Biscuits, chocolates, beer before au revoir Pug

Left Arras and travelled to our Belgium Home Exchange, via a stop at Le Quesnoy. 

Le Quesnoy is a walled French village that the NZ troops liberated on 4 November 1918, 5 days before the armistice. They scaled the walls using ladders and ropes and took the German troops by stealth, and whom mostly surrendered after the initial resistance. No villagers were injured but NZ lost 122 men in the assault. It was one of the last hostile actions of WWI.

The village has not forgotten with NZ names on many streets: Rue des All Blacks, Avenue des Neo-Zealandais, Rue des Helen Clarke etc. Also welcome signs in shop windows….

The moat and ramparts where the NZ'ers managed to climb using a single ladder, and the memorial now on the walls.

Arrived at our Home Exchange, a new (3 year old) house with an upstairs apartment, in a village area in a very rural setting. We met our hosts Dirke and Joske, after being given all the instructions and workings of the house (hi-tech light switches which we never got the hang of) they left in their camper with 2 grandchildren for a week long holiday in France.

We drove 35 minutes to find an open supermarket as on Sunday most are closed. Luckily found one so lunch, dinner and breakfast sorted!

Belgium slice #1

Went to Waterloo this morning, around a 45 minute drive, the site of Napoleon’s battle against the combined English/Scottish, Prussian and Netherlands forces. The museum was excellent, although it is a little hard to keep track of all the battles of Europe. Anyway it seems like Napoleon started off with good intentions to rid France of the nobility attitudes and ownership. Things were going well and he started expanding France’s borders and took an army to Prussia and won that battle, but got caught by winter storms as he returned which resulted in a combined loss of a lot of his troops. 380,000 men died and 100,000 captured. As such he was exiled as a failed leader then but came back in early 1815 accumulating an army as he travelled north through France.

The 1815 battle at Waterloo was between Napoleon’s France troops and Wellington’s troops (a combined UK, Netherlands, Prussia force). The British forces won the battle but there was a combined loss of over 40,000 men in one day!!! Lets just repeat that.... 40,000 in one day!

Hence we reach the end of our war touring.... there endeth the lesson (in futility), we hope?

Parked at the nearby train station and caught a train into nearby Brussels, easy.

Brussels was busy, busy with tourists. Found a bakery for lunch then began to wander and into the main plaza, or Grand Place, we picked up on an English speaking, free, walking tour that was underway. Thought we would give it a couple of stops but the guide, Paul, was so entertaining we stayed for the whole 2.5 hours. A big group of around 30, quite a lot of Americans. The tour stopped for a beer to replenish the soul, and re-hydrate as the temps were in the high 20’s. Whilst we didn’t learn the specifics of buildings or age/architects etc we did find out about the Belgium’s proud history of comic book characters (such as Tin Tin, The Smurfs). Also lessons on Beer, chocolate and fries (individually rather than all together as a meal, although??) seemingly each being their national dishes.

 Most photographed tourist spot in Brussels... boy pee-ing....

A smurf... or two...

A great way to look around, finishing off at the plaza beside the palace, we wandered back to the train station via the palace and cathedral, finding dinner before catching a return train back to the car at Waterloo.

Belgium slice #2

A bit of a slower day, blog update and onward trip planning. Fantastic WIFI in the apartment, but it turns out to be the last time for over a month that we can find time and/or adequate WIFI to do any blog updates, just busy enough!

Bikes were left for us with lots of bike roads and maps, so off we went through undulating farmland and villages. Roads were signposted with various routes for cycling, walking and horse riding. It was all starting to get confusing so after an hour we turned around and retraced our steps… didn’t want to get caught out without lunch a long way from home!

The villages in this area seemed deserted and unlike Italy or France, where every village has a bakery and small stores, there didn’t seem to be any commercial activity except a few cafes who also seemed to be shut. Certainly a less inviting feel to the towns, with the red brick houses which appear quite bland with little or no flower pots and few people about apart from some very fit looking road cyclists. We saw some coin operated dispensers for apples, apple juice and fresh bread on the road sides: the Belgium version of honesty box stalls without the honesty factor. Arriving back we met the neighbours who promptly offered us their e-bikes, and eggs!

Typical Belgium rural scene near our home exchange base

In the car to find a closer supermarket and then back to the homework. There are numerous walking trails marked close to our house so we took a walk through the woods nearby, seeing a couple of wild fallow deer unfazed by human’s wandering past.

