It was by no means gourmet but it filled a gap. The drink was probably more welcome than anything, despite not being chilled, as the sun was blazing down once again.
Yep, deja vue!
Having 'feasted', we made tracks for our next stop, just a few kilometres up the road, the crash site of the infamous Red Baron, Baron Manfred von Richthofen. There's not much to see really, a sign board telling that this is believed to be the spot where he crash landed, after being shot from the ground by Canadian troops and a field of corn! It's great to stand and imagine the scene though, of his Fokker Tri-plane coming to ground 96 years previously, just where you are now standing.
Back on the bikes and you'd think we were heading for Scotland. Nah, the weather is far too nice! We are though, heading for the Lochnagar Crater or the scene of La Grande Mine. This is a massive crater, maybe 30-35 metres across and 15-20 deep. It was caused or created, by the Royal Engineers, who dug tunnels under the German trenches and planted masses of explosives. The destruction of this part of France, by the 'mine' heralded the start of the Battle of the Somme, on 1st July 1916. It is said, that the blast was so huge, the sound was heard in London and that it showered dirt and debris, 4000 feet into the air.
I walked one way, Grizzly the other. There were a couple of coach parties, so it was quite busy. On my way round, I came upon a cross. A memorial to one chap who had gone missing when the mine was detonated. His body, believe it or not, was only recovered as recently as 1998! As I continued my way around the crater's rim, I noticed some guys filming, near to where Grizzly was standing. As I approached I asked Grizzly if he knew who they were. He didn't but a little detective work, i.e. looking at the writing on the tripod bag, showed they were from BBC's Newsround programme. I've not got a clue who the geezer was doing his bit to camera but I know it wasn't John Craven!
Back at the bike and getting ready to go, I heard Grizzly talking to someone. Then he beckoned me over. It was a French couple, Bertrand & Valerie they introduced themselves as. Bertrand wanted to know if we had anyone in our family who had fought in the Somme region. I explained we had a relative (William) buried at Corbie, who had been killed in 1916, like so many, many others. Bertrand said that his grandfather was 93, too young to have taken part in the war but is forever grateful for the sacrifice the soldiers made to free France, as was he and with that he shook my hand and thanked me. Gulp! Made me feel quite humble, a totally unexpected but moving experience. I replied that we should all be thankful and with that, they went on their way.
Astride the Sprint again and another shortish dash up the road. This time we were heading to the Memorial of the Missing. I'd seen photos but had no idea how big it was, until it appeared over the hedgerow. We parked up in the car park, made our way through the visitor centre to the monument itself. I have no idea how tall it is, I dare say you can google it, suffice to say, it is big enough to list the names of approximately 73,000 soldiers! Yes, thousand!
We were almost done for the day now, a small jump from this village of Thiepval, to Pozieres took us to the Australian and Tank memorials. Directly opposite each other on the roadside, one, I'm sure you can guess, commemorates the first use of tanks by the British Army, which took place in this area. The second commemorates the exploits and sacrifice, the greatest of all by the Australians during the war and is known as the Windmill site. The ruins of the windmill, destroyed during the battle in 1916, can be seen under the grass, ahead of the memorial stone. From July to September 1916, the Australians suffered 23,000 casualties at this site, with more than 6700 losing their lives. The figures for the loss of life in this area are staggering, yet it's all so calm and peaceful now.
Photos done, next stop was our hotel, just north of Arras.
I gestured to Grizzly and said " I wouldn't be surprised if it's raining over there". "Nah, we'll be OK, I can feel it in my water".
A few miles down the road, it started to rain. Not massively but quite big drops. As we turned north, I could see we were heading towards the brighter and blue sky, so I pushed on without worry for the waterproofs. Before long we were in the sunshine again and parking up at the hotel.
Yep, deja vue!
Having 'feasted', we made tracks for our next stop, just a few kilometres up the road, the crash site of the infamous Red Baron, Baron Manfred von Richthofen. There's not much to see really, a sign board telling that this is believed to be the spot where he crash landed, after being shot from the ground by Canadian troops and a field of corn! It's great to stand and imagine the scene though, of his Fokker Tri-plane coming to ground 96 years previously, just where you are now standing.
Back on the bikes and you'd think we were heading for Scotland. Nah, the weather is far too nice! We are though, heading for the Lochnagar Crater or the scene of La Grande Mine. This is a massive crater, maybe 30-35 metres across and 15-20 deep. It was caused or created, by the Royal Engineers, who dug tunnels under the German trenches and planted masses of explosives. The destruction of this part of France, by the 'mine' heralded the start of the Battle of the Somme, on 1st July 1916. It is said, that the blast was so huge, the sound was heard in London and that it showered dirt and debris, 4000 feet into the air.
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| Lochnagar Crater |
Back at the bike and getting ready to go, I heard Grizzly talking to someone. Then he beckoned me over. It was a French couple, Bertrand & Valerie they introduced themselves as. Bertrand wanted to know if we had anyone in our family who had fought in the Somme region. I explained we had a relative (William) buried at Corbie, who had been killed in 1916, like so many, many others. Bertrand said that his grandfather was 93, too young to have taken part in the war but is forever grateful for the sacrifice the soldiers made to free France, as was he and with that he shook my hand and thanked me. Gulp! Made me feel quite humble, a totally unexpected but moving experience. I replied that we should all be thankful and with that, they went on their way.
Astride the Sprint again and another shortish dash up the road. This time we were heading to the Memorial of the Missing. I'd seen photos but had no idea how big it was, until it appeared over the hedgerow. We parked up in the car park, made our way through the visitor centre to the monument itself. I have no idea how tall it is, I dare say you can google it, suffice to say, it is big enough to list the names of approximately 73,000 soldiers! Yes, thousand!
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| Memorial to the Missing, Thiepval |
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| Australian Memorial, The Windmill Site, Pozieres |
I gestured to Grizzly and said " I wouldn't be surprised if it's raining over there". "Nah, we'll be OK, I can feel it in my water".
A few miles down the road, it started to rain. Not massively but quite big drops. As we turned north, I could see we were heading towards the brighter and blue sky, so I pushed on without worry for the waterproofs. Before long we were in the sunshine again and parking up at the hotel.
We were greeted at the desk by a very attractive young lady, jet black hair, very pretty and slim. Certainly the most pleasing to the eye receptionist of the entire tour. Grasp of English, none! I've never wished I could speak the local language more than I did at that moment. The schoolboy stuff got us by though and we were soon in the room. We had had to book dinner, so we had about 50 minutes to get ready. Grizzly was first in the massive, yet under equipped bathroom, whilst I tried to connect to wifi. Not a chance. Nothing for it, I had to go and ask the young lady for assistance ;-)
It's surprising what you can get done with a few gestures and a smattering of the lingo. Turned out I was connecting to the wrong access point. How stupide of moi! That sorted it was my turn to freshen up, then we hit the restaurant.
The receptionist also turned out to be our waitress, taking our order of salmon tagliatelle and of course, the accompanying beers. The food was OK but in a very runny/watery sauce. We needed the bread to mop it up. Finished we took our beers outside to the garden and chatted. Grizzly sent me back in for another, I guess someone had to do it but by now, 2 big beers in, I couldn't understand a word she said, so asked her for it "en anglais s'il-vous-plait". I'm buggered if I can remember what she said now but I paid the bill and took the beers back outside.
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| A lovely pair ;-) |
We only have about 80 miles or so to go tomorrow. We'll start at Vimy Ridge, then stop off at La Coupole.
Until then.
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