Tollevast Funny Farm

We were so disappointed at not getting in to see the Chapelle St-Germain we knew that only seeing more Norman funny faces would cheer us up. So we drove 20 miles cross-country (one lane, holloway roads, construction and agricultural convoys, etc.) to see the 12th century Romanesque parish church at Tollevast. Funny faces inside and outside, in the nave and the chancel. It made things better. I'll just post the pix without comment.

Personal favorite

Chapelle St-Germain, Querqueville

On a hill in Querqueville, now seemingly a suburb of Cherbourg, is the oldest religious building in the Cotentin area, the Chapelle St-Germain, 10th century. It sits right next to the Querqueville parish church, but the chapel was locked up tight and there was no information at all about it. Alas. Disappointment.

Thus

A tower and narthex with three circular wings; slit windows;
this was an age when churches had to be redoubts, if not
fortresses

The tower

Construction material, sort of a herring-bone look?

At least the view across the top of the peninsula was great

Cherbourg And La Cite De La Mer

We drove on to Cherbourg, whose chief attraction for us was its La Cite de la Mer and the large Art Deco building, the Gare Maritime Transatlantique, that houses much of it. The building was originally a train station, whereby passengers, in the 1930s, could ride to Cherbourg and then board the Queen Mary or whatever vessel of their choosing. Despite our narrow interests, FWIW, Cherbourg has a large and historic harbor. It was among the chief goals of the Allies' Utah Beach and Cotentin Peninsula campaigns in WWII: to capture an intact port, especially one closer to Britain, for landing of heavy equipment but also which could become the European landfall for Operation PLUTO (Pipe Line Under The Ocean). The Allies knew they could never secure enough oil and gas in Europe to sustain their operations against the Germans, and thus--an engineering feat of the first order--they, chiefly the Brits, devised and secretly laid a pipeline from the UK to France. Under the Channel. It became operational in August, 1944, through Cherbourg, and eventually it carried on to the Rhine. Just FYI.

The Gare Maritime Transatlantique, back side view; a train station, a huge building

Further view, detail

Side view, getting more interesting

Main facade, yes, beautiful Art Deco

A bit of the interior

Ditto

Much of what La Cite de la Mer is about is exploration of the oceans; and, thus,
submarines; without paying the steep admission fee, we nonetheless got to see
several submarines and submersible exploration vessels

Thus

Including historic specimens

And France's original nuclear submarine, Le Redoubtable

Cherbourg harbor, where La Cite de la Mer is located

Thus, huge jetties with all sorts of fortresses

And thus

And thus, from the height and distance of Querqueville (next
post)

Allee Couverte Near Bretteville

The signs of political subdivision say we are still in Normandy. But the granite, the rising land, the rugged coast, the purple heath, and the megaliths all announce we are in Brittany. Just a mile or so from our campsite was our first megalith of this trip, a large and well preserved allee couverte in the heights near Bretteville. This is as far east as we have seen such a thing here, and never in Normandy. But there it was. An allee couverte is a covered passage tomb, sometimes a chambered tomb. Typically there would be two rows of megaliths, surmounted by a megalith roof. And typically, the whole would have been buried under a tumulus or mound. In Brittany, tumuli have often been mistaken for natural hills. The one near Bretteville has lost it tumulus--most we know of have--but it is in good shape and perhaps 20 meters in length.

We arrived fairly early in the morning and surprised the county maintenance
guy who had just finished mowing and cleaning the place up 

When I produced my camera, he rushed to remove all his work implements, but I
said, non, si vous plait, and he appeared to understand I thought the shovel would
be a nice touch, showing our appreciation of his good work

Anyhow, here's the allee couverte from a variety of perspectives

Out in a farmer's fields, as they almost always area

Big stones; no carving we saw

Nice view

In only one or two bays was the capstone knocked down
or missing

It's impossible to date these things with precision--once they have been plundered,
probably millennia ago, they have been contaminated or all the datable stuff removed
--in any case, allee couvertes in France generally are thought to be in the 4,000-
6,000 year old range

Anse Du Brick

We spent the night at a scenic lay-by/picnic area called Anse du Brick, about 10 miles short of Cherbourg. One other RV evenutally pulled in, and it was a quiet night.

Thus

Back up the road

Above and behind us; we left the limestone cliffs way behind; now the cliffs and
the interior are granite; it already feels like Brittany, but we are not quite there

Looking toward Cherbourg

Just out of sight, but never hard to find