Belgium slice #3

Drove to Ghent, a 45 minute drive in a different direction, a bit cooler today and with rain threatening we stopped for a fortifying coffee and meringue, decadence!

We met up for a walking tour along with 25-30 others, mainly Americans. Ghent had just finished a 10 day festival, Gentse Feesten, which is a free series of concerts in various locations around the city. It brings in over 500,000 people over that period so the town was still in clean-up mode, stages being dismantled and rubbish collected. Not such a good look but the city still stunning just the same. Ghent is located around a canal system with many pretty buildings dating from the 1300's, an early hub of trade.

A lot of work has gone into preserving this look, an example being a large and ultra modern hotel built behind a restored facade, completely a surprise when you walk through the door.

First brick building on left is facade of Marriot Hotel.... step through the door to discover .... 

The tour covering some of the quirks of history, and once again beer, fries and chocolate. A good look around then after a plate of fries with the recommended Stovis (beef stew) we retraced some of the tour route for a second look and then back to the car. A gorgeous city.

We headed from Ghent and back to Ypres, about an hour away, to again attend the 8 pm daily tribute at the Menin Gate. This time the Bournemouth Marching Brass Band as well as the buglers. Maybe a bit less haunting than the bag-pipes but a very moving tribute just the same. An hours drive in easy traffic saw us back home... shows how small the country is really.

A sad and fraught farewell....

Packed up and on the road for our last day with Pug. A straight forward drive towards Paris and with heaps of time we stopped at Royaumont Abbey, an Abbey and Chateaux just north of Paris. Caro had read a book ("In Falling Snow" by Mary-Rose MacColl) where this complex had featured as a WWI hospital, all female staffed and supported by the Scottish Women’s League (fictional story but factual as far as the timing, hospital and staffing).

The Abbey has had a few uses over it’s time and now has accommodation and a conference centre. Original portions date from the early 1200's, and it is a stunning building in lovely grounds. A relaxing stroll around before dropping down to Charles de Gaulle airport and the car return.

Got to the airport area just fine, but then it turned to custard somewhat… we had a lot of trouble and swearing to find our car drop off point as GPS kept taking us to the start of the named road with no through route to actual required destination. With all the traffic one got caught in the flow like water down a bath plug meaning we couldn’t dither so we went past, and though the short term drop off points of, Terminal 3, 1, 2 and 3 again until on the 3^rd approach to Terminal 3 Noel managed to spot the yard we were heading for.

It was then a very quick transition for ourselves and bags from car to shuttle, so no long loving farewells to Pug, just a quick photo of our 2 month forlorn, but thankfully unblemished, companion with it’s sad (or perhaps gleeful?) headlights glancing our way. We can happily say the Peugeot 308 is a great car.

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So close to clocking 10,000 km in our 2 months, should have gone round the airport terminals some more!

Shuttle dropped us at train station within CDG, very lucky to get a particularly helpful lady when buying our train tickets so ended up with a week long unlimited travel card for the use of trains, buses, subway for around the same cost as the one way train ticket was going to cost us. We are headed to Pontoise on the outskirts of Paris to catch up with Gauthier, our French exchange student who we 12 month hosted 9 years ago.

A change of trains at Paris Nord station to arrive at Pontoise about 6:40 pm. Gauthier met us and luckily his apartment is about 5 minutes walk away from the station. Pontoise is a lovely town with a medieval cathedral, chateaux and walled fortifications along the Oise River. Gauthier has given us his bedroom which is nice.

Out for dinner, a bit tricky as some restaurants are shut (being summer many Parisians go on holiday including the business owners) and a band playing in a plaza overlooked by 3 restaurants all full of concert listeners. Found a Vietnamese restaurant which was perfect.

The last time I saw Paris...

Gauthier was away to work by 6:45 this morning, whilst we were on a later schedule! We went into Paris for the day and followed a self guided walking tour downloaded from a travel blog. We walked about 12 km in all, starting at Paris Gare de Lyon station we walked to the Bastille monument and along a side canal of the Seine river which had many house boats moored.

We weaved our way around picturesque city streets, including passing city hall, before getting to  Notre Dame. The cathedral is totally walled off and is now, after the recent fire, a construction site. Lots and lots of tourists in that area, then over the Pont Neuf bridge to leave the Isle de la Cite, on which Notre Dame sits. Once we had crossed back over we wandered along a flea market to the Louvre.  We didn't go into the Louvre, we had visited 30 years ago so deemed it not necessary. Also lots of tourists so didn't look appealing!

