7 hours to kill in France. Help!

[LittleEsme]

We are leaving our gîte at 10am ish in Adriers (Vienne) and are catching our overnight ferry from Caen - probably arrive at 10pm. It's about 5 hours to get there with traffic, and we have lots of time to kill.

Any ideas on what we can do?

Bayeux Tapestry ?

I'd be inclined to spend the time in Caen itself. It's awful to interrupt the journey because you think you have lots of time and then miss the bloody ferry due to road works or an accident. Yes, bitter experience. More than once!
There are a couple of abbeys, a museum of beaux arts, a botanic garden, and a castle.
And of course, calvados tasting!
Have fun.

fFantastic suggestions. Thanks so much.

Would you leave a car and bikes unattended? I forgot to mention that in my OP.n

Probably not in a port town but otherwise yes. Can you lock the bikes into the carrier?

Hmm, car yes, bikes probably not. Could you chain them up somewhere?

We could easily chain them onto the carrier. It's a towbar carrier so a hefty piece of kit. We have 2 chain locks that we use when out and about so could use them on the carrier itself.

Thanks everyone, for your advice.

You say Caen but if you are getting the ferry I assume you mean Ouistreham?

What about going for dinner? We have had a couple of lovely meals at Le Normandie www.lenormandie.com/

Mind you - we once lingered over the meal and got back to the ferry terminal to find our car sitting in splendid isolation in the parking lanes as they had moved everyone else on the ferry! We still got on though.

iirc Pegasus Bridge is not far from Ouistreham. A moving WW2 museum with restaurants in the town on other side of river, or just stop at the beach.

5Foot5 Hi again!

Thanks for everyone's input. i think it's going to be a visit to the war memorials (DFIL was a veteran and he was very moved when he visited) plus a little trip into Honfleur. 5Foot5 - DH is notoriously bad for keeping time so an early evening dinner is in order.

Thanks again.

Honfleur is a fair distance away from Caen though , unless you are planning your route that way anyway.

I'd second LIZS's suggestion about visiting Pegasus Bridge (and the cafe). There is a museum there too if you have more time. The beach at Ouistreham is nice too!

I'm not particularly interested in war museums, but the Memorial Museum, about ww2, as well as other conflicts, is unmissable, IMO