Week 11. A journey in France


Above - Thiepval Memorial. Commemorating soldiers of the Battle of the Somme whose bodies were not identified or not found.

Well we have left Holland and travelled into France. Leaving the Dutch site was a right pain in the bum, we had to reverse the van off the pitch turning a very tight right angle in order to hitch up. Those who have had a twin axle know there is no such thing as a “tight” turn, particularly with a two motor mover, the bloody thing took an age to reverse out of the pitch but at least it wasn't raining and we got under way at 10:30. The navigator indicating that we had 404km to travel and that we should be there by 2:30pm - in a pigs ear!! It was pouring with rain and four thirty before we drove into the very narrow gateway of La Ferme des Aulnes. The gIMG 0987ateway was quite something, very tall and just a couple of inches wider than the caravan, still that was it till we left on Friday wasn’t it? Like buggery it was, after booking in the receptionist with a cheery “follow me” jumped into a golf cart and did a circuit of the VERY tight site and went then drove out of those VERY tight gates but worst of all after going through the gates she turned sharp left, fine for a golf buggy, damn difficult for a rig 41 feet long when the turn is a damn sight shorter than that and those bloody gates stopping you turn.

IMG 0994

It was still pouring with rain as we set up camp but stopped immediately after and didn’t start again until we went to the showers next morning.

Quite a sad day today, we went first to the the “1916 Somme Museum” which explained - no it didn’t - it tried to explain how 1,200,000 men, British, German, French and others, were slaughtered over a two year period for an allied gain of just 10 kilometres.

Utter madness.

In the afternoon we visited the Thiepval Memorial which commemorates those French and British soldiers of the Somme whose bodies were never found amongst them Lance Corporal Henry Francis Ghost.

Enough sadness yesterday, so today we visited Abbeville. A pleasant town with a wealth of interesting architecture, stunning. Unfortunately we spent so much time in the local market that there was virtually no time for other sightseeing, still someday we will return.

Last Updated - Sunday 27th April 2014.             © Seve  Ghost 2014