Bruce's Tour of France

2nd Division Memorial, Mont St Quentin
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After watching the time trial all day we finally got to leave about 7pm, so headed for the motorway to get a bit of a start.  We now know why Cadel didn’t do so well this year – team politics!  Seems he’s off elsewhere next year, hey Lance?  Moved on to Epernay, home of Moet & Chandon, Dom Perignon.  Had to have a taste, so did the tour of the house and caves and got 2 glasses of vintage each at the end.  Potent stuff, and nice.  Sam was impressed with the caves, not so much the tasting.  Spent the rest of the afternoon in a bar watching Ventoux and having a couple of beers.

Australian Corps Memorial Park, le Hamel
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Sam is quite enjoying this part of the tour.........

Moved on to the Somme and spent the day visiting memorials.  First off, the 4^th Division Memorial at Bellenglise.  A little difficult to find, even the locals had no idea, even though a sign on the town hall proclaims “Never Forget Australia”.  It was down a dirt road behind a heap of farm buildings, way out in the distance.  It’s no wonder not many people come here to pay their respects.  Sam commented on what a peaceful spot it was.  We then went on to the 2^nd Division Memorial at Mont St Quentin, a spectacular memorial surrounded by suburbia!  Hard to imagine what it was like for them.

Australian National Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux
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Le Hamel was next with the Australian Corps Memorial Park, beautiful and situated on the top of the hill overlooking the village that they had liberated.  Smack bang in the middle of wheat fields, some remains of German trenches nearby.   Other Australians visiting, as well as French and English.  Good to see.  All beautiful, all peaceful but what hell they went through.

enjoying the finest bubbly
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When we got to Villers-Bretonneux in the afternoon, it was deserted, being a Sunday and quite feral, which is disappointing.  Spoils the romance of it all as Bruce said.  He was looking forward to having a coffee in a café etc etc.  Tomorrow may be different.  We went out to the Villers-Bretonneux Cemetery and Australian National Memorial, where it lists the names of 10 772 Australians that have no known grave.  It’s a sobering walk through the graves, particularly the ones that have 2 or more headstones, as you know that they could not be properly identified and were therefore buried together.  Sam is quite enjoying this part of the tour, though not so much the cemeteries.  He placed a flag at the 4^th and 2^nd Div Memorials and we picked some poppies by the side of the road and put them there as well.

4th Division Memorial, Bellenglise
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Stayed the night in a campground in Amiens, in a way wishing we had a car to make us more mobile.  Lots of stuff happens at night around here – light shows etc and we just don’t have the access.  Back to Villers-Bretonneux to the Adelaide Cemetery, where the unknown soldier was removed from to take back to Canberra – why I fail to see – then to the school to have a look at the Museum, school holidays so quiet.  Drove on to the 3^rd Division Memorial at Sailly-le-Sec, also the site of the infamous bunker “Gibraltar”.  Started pouring with rain while we were there, in a way fitting to the place.  Then it was on to Pozieres where the 1^St Division Memorial, the Windmill Memorial and the Tank Memorial are situated.  Lots more people around these ones, as they are on major roads.  Sam left a flag at the 1^st and a koala at the 3^rd.  We have one more flag for the 5^th Division Memorial in Zonnebeke, Belgium, which is on the list for tomorrow.  Next stop on today’s agenda was Bullecourt on the Hindenburg Line to look at the Australian Memorial Park and the Slouch Hat Memorial at the church in the town.  Last stop of the day was the Canadian Memorial, which is a very impressive structure and totally dominates the skyline for miles around.  Here they have preserved the battlefield as it was.  It is good to be able to see the shell holes, bomb craters and trenches and try to imagine what it must have been like.  Except it is all nice and green now and the trees have gown back.  There are signs everywhere warning of undetonated munitions.  In a way, I wish the Australian Government had done something similar – yes the monuments are beautiful but the battlegrounds that were so important to us are long gone, replaced by manicured farmlands, never to be seen again.  The Canadians have it right, even have an info booth manned by Canadian students full time.

doing the usual in the plush surrounds of Moet & Chandon
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We are stopped in a campground near Fromelles, just 2km up the road.  We will spend the morning there before moving on to the Belgium sites, then heading over to Germany to drop the motorhome off.  So this will probably be the last blog while on the road, won’t have internet in Belgium or Germany, may be able to do one in London, will have to wait and see.  Not long now till we face the flight home!  Just have to get through the cleaning of the motorhome – 10 weeks in such a confined space breeds dirt.  I am so looking forward to space (and a nice comfy bed).  We have booked in to a 5* hotel in Brussels after we drop off the camper.  It had better be good!