Bonjour, Barfleur!
During a recent location research visit to Normandy Kathy and I visited the lovely little coastal village of Barfleur in northwestern France. It’s not far from Cherbourg and well worth a side trip! And as well as one thousand years and more of history there are some wonderful eateries featuring its famous mussels, Blonde de Barfleur, which connoisseurs rate very highly.
The port of Barfleur today
In the ninth century the Viking invaders from Scandinavia made Barfleur one of the bases. In time it became the largest port in Normandy and bore witness to a number of important historical events.
Cannon from the 1692 battle of Barfleur
Barfleur became the port of embarkation for royal crossings, the royal ship Esneca Regis usually making the crossing to Southampton in a night.
In 1120 Henry I, the Duke of Normandy, was returning to England with his two sons. The crossing had been delayed by a strong north wind and to pass the time much wine was imbibed ashore. The ship Blanche Nef founded on the rock Quillebeuf and all bar Berold, a butcher from Rouen perished. (This incident is described by Renzi in Invasion.)
It is said that Henry I was never seen to smile gain.
Barfleur has a huge tide range; the harbour at low water
Henry II married Eleanor of Aquitaine and passed through Barfleur many times, among them on his way to petition the Pope to lift the excommunication after the murder of Thomas Becket.
In 1190 Richard the Lionheart, oldest surving son of Henri II embarked at Barfleur on his way to his coronation as King of England.
Edward II sacked Barfleur in 1346. The population was reduced to some 800 and was under English rule until 1450.
Kathy enjoying Barfleur’s famous moules
Barfleur was occupied by the Germans during World War II and liberated 15 days after D-Day. The port was used by the Allies – as it had been by William the Conqueror and Richard the Lionheart – to ship war supplies.
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photo credit harbour photo: by Matthieu Tétard at fr.wikipedia [CC BY-SA 2.5 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5)%5D, from Wikimedia Commons
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Julian Stockwin 
Some years ago, I went on an organised tour of Normandy. This included Barfleur but unfortunately our visit there coincided with a French Bank Holiday….. the place was a human honey-pot!
In the early fifties is I was onboard HMS Trafalgar as part of the 7th destroyer squadron composed of battle class destroyers one of which was HMS Barfleur