Central London (+1) head to Normandy in 2023
Game 1 Norman vs Communal Italian
Game 2 Norman vs Komnenan Byzantine
Game 5 Norman vs Sicilian Norman
Well, what a lovely tournament and a really good location for a few days of wargaming holiday wrapped around it as well.
Many thanks to Les Chevaliers du Littoral for hosting us at what (amazingly) was their 20th event apparently(!), and being such good hosts too with not only the tournament but also the epic spread of cheese, bread, pate, jambon, and all manner of fruit based Normandy tartes as well to sustain us through the weekend - the croissants alone were worth the trip.
We also were all sent away with a nice wargamer-friendly gift of local regional beers and an engraved glass, as well as a figurine for every competitor - it is a long time since I have had a "trophy" for 7th place!
So, with our beers in the boot, ,and with the winners trophy safely in Mr Bennetts knapsack and a higher than is strictly safe level of cheese in our arteries we headed off from Le Havre to return south to the historic city of Caen, home town of William himself for our final night of gastronomy and day of sightseeing on the way home
Even with a civilized and sociable French finish to the event we managed to get into Caen in plenty of time to have a walk around town and make it into the obligatory Cathedral (of which there were at least a couple in the town centre)
After a spot of confusion we found out that the one we were in did in fact have Williams tomb. It didn't have all of his mortal remains though - some unpleasantness in the French Wars of Religion had seen him dug up and his bones scattered far and wide, apart apparently from his thigh bone. So, this is likely to be one of the very few historically significant thigh bone internment pictures you see this week.
The Monks attached to the cathedral reportedly lived in this small and not at all ostentatious annexe - the scale of which possibly does make that whole French Wars of Religion malarkey a little easier to understand in retrospect
Anyway, we did fine a very nice Galetterie for dinner where we finally worked out that Calvados is quite unpleasant when not soaked into a fruit-based tart
Next morning we set off not that early to walk around the surprisingly substantial and even more surprisingly right in the middle of town Caen castle
Caen Castle
As well as a castle it now functions as the lid for an underground car park, and the home of the local uni library
William The Conqueror's original castle (ruins) lie inside of it next to the remains of the much bigger, but not much later keep
This Keep (or so the signs said) once had 30m high walls - with quite a deep moat as well to make the inner sanctum rather tricky to assault
Spectacular views over the city can be had from the castle walls
Other spectacular views over the city can also be had from the castle walls
We then chugged on to Rouen to look for Jean d'Arc stuff - but found instead a very Gothic Cathedral which was rather shut
Le Institut du Church Carvings and Stuff had enjoyed a seriously good few years in the late middle ages it would appear
Eventually, after a bit of confusion, we worked out that Jean d'Arc had been burned at the stake in the marketplace in Rouen, so this weird Cathedral-cum-Harry Potter House in the marketplace must have been erected on that exact site
With that ticked off it was onto Dieppe, a seafood harbourside lunch, and then back on the (slightly french Fishermen delayed) ferry back to Blighty and the end of a lovely long gaming weekend in France!
The Normandy Landings Podcast
We recorded ourselves chatting nonsense at various stages throughout the trip, and have cobbled it together into a rather erratic podcast which you can listen to here or on your normal podcast platform . Due to the variety of locations we recorded in, the audio is not exactly studio quality throughout - but it does as a result very much convey the flavour of our trip!
Or, watch the pictures again and listen to the Podcast on YouTube
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