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A tribute to Colin Dixon
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A tribute to Colin Dixon by his 3 sons Craig, Ashley and Wayne and his good friend Mick Edmondson and Bob Wales.
Colin said he wouldn’t make it to the 75th anniversary of D-Day in Normandy but we made sure he did, we took some of his ashes in a pannier bag and he travelled everywhere with us. He had ridden over 50,000 miles on his Matchless and visited Normandy 3 times.
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We went on the overnight ferry from Portsmouth to Caen landing on Monday 3rd June and went to our camp site at Entreham and camped with about 100 other WD motorcycle enthusiasts, pitching our tents and raising the Yorkshire flag.
We unloaded our 4 WD Matchless bikes and went to Arromanches where Bob picked up his Ariel, then on to Longues Battery and a meal in the sunshine nearby meeting a young couple on a M20 who we met through the week.
On Tuesday 4th we went to
Ste-Mere-Englise, very busy but we parked in the town centre,it started to rain heavily as we headed to Utah beach and Craigs bike misfired so we carried on, and the weather improved and we stopped at Pointe du Hoc and toured the site we then stopped at Omaha for lunch then down to the beach and rode about 2 miles on the beach where so many American soldiers were slaughtered very moving.
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On Wednesday 5th we set off with about 80 motorcycles to Pegasus Bridge and watched the ceremonies then were invited to park our bikes in the Pegusus Museum there was 160 WD bikes in total. Then down to Arromanches and parked up on the front.
On Thursday 6th everywhere was locked down with police barriers all over, we decided on Hillman Bunker but had to travel through Bayeux which was on lock down with Charles and Trump visiting we managed to go down dirt tracks and unmetalled lanes in the bockage and ended up at Tilly-sur-Seulles for a pizza lunch sat in the sunshine. Setting off again we stopped at Jerusalem cemetery where the youngest soldier 16 is buried then late afternoon we managed to get into Bayeux and visited the tapestry and the cathedral. Then on to Arromanches where the barricades were still up, so 2 miles on and onto the sands of Gold beach and in to Arromanches parking on the sands, what a day.
Friday 7th was a very wet day so went in the Discovery to Falaise and toured William the Conquerors castle then on to the Falaise gap museum then the only Tiger tank in France which had run out of fuel and abandoned. We then went to Courselles to find a spot to place a wreath and put Colins ashes but decided to go back the next day on our bikes.
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| Saturday 8th our last day we had to go back on our bikes to Courselles-sur-Mer to lay a wreath for a customer of Craigs who landed there on Juno beach on D-Day plus 1, Arromanches was closed to traffic for an air show, so once again we travelled narrow roads and on to the beach and rode about 5 hairy miles with soft sand and sea weed making it interesting. In Courselles we laid the wreath and found a favourite site of Colins and placed his ashes in the flowerbed in front of a Sherman Tank on display on the front near the Hotel de Paris where he stayed on the 64th anniversary.
Back to take up the tents and the ferry home at midnight. We had travelled 350 miles on the bikes. |
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