Photo: Overlooking Dieppe from the west atop an abandoned German bunker

Today was our dash across the north of France from Bretagne towards Picardie and the Somme region. Our long drive through Rennes, Avranches, Caen, and Le Havre was temporarily halted by a vehicle accident that backed up traffic on the autoroute several kilometres for nearly an hour. While waiting, Judy struck up a conversation with a family who were out of their car walking their dog; it turned out that the husband was a former captain of the sailing vessel "Concordia" (see entry above), and was onboard the "Sorlandet" from Norway to Saint Malo to help orient the crew to working with West Island College's Class Afloat programme. Small world!

We arrived at Pourville on the Channel coast late in the afternoon. Pourville is the next town over from Dieppe, which was also raided by the Canadians in 1942. Pourville first became fashionable in the late 1800's when Monet spent some time there to paint his impressions of the coastline and the Channel.