Passed the Louvre Pyramid, through gardens to the Place de la Concorde before making our way onto the Avenue des Champs-Elysee's getting to the shopping part of the avenue which was heaving with people, both tourists and also locals heading out for the Friday night.

A look from across the road at the Arc de Triomphe, a lot of people under it and on the viewing platform at the top but seemingly one has to take your life in your hands and pick a moment to get across the 4 lanes of speeding traffic to get there as there does not appear to be an underpass. Too tired to risk our lives we took a photo and continued our walk to the Eiffel Tower.

Lots of people milling around the entrance as well as souvenir sellers and buskers. The entrance is the operative word as the tower is fenced off with a Perspex barrier, to get in we assume you would have to got through a bag search and pay an entry fee. 31 years ago it was all free to wander beneath, so we didn’t try as the queue was long and it’s just not the same!

Back to Pontoise via the Metro and train, great service and very easy to use. Gauthier cooked us dinner, Chicory bulb/leaf wrapped in ham and served in a Blanc Meil (a white sauce), very nice!

The joys of having a local guide

Saturday morning and another nice, and hot, day saw us at the Pontoise market which was smaller than normal as everyone is on holiday, including many stall holders! It was mainly fruit and veg, one cheese, one bakery, two meat stands and a few clothes stalls. Gauthier buys from the market each week. A walk to the town viewpoints then lunch back at the apartment using the lovely fresh produce reaped from the market.

In the afternoon we headed into Paris, walked up to Sacre-Coeur Basilica which was teeming with tourists. It is also known as the place of art, with so many caricature artists touting for trade… apparently it is ‘the’ place in Paris to get one done. Also artists painting and selling their work, crazy busy.

Wandered down the hill and away from the main throng of people (particularly tourists), still busy but more locals. Stopped for a drink in an old arcade bar then went to Grevin Museum, which is a wax museum not unlike Madame Tussaud's. Firstly lots of famous French actors, singers, poets then a history lesson from Mary Antoinette through to modern day Mr Macron, as well as various world leaders. Trump, Obama, the Queen etc. Well know musicians such as Elton, Mick Jagger, Micheal Jackson, Madonna etc. It was fun and we got our chance to offer useful opinions to those that may need it, or not....

Continued on past St Paul's and the Green Park area into another area full of restaurants and pubs, which was ideal for dinner. Pizza not particularly French, but good none the less. Then the Metro and train back to Pontoise.

Meri Beaucoup, Ravi de vous recontrer Paris

A slower morning, after all it was Gauthier’s weekend off after a very busy week at work, before we took the 10 minute drive to Chateaux Auvers Suroise, an Italian built Chateaux overlooking the Oise river. It holds art exhibitions but we just wandered around the grounds, very pleasant. Back to G’s for lunch and final pack before catching the 2 pm train to get us to the Euro Star station and bound for London. It was fantastic to catch up with Gauthier on his home patch, and having him host us was so special, the only thing we got wrong was our timing didn't allow us to meet his parents.... next time!

The Euro Star terminal, part of the Paris Nord station, was very busy. Getting there with nearly 2 hours to spare before departure we thought we had heaps of time but by the time we queued through immigration (French and UK) and security checks we didn’t have much time to spare in the ‘holding pen’. Facilities certainly not big enough for the numbers going through. Channel tunnel here we come… the tunnel was being built in 1989 so didn’t exist when we were here last, so we just had to travel through it.

Wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows - Martin Luther King, Jr

The futility of war....

First the Normandy Beaches.... shocking enough

Next morning we followed a suggested self-guided day visit guideline, found on an internet blog, to the D-day beaches of WWII.

On the morning of the 6^th June 1944 in a huge operation the Allied forces landed on German occupied French soil.... the first time any allied forces had set foot in France since the Dunkirk withdrawal of 1940.

Supported by bombers and parachutists, along with RAF gliders further inland, and naval sea support the USA troops landed at the first of our stops, Utah beach.

At nearby Point du Hoc, high cliffs on a point between the US landing beaches of Utah and Omaha, the US Rangers scaled cliffs to capture a strategic German gun battery, that gave coastal views/outlook in both directions. The sheer, and obviously heavily defended, cliffs easily give a very sobering understanding of the sheer determination of the troops and how easily the whole operation could have failed if such strategic attacks had been defeated.

Point du Hoc, craters left by the pre attack bombing

As well as Omaha and Utah Beach which are often referred to in many historical works, we drove near to Gold, Juno and Sword beaches which were also part of the US focus during the operation.

