TIME TRAVEL
On August 9, 1944, the British Columbia regiment was tasked with taking up position near the town of Falaise, in the famed “Falaise pocket” located near the Laizon and Laize valleys. The armored vehicles of the 28th Infantry Division advanced with difficulty through the mist that engulfed route N158, the Caen-Falaise road, in search of German units. American 18-cylinder P-47 Thunderbolts and British V-12 Spitfires roared overhead. The Battle of Normandy was raging on.
Seventy-five years later, in August 2019 (which is when I took my trip), route N158 and its surroundings were much more peaceful. In the sky, only a few sparrowhawks and buzzards soared by, the cows grazing peacefully in the meadows, hardly anything to disturb the tranquility of the Normandy countryside. Nothing but the sound coming from our big V-twins; and what a sound it was!
“RIDING A HARLEY-DAVIDSON XRTT REPLICA POWERED BY AN X R1000 ENGINE, AND AN EGLI-VINCE NT BY GODET, FOLLOWING THE NETWORK OF SECONDARY ROADS”
“THE SMALL NORMANDY ROADS ARE SOME TIMES REMINISCENT OF ENGLISH SHORT CIRCUITS”
A Plan Put into Action
But before I get to that, I have to go back a bit. In August 2019, just before flying out of Vancouver to visit friends and family in my native Normandy, I received an e-mail from my long-time friend and gifted motorcycle builder Jean Louis. “Take your motorcycle
