up sitting outside sipping some of the local brew....admiring the church...I ask..is that wrong.... ? So I relaxed there for a while. I keep getting these wicked spasms in me back .... so its nice to not have a helmet on for a while but it was time to find me hotel.....
A new first....Garmin directed me to go the wrong way down a oneway..that was fun....turns out me hotel is on a pedestrian walkway....they told me to park in front of the window...on the walkway...rockstarrrrrrrr. Seems the rooms I am booking are getting smaller and smaller too lol...the staff were super nice...they all came out to oggle the bike. Seems the night manager is a bike rider...Ducati and he had a big accident a few years ago....so we swapped titanium stories for a bit.
I managed to get me bags into me room....and wandered off on the walkway....was cool. Found a cafe......and some local beer. People watched for a while....and then found a cool lil restaurant...I am certain all meals come with French fries here. Great meal.....and it was time to get back to the hotel....well the night manager. was there and we gots to talking and he gots to reaching for a bottle of port and he cracked it well..me n him drank the bottle lol...found it funny that he was tanked and working....name...Jacque....of course....was seriously wobbling to ma room that night but I recall my Frenchwas really good lol. Don't quite remember finding my room actually...but it was a cool way to end the day.
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