We stopped at the USA cemetery overlooking Omaha Beach, which contains the graves of over 9380 US troops most of whom lost their lives with the landings and over the first couple of days. The US buried their troops in one cemetery, whereas most other countries buried their troops in small cemeteries located close to the areas where they fell.

US cemetery, impossible to catch by photo or describe in words the impact this has whilst visiting

At Arromanches, which became a temporary harbour by the use of bridge spans out to temporary docks, we watched a very good 20 minute movie of the why’s and how’s of the war in the Normandy area.

 Then, with temporary harbour....

Now... a lovely summer beach

Heading inland to find one of the Canadian cemeteries we came upon another that contains members of the Commonwealth and Germans, Ryes Cemetery; 653 Commonwealth graves, 1 Polish, 335 German.

In the Canadian cemetery at Beny-sur-Mer 2049 headstones. At this stage the temperature was over 40 C so any shade was a welcome relief!

Then to Ouistreham to see the Pegasus Bridge… in fact we ended up in a traffic jam of 30 minutes plus because of a bridge, which was lifted to clear a canal ship. This delay meant we opted to drive straight to our next accommodation near Cambremer (the 2 night stay there is covered in our previous blog).

After our enjoyable one day cycling break, and with a hot day looming we left the BnB and backtracked to Merville battery, a strategic 3 hectare German site of extensive underground shelters, a command post with communications to Sword Beach, lookouts and large guns. At the time it was self protected by mines and an anti-tank ditch.

This position was the objective which Lieutenant Colonel Otway and the 9^th British parachute regiment had to neutralise in the early hours of the D-day landings. 

6^th June 1944 at 0:30 hours the men of the 9^th battalion embarked in their Dakota airplanes and gliders. In what was poor weather the parachutists dropped over a wide area and into flooded marshes of the river Dives (an ironic name given the tragic nature of the mistake). The marshes had been deliberately flooded by the Germans as a defense mechanism. Due to the weather affected drop this mechanism was effective, some of the ditches being over 2 m deep with the flooding and the paratroopers heavily weighed down with equipment.

The drop zone was to be lit by beacons dropped by a lead aircraft but none worked. This combined with German forces alerted and firing resulted in immediate confusion as to the landing zone. Out of the 600 men dropped only 150 met at the appointed rendezvous, many others drowned and/or blown off course up to 30 km away.

Of the battalions 3 assault gliders, none landed as planned and none of the 5 support gliders made it at all. Despite the lack of men and equipment the operation proceeded and they stormed and overpowered the Germans, to gain possession of the battery with the loss of a further 75 lives.

After the attack they withdrew and left the battery disabled as it was a danger to stay in case the Germans retaliated. The Germans managed to reinstate 2 guns the following day but now had no direct view or communication over Sword Beach which led to a lack of accuracy. The battery remained in German hands until 17^th August 1944.

With temps rising into the 40’s we went to nearby Pegasus Bridge memorial. The objective of the British 6^th airborne division using a unit of 2^nd battalion glider infantry was to capture this bridge over the Caen canal (Benouville Bridge) and a 2^nd nearby (Ranville Bridge) over the Orne River. These bridges were vital as they denied the German forces the chance to easily renew troops and equipment. 

A force of 181 men landed, in 6 Horsa Gliders, with 5 of the gliders landing within 47 yards of their objective at 0:15 am on the 6^th June. They surprised the German defenders and took the bridges within 10 minutes with the loss of 2 men.

A successful attack when it all goes according to plan!

The visit to the WWII sites has given only a small inkling of the shocking loss of life, and bravery shown, among the people involved. For Noel it has definitely piqued his interest in finding out more about his Dad, Frank's, involvement on duty in North Africa and Italy during a 4 year period in WWII. Frank never spoke of it, and we never asked, as to a child it seemed like ancient history... but it wasn't!

The futility is reinforced...

A tour of the France and Belgium WWI battlefields, shocking does not describe it

We happily jumped into air-conditioned Pug after visiting the last of our Normandy sites as the temp was recording 44 C and we headed north-east to our Arras BnB. Leaping from WWII to WWI.

Arras lies on large chalk plateau at the confluence of the Scarp and Crinchon Rivers, an old settlement of the iron age. In the 600’s the Benedictine Abbey was established and the modern town of Arras grew around it. It was particularly important as a grain market place. After much wrestling of powers it became a settled town in the late 1800’s.

During WWI Arras was 10 km from the front line and a series of battles were fought around the city, decimating it. It has been rebuilt to the pre-war look dating from the 1600’s. Arras has two main plaza’s with restaraunts surrounding both. At 36 C at 9 pm in the evening it was a very pleasant spot to eat.

