For Fokkers Sake!

The inspiration for the first of my latest route additions, comes from my brother and I thank him once again. He is planning a commemorative trip of his own to France in the summer, heading out later in the month than the Hogs, though he will be in this area just a few days before us, as we approach the end of our tour. If you want to know what he is planning, he has a blog going;

http://somme98th.blogspot.co.uk/

On one of his posts he mentioned the crash site of the Red Baron, Manfred von Richthofen. I was interested to know where this was, so searched on Google for more information and found that it is actually less than 2 miles from the cemetery in Corbie, where William Devall is buried. I was able to find a site that described where the crash (more a controlled landing, apparently) had taken place and using streetview on Google maps (an invaluable tool), found a commemorative sign board. This location was duly entered into our Day 18 route map.




The Red Baron's Fokker dr.i 425/17

 Having added this stop, the route changed slightly and on checking where it was taking us, I suddenly realised that this area, was of great historical importance. Slow on the uptake or what? This is after all, The Somme region but it hadn't really clicked with me, when I'd been plotting the A to B route to our overnight hotel stop.

As I surveyed the new route, I came across another place of interest. Aside from the plethora of cemeteries, there is a place called the Lochnagar Crater. Now if anything is likely to grab your attention when looking at a map, it is going to be a Scottish named landmark in the middle of France. Switch to satellite view on Google maps and instantly you can see this is a 'feature' worthy of further investigation. I'll let you go and do your own Googling but basically, this crater was made by 2 huge mines, placed in tunnels under the German trench system by the Royal Engineers and stands today as a memorial to all those who were obliterated in the blast. Needless to say, that is now on the tour itinerary.


The Lochnagar Crater

I'll probably have a further look in the region to see if anything else is worthy of a stop. Apart from the cemetery visit at Corbie, this was pretty much just a riding day.

Come back soon to see what else I've discovered/planned.