The Shelburn Freedom Trail

Operation Shelburn was an MI9 beach extraction network that returned more than 130 evaders and fugitives to England between December 1943 and August 1944. Established by Canadians Lucien Dumais and Raymond Labrosse— both dropped into France on the night of 16/17 November 1943—it coordinated Royal Navy pick-ups from the Brittany coast with remarkable precision. The landing master, Count Georges d’Oultremont, guided Lysanders flown by S/Ldr Hugh Verity and F/O Mac McCairns into temporary fields near Soissons; their home runs carried organiser Cdt Edgard Potier and MI9 escorts safely back to Tempsford.

The commemorative Shelburn Freedom Trail follows sections of the GR34 coastal path, linking SOE, SIS and MI9 beach pick-up points before finishing at Plage Bonaparte beneath the cliff-top memorial. Terrain is undulating with occasional craggy sections and dramatic tidal ranges—up to 40 feet—so shortcuts across bays are avoided and good footwear is essential.

Daily route overview

• Day One – Arrivals and evening briefing at the accommodation base.
• Day Two – Plougasnou to Pointe du Sehar via the GR34, with a wreath-laying at the SOE Var Line memorial at Beg-an-Fry.
• Day Three – Ile Grande to Perros-Guirec along the Côte de Granite Rose, including visits to Château Bourblanc and the grave of Comtesse Betty de Maudit at Plourivo.
• Day Four – Buguels to La Roche Jaune via the DAHLIA safe house and Flannelfoot pick-up coves overlooking Île d’Er.
• Day Five – Abbaye de Plouezec to Plage Bonaparte, pausing at the SSRF Operation FAHRENHEIT monument before the descent to the extraction beach.

After the closing ceremony walkers visit La Maison d’Alphonse, the cliff-top safe house where evaders waited for the “Bonjour tout le monde à la Maison d’Alphonse” message before scrambling down to the beach. The final cliff-top stretch covers roughly 14 miles and rewards hikers with sweeping views of the Goëlo coast.

The Shelburn Stone “Shelburn

Maison D’Alphonse, the safe house on the cliffs of the Brittany coast was the holding area for evaders waiting to be picked up from the beaches below by motor gun boats of the Royal Navy 15th Flotilla. The pickups were always confirmed over ‘Ici Londres’, the ‘BBC Messages Personal service to our friends in France’ using the cryptic message ‘Bonjour tout le monde a la Maison d’Alphonse’. Following a very successful ‘Home Run’ fundraising event for the Royal Air Forces Escaping Society [RAFES] in 1994, Roger Stanton, who led the teams from Norway to Gibraltar in a race against the clock was presented with a stone from the ruined Maison D’Alphonse. The stone, which is inscribed with the historic call-sign, now hangs on the wall in the Chapel at Eden Camp Museum.