Day 1

A 9 am we met our WWI sites guide, Aurore. She is French and works for an Australian run tour company which are specialists on Australian, and in our case New Zealand, sites of interest/importance. We were the only 2 on our pre-booked (NZ) tour but we did meet up with an Australian van load for lunch and dinner. The order of day's for our itinerary was swapped around as it is meant to rain tomorrow and Aurore advised it would be best if we go to those sites where outdoor exploration was more vital today.

We headed north from Arras to the Flanders Fields on the French/Belgium border and Passchendaele region, stopping initially at a huge WWI French cemetery, Aurore explained that as the French had been involved in so many battles over their history WWI was considered just “one of the many” by most French, and not especially significant. Anyway it was a huge cemetery and beside it was a small new memorial to the Christmas Tree Truce of 1914.

Passing by the preserved battlefields and the huge and imposing memorial to the Canadians at Vimy Ridge overlooking the Douai Plain was immediately sobering. The first time all 4 Canadian divisions participated together in a battle with nearly 3600 killed and 7000 wounded.

We stopped at Armentieres and at the Cite Bonjean military cemetery and the first of the New Zealand memorials to the missing that we would see. A nearby building had been designated as a Commonwealth Field Hospital in 1914-16 and so the cemetery is more ordered than some with men from the same battalion often being buried together. The town was in Allied hands from October 1914 until the German ‘Spring Offensive’ of 1918 when they held the town for 6 months before being regained by the British forces. Thus the Germans used the cemetery to bury their men over that period.

There are 452 NZ graves and the memorial to 47 NZ casualties with no known grave in the area, among a total of 1617 identified graves of varying nationalities.

Next on to the area of the battle of Messines (7-14 June 1917) which is near Mesen village in Belgium.

The aim was to take the ridge, the Germans already occupying the high grounds. It started by tunneling 22 mine/cavities and laying explosives below the German lines. 19 of these massive explosive dumps detonated on the morning and it is estimated up to 10,000 German troops were killed. A commanding officer in charge predicted before the detonation that although he wasn't sure if it would change history, he was sure it would change geography! The combined explosion ranks among the largest non-nuclear in history, and caused a localised earthquake.

There was a number of the mines not used as they were deemed not required, were discovered by the enemy or suffered damage, and some have since been exploded under controlled conditions. However one notable exception remains on which a farm house and yard sits…. nervously! 23 tonne of explosives still remain here and it is generally agreed it is only a matter of time until deterioration leads to detonation. The farming family however has advised they do not wish to let it be a controlled explosion as it would destroy their farm and so prefer to live (or fly'n'die more likely) with the consequences.

For this battle/operation NZ suffered 700 fatalities and 3700 casualties during the battle. The memorial here lists 827 with no known graves who died in the area over the period 1917-18. There are German concrete bunkers in the corner of the memorial area, our first viewing of an example of how small the distances were between lines and the minimal gains/losses likely to be made to the front lines.

A quick stop at Mesen square revealed an in-ground map of NZ and plaque presented by Belgium thanking NZ'ers for their sacrifice on 7 June 1917 and a bit further down the street a statue of a NZ soldier.

Although the NZ government has provided self guide assistance, our tour proved to cover the ground effectively does require a guide

We lunched at a café near Polygon Woods which is the site of a major Australian troop battle.

The café had a lot of war memorabilia that the owner has collected over recent years, being a tunneling expert himself he actively finds rifles, shells, buttons, clothing.. even bodies although none in the museum thankfully! The cafe owner is also raising funds to a memorial called "Brothers in Arms" to recognise exactly that, brothers who fought in conflict. This is after a body recently uncovered during road works was identified as an Australian soldier, who had died in his brothers arms and was buried by his brother with obvious care.

Also visited during the busy day was Buttes New British Cemetery, further Australian and also New Zealand memorials and then a visit to the memorial museum at Passchendaele with an excellent exhibition where we easily whiled away a couple of hours.

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A stop at Tyne Cot cemetery and memorial. Tyne Cot was a farm house area of 5-6 German blockhouses and it was captured by the 3^rd Australian division 4 October 1917. On 6 October to the end of March 1918 343 graves were put there. It went back to German hands from 13 April to 28 September before it was recaptured by the Belgium army. After the armistice it became a collection point for graves from the battle grounds and from several small cemeteries nearby. There are now more than 11900 buried of which more than 8370 are unidentified. There is 4 German graves also.

