The Cotentin peninsula
To the north-west of Cormolain, on the far side of St Lô is the Cotentin peninsula (sometimes called the Cherbourg Peninsula). There's a main road (much of it dual carriageway) running right through the middle of it, north-to-south, built to take holiday traffic away from the port of Cherbourg, right at the northern tip. Unfortunately, the road was built a little too late, as many of the ferry services were axed before the road was completed. As a result, the N174 is almost always completely devoid of traffic, meaning you can whizz up and down the peninsula very quickly.
However, as with much of France, sticking to the main roads may be quick and easy, but you'll miss the true spirit of France. The Cotentin is pretty narrow, with miles and miles of coastline. The eastern side is more likely to be low-lying with small bays and sheltered sandy beaches. The western side has more rocks, but there are still plenty of large bays with good beaches - it's just a little less sheltered from the prevailing westerly winds.
As well as St Lô and its Saturday market, there are a fair number of towns worth visiting, including Coutances, Barfleur, Saint-Lô, Bricquebec, Granville, Barneville-Carteret, Carentan and Avranches.
The town of Valognes was, until the revolution, a provincial social resort for the aristocracy. It had the nickname of Versailles of Normandy, although nowadays it's difficult to see why. Little remains of the grand houses and châteaux after the passage of two hundred years and the vicious fighting in 1944..
