Day one.

Sleeping quarters for nights one and two.

Are we still at war?

C-47 Transport Plane @ Merville Battery

Introducing Joe's entrusted mascot - 'John Rambanana'

Day one: 50 Miles

Day one on the road for the 3 magnificents. Drove down to Portsmouth yesterday. Woke up at 5 this morning in the most grotty yet spacious Travelodge ever and, once Joe had secured John Rambanana to his trusty steed, cycled the gruelling 400 yards to the ferry terminal for our 7am ferry.

Four hours later, having been forced to sit through one and a half showings of High School Musical, including all of the DVD extras, we disembarked to begin our conquest.

The first port of call was the Merville Gun Battery, which the Nazis built to hammer our brave landing forces with 80-pound explosive shells. After that we had a tuna sandwich.

We then made our way back towards the port, crossing over Pegasus Bridge on the way. The capture of this bridge by the British 6th Airborne on the morning of D-Day was one of the most crucial operations carried out during the invasion. So there.

After that we decided to visit Sword Beach, but thanks to Jonno's superb navigational skills we ended up heading away from the coast and never quite got there.

Our lovely accommodation at La Poterie was another hour and a half from there, and we were greeted on our arrival by our lovely host Mme Gomez.

We've just finished downing our welcome glasses of what tasted like grape-flavoured aviation fuel and are getting ready for bed.

Nighty night all, more to come soon.

Peace.