The Tyne Cot memorial walls commemorates nearly 35000 servicemen from the UK and New Zealand who died in Ypres salient largely after 16 August 1917 and have no known grave. It is one of 4 memorials to the missing in Belgium Flanders area. It is also the largest commonwealth war cemetery in the world and specifically to NZ there is 520 graves plus 322 unidentified along with 1175 names on the memorial wall as unidentified/missing (ie some may actually be buried in graves rather than missing but remain unidentified). It is of note that if, mainly freshly found, bodies are identified with modern techniques their names are then removed from the memorials to the missing.

A quick stop at David Gallaher (1^st captain of the 1905 (originals) NZ All Blacks) burial site at 9 Elms British Cemetery, Belgium.

We met up with the Aussie touring group for dinner in Ypres and to the Menin Gate war memorial after dinner. This memorial bears the names of close 55000 missing Allied soldiers (but not New Zealanders) from the beginning of the war until August 15 1917, the remaining being listed on the Tyne Cot or smaller numbers on other memorials. This is due to the discovery at time of completion  that the memorial was not big enough to house all the names. Of the 300,000 killed in the Flanders Fields or Ypres Salient of Northern France/Western Belgium at least 90,000 soldiers have no known graves.

The Menin Gate memorial is on the site of one of the towns medieval gates. The British and Commonwealth troops marched to the front from the area and many passed through these medieval gates. At 8 pm every night, since 1928, the last post is played as a mark of Belgium's gratitude to the Allied forces. This has been uninterrupted apart from during WWII when the ceremony continued daily at a cemetery in Surrey, UK.

On this night an Irish, Campbell College Belfast, pipe band played. The bag pipes possibly were more haunting than the Last Post itself. To be guest performers, although that is not the right word, is very sought after and we believe few nights occur without an accompaniment to the Buglers. It is also hugely popular with visitors and huge crowds attend particularly during the summer months.

Day 2

Thunder and lightening last night along with rain threatening today, which began with our guide taking us for a walk around the Saturday market in Arras. Smaller than usual as our guide informed us lots of the stall holders are away on summer holidays. Anyway the usual fruit, veg, fish and meat… one seller of horse meat too. Had a look in the town hall, which contains giants; a family of them that are bought out onto the streets for events and festivities. We were also shown the marriage rooms and chambers which had lots of wood paneling and ornate murals and wallpaper, all made to look old as it was rebuilt after WWII.... there had been nothing left due to shelling.

A bit of light relief, meeting one of the Arras Giants...

On to the Somme area, by which stage it is raining. First stop was a cemetery with Indian and Chinese graves. The Indians fought with the British army whilst the Chinese were labourers sent by the Chinese government near the end of the war to assist with the clean up. This was dangerous work with unexploded mines and shells which along with disease meant many of them died after the war had ended.

Passing a road sign we stopped to look at some live shells placed there by a nearby farmer and awaiting collection by the authorities… a regular service! The shells come to the surface as the farmers work the land, they then leave them at specific points for collection. A local saying is “the last victim of WWI is yet to be born” due to death and injury caused by the old explosives.

Un-exploded shells awaiting collection at road corner... hopeless trying to place H&S guidelines we think!

While we took photo’s of the shells Aurore went for a walk along the row of a neighbouring potato field coming back with a handful of shrapnel and a rusty gun part. The rain had bought them to the surface easily. The finding and collecting of war relics is a common hobby in the area.

The rain we had experienced overnight, whilst heavy for a time it was not much in quantity but on top of very dry land had turned the fields into extremely sticky mud... and a very real and poignant example of what it must have been like in the trenches.

Although the battlefields can be cultivated and farmed, as a mark of respect no new buildings can be built however old buildings can be re-instated. Farmlands are currently largely cereal, maize and potatoes.

We visited the battleground and memorial to the Canadian troops of Newfoundland which is located near Beaumont Hamel, named Hawthorne Ridge and is a name forged into Newfoundland's psyche... their 'Gallipoli'. This memorial includes a statue of a Caribou, and live red squirrels which are imported from Canada (although this is at some disquiet from neighbouring farmers and you do have to question the practice?) The area is preserved so the trenches are as they were, just cleaner and greener. It is where the Newfoundlander's made their unsuccessful attack on 1 July 1916, the first day of the Battle of the Somme. The regiment had gone into the area in April 1916 with the line having been defended for the 20 months prior to this attack, with varying regiments on duty and little actual action.

