Antoine,
>In contrast with the Belring Gulag... The events in Normandy 99
>were great, well organized by our Clubs and Federation (some
>will say too much organized) and we were almost all in legit
>camping facilities with showers, toilets, faucets throughout the
>camps and electrical hook-ups for a small fee... The sanitary
>blocks were closed at 10pm, unfortunately, which made us dig up
>a trench behind the platoon tent for an "emergency"...
>
That it was, whilst we didn't have the on-site amenities closed at 10pm the
whole site was and this precluded protracted trips out at night.
>It was a
>great week... I regret that too much securiity prevented
>visitors from other groups to come in at the Vierville camp...
>Of course as usual there is also the tug of war betweenthe
>various clubs and who gets into the Bayeux Parade and who does
>not... One of the least enviable task for the Motorcyclists in
>the Bayeux Parade was to keep off the "bandits" from forcing
>themselves into the convoy, and to keep the convoy
>bumper-to-bumper.
>
Certainly the Bayeux parade was a spectacle and the convoy organisation/form-up
well handled. The actual crowd control in Bayeux had something of the liberal
French flavour though with vehicles gently pushing the crush of people aside and
the keen photographers darting out between vehicles to get pictures. Personally
I found the sight of small children patting the top run of half-track tracks as
they passed somewhat worrying.
The drivers of the two vehicles in our group reported the drive to be somewhat
harrowing but well worthwhile.
> The French M/C gendarmes were terrific this
>year.
>
That they were and no doubt all leave was cancelled that weekend.
> The reward was, of course, to ride at the head of the convoy
>and be recognized by name and M/C type by the Parade marshal...
>
I am pleased to report that the two vehicles of our entourage had that honour
being the first four wheel vehicles after the platoon of correctly dressed
"Tommys" and British motorcycles, the CMP Ford F15 Polsten AA truck led with the
Morris Commercial PU8 following.
Both vehicles still proudly wear their Bayeux passes although unfortunately the
printing is less than durable and the ink is steadily rubbing off.
As a footnote we were sought out at Beltring this year by a resident of Bayeux
who has a PU8 undergoing restoration but has no detailed information; between us
with bad French and bad English we have been able to set him off along the right
track with copious notes and detail photographs; an entirely satisfactory
outcome.
Richard
(Southampton UK)
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