Normandy Tourism, with the support of the Normandy Region, is proud to announce the launch of the “Explore Normandy Pass,” dedicated this year to Remembrance Tourism to mark the 80th anniversary of the Normandy Landings. This innovative digital solution offers an enriched exploration of the cultural and historical wealth of Normandy. Michael Dodds, Director of the Normandy Regional Tourist Board, emphasizes the importance of these remembrance sites: “These places of remembrance, which welcome visitors throughout the year, are still the best way to understand the historic events that shaped our present. This Web App is part of our desire to contribute to remembrance and transmission. We hope that these visits will be an opportunity to celebrate, reflect and remember, as well as a special moment that visitors can share with their families and the younger generation.”
Glamping on the go: a wild ride through Cumbria in a camper truck
20.05.2024 - 12:51 / theguardian.com
Camping trips with a young family can be thoroughly challenging, especially in the UK, when the weather often skips from sunshine to deluge in the blink of an eye. My extra challenge is that my wife, Helen, can’t join us for our Easter break (she’s away training for her fourth Olympic Games – reasonable excuse). My three kids (twins of four, and an older brother not quite six) are a tornado handful at the best of times. I definitely don’t want to be flying abroad with them, but I want to give them a memorable wild outdoors experience. So what to do?
Inspiration comes in the form of Wild Camper Trucks, a small enterprise set up by entrepreneur Andrew Clark, who rents out a fleet of four-wheel-drive campers from bases in Kendal and Inverness. The vans are go-anywhere robust and reliable, but kitted out with enough home comforts that they feel like glamping on the go. Thanks to the additional roof tent, they’re set up to sleep four, but with kids as young as ours we could definitely push it to five. There’s a bijou kitchen and eating area, plenty of lounging and kipping space, and a huge amount of storage, which allows us to take all the outdoor toys we want.
Andrew has teamed up with websites Off Grid Camp and Nearly Wild Camping, which connect 4x4, campervan and canvas wild campers with landowners. Campers subscribe to the websites, and pay their hosts as they would at any campsite.
So, accompanied by my friend George, who rents an awesome teardrop caravan, we opt for a few days in Cumbria.
Our first site is utterly dazzling, a farm in a part of the country I could have barely found on a map. The Howgill Fells lie to the north-west of the Yorkshire Dales national park, separated from the Lake District national park to the west by the River Lune. Cautley Spout, in the south of the Howgills, is considered England’s highest cascade-type waterfall above ground, with a drop of about 200 metres. The higher Howgills, such as the magnificently named Great Dummacks and Randygill Top, are more than 600 metres high. Even in the height of summer, this corner of the north remains quiet while parts of the Lakes and Dales can be overrun. In early spring, we have every field, peak and waterfall to ourselves.
The celebrated fell conqueror Alfred Wainwright said the Howgills looked like a herd of sleeping elephants, and it’s easy to see why. The hills are bulgy, the streams and rivers that pour down the flanks of these curved giants give them a wrinkled, creased look. The word “Howgills” is derived from the Old Norse haugr, which means barrow or hill, and they feel less intimidating than the peaks to the west. For me and my brood they prove more achievable, and lead to some delightful hikes.
We park our truck in the high
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