Cherbourg is a very different place when you have a bit of time to spend here - though an odd place for 'Pippa' to be mid-August!
But I wanted to spend some time here researching for my Guide to Cherbourg, and the weather has kindly agreed to help.
I've done both ends of the breakwater, and looked at the tide rushing through the third entrance, the Passe Collignon, wondering if it is really possible to sail through it. A combination of buses and walking has proved very practical, though I wish I had one of those folding bikes - the cycle paths here are excellent! I've also been out west to the Plage de Nacqueville, the invasion beach of 1758, when the English took Cherbourg for a week during the Seven Years War, in an exercise described at the time as 'breaking French windows by throwing English guineas at them'.
Editions Isoete, the specialist Cherbourg/Cotentin publisher, is interested in publishing the Guide (in English), and hopefully it will appear next year, in time for the next English invasion!
Now onwards, eastwards...
Steve Fraser
Submitted on 12th August 2011