Thus the Germans were well prepared with construction of deep dug outs and tunnels. The Allied pre-attack shelling explosions had gone as planned on the morning of 1 July but the order for the men to go over the top was inexplicably delayed by 10 minutes giving the German opposition adequate time to regroup and be ready and waiting with their machine guns. Thus the troops were decimated as wave after wave was continually ordered to go. 22 Officers and 758 others started over the top, out of 780 only 110 survived with 68 at roll call the next day. 80% losses in 30 minutes….

Trenches at Canadian site, obviously caved in with age but preserved as a memorial

Our day was very easily filled in with visits to a range of Museum's and Thiepval (huge) memorial to the missing/cemetery as well as a large German cemetery. The German's do not allow flowers in the cemeteries, instead planting trees so that their hero's are shaded.

German cemetery, black crosses as opposed to the white headstones of the Commonwealth cemeteries, and trees rather than flowers

The Lochnagar crater memorial shows the effect of such large mine explosions, and is very well set up with plagues explaining both the reasoning and the consequences.

Again lunch at a small cafe, this time owned by ex-pat Brits, which has an extensive display of memorabilia. The afternoon continued on with visits to Caterpillar Valley cemetery and NZ memorial to the missing.

Part of the day involved a visit to "Factory Corner" which is a battle site and at which Caro's grandfather fought. He was injured on the first day of this battle... which effectively  saved his life as he was sent to England to rehabilitate before coming home. Our guide Aurore was able to show us to within probably 200 m, due to the dates Caro had researched off war records, the location where he was likely shot. Both spooky and moving...

On our return to Arras we visited the Wellington tunnels located under the city. These tunnels, which had existed already as chalk mines, were expanded in size and linking under a British plan in the build up to the Battle of Arras in April 1917. The work of expansion is credited, with much gratitude, to the work of the New Zealand Tunneling Company over a 5 month period. The tunnels then housed up to 20,000 troops, and included such facilities as a chapel and a hospital with 700 beds, in preparation for the battle. Troops then emerged from the tunnels en-mass to run (up to 2 km) to attack the German troops. This offensive was considered successful with the German troops pushed back some 11 km and included the taking of Vimy Ridge by Canadian forces.

In summary it is so hard to comprehend the staggering numbers of those killed, over such small areas and in such atrocious conditions. The whole area is treated with the upmost respect. It was amazing to see the cemeteries dotted everywhere over the area. These ranged from small, just a handful of headstones and literally in peoples back gardens, through to those with thousands. All uniform in design, and exceptionally well cared for by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, in this area nearly 2000 cemeteries exist.

Such a great tour concluded, extremely sobering but very much recommended to understand the scope... and shocking results in personal cost... of the WWI action in this area.

Old cities... or are they?

Stunning medieval (and later) settings...

A quick clean up in the morning and left Vannes as we headed north to Saint-Malo on the north coast of Normandy.

We deliberately took the smaller roads and there was not much traffic, lots of cereal crops (a lot harvested) and maize crops along with some small mobs of cattle out grazing. We have now got into the habit of comparing the different route options on Pugs GPS, in some cases the difference between the 'fast' and 'short' options can be minimal in time difference.

Saint-Malo is a port city in Brittany, north-west France. The city was founded in 1 BC and by 4 AD it became a fortress due to its location in a prominent bay position. In the 5-6^th century the area got many Celtic Briton’s fleeing the UK. It had a short lived independence when it became a republic in 1590-93. In the 1800’s it became the home of French privateers, ie Pirates!, unofficially sanctioned by the French King.

During WWII in late August/early September 1944 the walled city of Saint-Malo was almost totally destroyed by USA shelling with British naval support. The city held 800 German troops when the assault began as part of a garrison of over 12,000 in the wider area. Over 10,000 Prisoner's Of War were taken by the Allies.

Saint-Malo was rebuilt over a 12 year period, 1948-1960, and it looks like a late 1800’s walled town today.

Next stop was Mont-St-Michel, UNESCO World Heritage site since 1979. Known for its stunning island location it also has some mainland town to serve the tourists. Everything we read said it would be busy with tourists, but worth it. It was on both counts!

The island is joined to the mainland by a 1 km long causeway and can also be walked to at low tide, and is about 7 hectares in total size. First Inhabitants date from 708 AD when Aubert, Bishop of Avranches, had a sanctuary built on the island. It went on to become a major focus of pilgrimage and in the 10^th century the Benedictine’s settled in the abbey and the village below grew. It is a good example of the feudal society of the 9-15^th century with the abbey and monastery at top (ie God), the great halls beneath, the stores and housing below that and then outside the walls the common people (farmers, fishermen). The fortifications were in place early in the town’s history to repel invaders.

As religious importance waned it closed as an Abbey and from the late 1700’s to 1863 it was used as a prison. 1864 saw it become a French historic monument and restoration work began.

It was very busy in the lower streets, even though we had deliberately arrived late afternoon, . Not so busy in the Abbey itself, and cooler too. A walk in the streets, within the walls, was like being in Harry Potter’s Diagon Alley. With the tide being out we walked around the perimeter of the walls, on the sand/quick sand… a bit sticky on our shoes but saved washing our feet! We did keep our eye out to see however, the tidal difference here is above 10 m, and can travel so quickly over the expansive flats that it is rumoured to be faster than galloping horses.... let alone gallumping Noel and Caro's...

Now that's what you call a fireplace!

Back over the causeway, and back to our car, and arrived at Saint Lo about 9 pm where we had a pre-booked hotel on the outskirts.

As we had already eaten we googled to see if there is sights to see on an evening walk; there wasn’t as 90-95% of the city was destroyed in the first days of the D-day landing offensive with at least 800 of the citizens killed. The town was rebuilt on the original site in accordance with the wishes of the remaining citizens. Casualties of war that are probably overlooked by New Zealander’s.

Where in the world....

The fruit-ality of....

Our blog briefly leaves sequence for a day, to try and group like topics together, or is it just the effects of the days activity described below...

After one day touring the Normandy D-Day beaches, see the following post, we drove to our pre-booked accommodation of 2 nights. What we saw on the drive through was lots of cereal harvesting… and a circus! Still with camels, zebra, buffalo, donkey tied to a fence and a lion in a cage all set up on a town reserve. A little surprised as we didn't realise such animal circus's still existed.

We have a 2 night stay in a charming BnB property, a 1840's house near the town of Cambremer in Normandy. Ate at a local restaurant that evening, still very hot, 29 C at 9 pm. A storm was forecast for the evening but all we got was lightening/wildfire with no rain. Dropped the temps a little however which was appreciated.

Following a bit of research during our early trip planning it was discovered that the "Route de Cidre" existed in this area, obviously the translation to The Cider Route is pretty compelling for Caro who's been known to enjoy the odd drop, and who is Noel to argue with the pursuit?

Our host has rented bikes for us to do the said cider trail, and had them delivered and ready to go. After a lovely breakfast with homemade preserves and with hopes of a cooler day we were on our bikes. With a 40 km loop mapped out as per supplied map, brand new rental bikes (we mean actually never used!, nice bikes as well) and hopes of a cooler day we were off!

The terrain is gently up and down, so although a long haul up in places it was always equaled with a long free wheel down! We cut out a small section early on, so some 5 km less than originally planned. Resisted the urge to stop at cideries before lunch, there was a couple enviously passed however!

Stopped at the village of Bonnebosq for morning tea and then at Beuvon-en-auge for lunch.  At lunch cider was the compulsory accompaniment, the local custom of drinking it from a handle-less bowl. Both very cute towns with buildings of Tudor and clay construction. This is cereal and apple country with small mobs of cattle grazing. After lunch we rode through horse breeding country, stopping at Du Pont cidery which is a famous one for the region and is a Chateaux in stunning gardens and surrounds.

 Entrance to Du Pont Cidery

Beuvon-en-auge, once again another village voted prettiest in France

Although a little skeptical of drinking liquid from a bottle labeled Du Pont we had a taste… yum… then with a large bottle tucked in our pack we headed back to our local village of Cambremer. 35 C showing on the temp gauge at local pharmacist… on the shady side of street!

With energy levels diminishing we stopped at one more village cidery for a tasting, tucked another bottle into backpack and back to our BnB.

A great day out riding on sealed roads all the way with very little traffic, often any traffic being large tractors and trailers loaded high with bales of straw.

Walked halfway to the village (actually very close to our accommodation) for dinner at the Creperie, there are lots of creperie's about in fact eating at one for lunch also. Since we have enjoyed the local flavours all day we had a Gallette each, one a Camembert, Bacon, Egg and Cream whilst the other was Liverwurst Chorizo, Mushroom and Cream… and of course a 750 ml bottle of cider, yum! The effervescent young waitress offered to provide a take home cork with our bottle if we didn't finish it..... our answer, why would we not finish it????

Yes, it was hot work but a really fun day in extremely pretty countryside.

Selfie!!!!.... not sure why the long face....