• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Macrodyl

Macrodyl

Australian Backpacking Adventures

  • Home
  • Travel
    • Australia
    • Europe
  • Guides
    • Travel Guides
    • Photography Guides
  • Random Musings
  • About Macrodyl
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter

Lepe Beach on D-Day


It’s been 75 years since D-Day, where Lepe Beach played a significant role. In honour of such an important historic occasion, I’ve opted to skip ahead to a relevant part of my most recent road trip.

How do you pronounce Lepe?

You pronounce Lepe the same way as leap. I wouldn’t want you reading through trying to work out how it sounds. If you’d gone with Lepp or Leppeh, you’re wrong.

Following on from Stonehenge, I found myself at Lepe Country Park. Lepe is a small place on the Solent, where approximately 6,000 men left the beaches to take part in the Normandy invasion.

Not gonna lie though, I was looking for a beach, and this happened to be the one I remembered directions to. Upon arrival, it surprised me to find a whole host of facilities besides parking. I’m quietly confident they weren’t there in 1944.

Is Lepe Beach sandy?

The beach at Lepe is a mix of sand and shingle. There’s plenty of sandy beach to walk along and relax on though, and it isn’t too far from the car park. The best swimming spots are also along from the car park. I can imagine this sandy beach would have been a welcome sight for men returning home.

The cafe block is complete with restaurant, toilets and an uncomfortable wall to sit on outside. It is home to a few plaques that tell the story of Lepe and its role in D-Day’s success.

Lepe’s D-Day contribution

D-Day at Lepe Beach Plaque

Though I don’t have the complete picture here, the plaque above reads:

During World War II Lepe and the surrounding area played an important role, especially in the preparations for D-Day and the Normandy landings in 1944.

The allies developed temporary ‘Mulberry harbours’ to offload cargo on the beaches to support the invasion of Normandy. They were made up of different sections including floating piers, sunken ships, and giant concrete ‘caissons’ – watertight structures which blocked the waves and wind.

Lepe was a vital embarkation point for troops, vehicles, and supplies: around 6,000 men left from Lepe to take part in the Normandy invasion, a key turning point in the war in North West Europe.

The beach was specifically set up for loading heavy equipement, notably the specially adapted tanks known as ‘Hobart’s Funnies’ such as the ‘swimming’ Duplex Drive Sherman tanks.

Today you can still see plenty of evidence of wartime activity such as the remains of extensive concrete and brick structures.

These were used for construction and launching of the caissons using in the Mulberry harbours, and for embarkation of troops and supplies.

If you’re interested in reading a more complete version of history, the New Forest site has a much better account of the impact Lepe had on D-Day.

After grabbing a coffee and a bite to eat I set off on a relatively short walk. I spent a fair bit of time getting sand in my boots, getting sand out of my boots, and dusting the sand off my boots. You get the gist. Lepe beach is sandy.

Lepe beach

It was a glorious day, albeit a little cold and windy, so I took the chance to fool around with the camera and enjoy the sights. It’d been a long time since I’d visited the coast and I find the salty sea air quite relaxing.

If you’re willing to improvise with seating, there’s plenty of dry places to plonk your bottom down. It’s unusually accessible for a beach that isn’t packed out with tourists.

A little way down I stopped to change my camera lenses and toy with the macro settings. Didn’t work out too well, though I suppose you can still tell that it’s seaweed.

Seaweed on Lepe Beach

Further still, I spotted a small lighthouse, and who doesn’t love a lighthouse? Though I’ve no idea how you get to it, which meant grabbing the snaps from the seafront. It could’ve been worse.

Lepe Lookout Lighthouse

At this point I was still blissfully ignorant of the significance of the whole place. It wasn’t until I headed back towards the car that I stopped to read a few of what seemed to be randomly placed signs along the road.

At that point, it dawned on me. A long time ago, a lot of people would’ve been gathered there, saying goodbye, and heading to the front. I found it a sobering thought.

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Check out my top 30 travel accessories

Looking at the useful, the luxury and the downright necessary accessories for solo travel. From easy ways to make new friends, to the best ways to entertain yourself during that super long stopover.



About me

I'm Marc, and I'd like to welcome you to Macrodyl. I'm an avid traveller with an odd bunch of interests. Many of my stories involve my time backpacking Australia, which I've done on multiple occasions. I often visit other countries too, with a bucket list longer than I can count.

Feel free to get in touch with me via comments, or on social media.

Social

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter

Recent Posts

  • The Best Travel Essentials for Safe Travel During COVID-19 Pandemic
  • 5 ways your technology can make a holiday better
  • Featherdale Wildlife Park’s Furry Citizens
  • Quick Things to do in Leura
  • My Blue Mountains Day Trip
Uluru Ayers Rock

Want to collaborate with us?

Get in touch using the button opposite, or drop an email to marc@macrodyl.com

Get in Touch

Footer

Amazon Associates Disclosure

macrodyl.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com

Recent Posts

  • The Best Travel Essentials for Safe Travel During COVID-19 Pandemic
  • 5 ways your technology can make a holiday better
  • Featherdale Wildlife Park’s Furry Citizens

Useful links

  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy

Social

Follow along on social media.

  • Facebook
  • Google+
  • Twitter

macrodyl.com uses cookies to help improve your experience. If you're not okay with that, you won't be able to enjoy all the fun stuff on this site.
Accept Reject Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT