Somme
 

This year I'm back on track to take the annual cycling holiday with my usual pedalling pal Paul (he missed out last year owing to the niceties of buying and selling a house in England - usually sees the parties concerned on vallium as they all struggle to keep a chain of buyers and sellers together during the 3 months it takes to complete the process - it all happens on one day with everyone moving-out and moving-in their respective residences like a set of synchronised swimmers).

When we first started these sorties, we visited the Somme, inspired by Sebastian Faulks book Birdsong which we had both read that year (1999). This year sees us return. The first year we didn't visit all the places we had intended as we were striuck down with food-poisoning courtesy of some reheated salmon on a bed of spinach...(won't be going there again), so this year we plan to make up for that, plus also the 1st July anniversary of the first day of this battle is its 90th.

Have booked B&Bs (chambre d'hotes) early as a precaution and have actually managed to secuure two nights (30 June and 1 July) at one in a place calle d Mailly Maillet where many of the British soldiers were stationed and being situated about 3-4 miles from the front. The door to the main porch of the church at Mailly Maillet still bears the signatures of some of the solidiers.

As I've spent a lot of my holiday allowance already this year on training jobs (my employer won't allow separate time off for those - well, not yet anyway) I can only afford to take 3 days off work, so the cycling will be limited to around 100 to 120 miles between Arras and Amiens (we'll be using the train from Calais to Arras and then from Amiens back to Calais). Have plenty to do during the time in the Somme area though so we'll be in the saddle quite a bit.

More later about further preparations and the eventual trip itself (digital camera this time - not available last time), but for anyone interested to know more about the battle then I can recommend this site for starters

There's a film from the late 60s/early 70s called, "If It's Tuesday, This must Be Belgium."

It's about a whirlwind bus tour of Europe, and includes all the usually comedo-romantic adventures that a busful of strangers can have.

There is a scene where the bus has stopped at some battlefield somewhere in France. The American male is feverishly explaining to his wife exactly what happened that day when his squad advanced over this very hill, with Germans firing upon them unmercifully, etc., etc., etc. As he and the wife cross the screen, a German man is having exactly the same conversation with his wife moving in the opposite direction.

It's one of the funniest moments of the movie, and I just kind of flashed on it on seeing you were heading for a battlefield, even if yours was WWI, and the story relates to WWII.

hm. Maybe I should be getting some additional sleep.

I know the film you mean. It does cross the mind about 'the other side'. One of the strange events of the first day of the Somme battle was that the German soldiers, having killed so many of their enemy then called a truce for several hours to permit the English, French and Canadians the opportiunity to retrieve their dead and wounded. Wars can provide surreal moments.

One other thing we noticed when tourig the area is that the German cemeteries have black crosses on their graves. At first the thought is like the western movies where the 'baddies' wore the black hats, but then you realise that black is the colour of respect for the dead...

Sorry, this is turning into a bit of a morbid subject, but it can also have its humorous moments as you have shown above. And I'm sure we'll have our usual share of those when we go on our trip.

Enjoy your sleep!

CF , do you have any sick days , if so call in with a case of Sproket fever !!!

Sprocket fever, isn't that like being assiduous about wearing the correct clothing when attempting a steep ascent? - you have to be in the right gear to make a success of it...

"As I braked to speak, I broke two spokes" :lol:
Eats shoots and leaves?

You've got me wondering if I shouldn't be chasing Stonewall Jackson by bike.

Booked the channel crossing today - usual routine with Eurotunnel's Cycle Service - minibus plus trailer for the bikes (for those who haven't checked out my website yet). I can never understand why it's not used more. Norman the driver is very accommodating and will drop off and pick up at other places than the official one, plus bring back plentiful amounts of wine as well which get decanted from the minibus to the boot of my Passat Estate once back at Folkestone. Still the same cheap price to get across - £16 each way, and that includes parking for the car at the Eurotunnel Centre on the UK side for the duration of our trip away. Excellent value!

Should have a map ready over the weekend all going well so you can see the route and planned itinerary....

Time for maps!

First, the general area showing Folkestone in the UK where we take the Eurotunnel crossing to Calais then use the train to get to Arras. Normally we would cycle this but we are short of hoiday time, and have decided to use the time on our bikes more effectively in the Somme area.

On the return leg, we will take the train from Amiens back to Calais to meet Norman, make generous purchases of wine, and then cross the Channel back to Folkestone:

Next, the area where we will be cycling, showing our three main locations of stay: Arras in the north, Mailly Maillet in the Somme (close to the front line of 1916), and Amiens in the south:

Finally, A battlefield map showing the front line during the 1916 offensive;

Fom Mailly Maillet we will be taking in various locations on a route passing through Beaumeont Hamel, Thiepval and Albert - all circled on the map.

More info to follow in a couple of weeks' time

Finally for now, if you want to have a gentle introduction to the Somme and the battle of July 1916, then you should read Sebastian Faulks novel 'Birdsong'. It's the reason we started these annual sorties...

Getting close now - we leave on the 29th - just 2 weeks to go. Added bonus: we arrive at Calais about 10.30 am but the train from Calais to Arras doesn't leave until 2.45 pm. Why's that good. Well it happens to stop at 3.00pm en route at a station just 10 minutes from Chateau Cocove and its superb restaurant, and it takes 90 minutes to cycle to Chateau Cocove. You can work out the rest....

Bike's near enough equipped. Invested in some Specialised Nimbus Armadillo All Condition tyres - a bit like slicks but with Kevlar puncture protection - so speed for effort will improve (perhaps that info should be in the 'Bikes' thread). Front pannier rack's in place plus have sorted out the programme of visits thanks to the Great War Forum (worth a look if you want to know more about WW1 from people who have an active interest for one reason or another). Maps and reference books ready to go as well.

Back from the Somme, suitably dehydrated by cycling in 32C/90F heat most days!

Amazing trip with much to relate - will be starting on the website this weekend, and will post some photos and details here as well, shortly...

Welcome back. I'm sure you brought back plenty of wine to help with the re-hydration. :D

Too right Bruce! :drunk:

Hello Cyclefrance
( Who was it who said that I wouldn't be able to stay away ? In my defence , I have to say that I have at last finished what I had to do , and for family reasons , I simply cannot avoid replying to this post . )
My grandfather fought in the Somme , in Mametz Woods which is near Albert . He was seventeen , and with the Royal Welch Fusiliers . Very famous battle . The signs towards the site are bilingual French/ Welsh , and there is a dragon monument on a hillock overlooking the woods . I went there with my children a few years ago . Did you go there yourself ?
And did you go Ypres ?

Hi Buddug - sorry for late reply - work has been exceptionally busy and I've been using spare time to start buildiing the website. You can access it via www.geocities.com/cyclefranceuk - still a way to go at the moment...

Ref yr question above - I haven't visited Mametz Woods yet. This year we were short of spare time and so I did some research around Courcelles au Bois (where we were staying) and also around Colincamps - I'll be adding this to the website in due course.

Ypres we cycled to in 2000 and spent a good week there visiting Paesschendale, Popperinge, Menin gate, Messines Ridge, Plugstreet, Hill 62 and other sites. We are planning on a return trip next year, all going well.

Very interesting , Cyclefrance . Did you go to the Anglican church in Ypres ? And did you visit that extraordinary new museum there ?

When I arrived in Albert , I had been driving for hours from the Alps where I live . I was starving and bought a loaf of bread , which I stuffed into my mouth as I was walking . I then proceeded to choke on the bread . It was awful . I leant on a wall in the road and choked and choked . I could not breathe , and I thought I was going to die . My eyes were frothing , and the lines from Dulce Et Decorum Est came to me as I was choking . You know, the part where Owen describes the gassed soldier :

'In all my dreams , before my helpless sight ,
He plunges at me , guttering , choking , drowning'

I managed St George's Chapel, but not the museum (In Flanders' Fields?). Probably next time. When we went before I lost quite a bit of time as a result of broken spokes on my front wheel. Had to find a cycle repair shop at short notice on two occasions - never easy. Broke 5 spokes in all, and tiurned out that the guy who had re-spoked the wheel before I came away has somehow managed to fit them wrongly so that they lost the majority of their strength. Never a dull moment!

Clearly your problem that your spokes are fitted on the English measurement system, and those damn Frogs only have metric hammers.

You're almost right, Wolf. The wheel was made in Belgium and the spokesman was a Brit. His 'reason' for the mistake given when I returned to his shop with bike and baseball bat was that English wheels run spokes left to right, but my wheel went right to left - which meant that he bent the spokes to make them fit in the holes that were designed to take them from the other side of the hub. That probably doen't make sense , but basically they were bent at such an angle in order to fit the way he wanted that they sheared all too easily! Needless to say I don't go to that shop so much these days...

I don't blame you. If it doesn't fit, find out why..... don't alter anything until you know why.
I learned that lesson with windshield wiper linkage.....a couple times. ;)

Sounds like a good recipe for conjugal joy too , xoxoxoBruce .

Excellent project , Cyclefrance .
( by ze way , ze Tour de France will be passing below my very window tomorrow . )

anyone's race this year - good to see Rasmussen win a stage though. We get chronically bad coverage of it here in the UK, have to rely on the papers more than anything and of course the Web...

Unlike you , I am not one of the cycling cognioscenti , Cyclefrance . I have just driven my husband to Geneva airport though , and I see that all the roads have been jazzed up for the Tour . New tarmac all over the place . Loads of caravans have already been lined up too, and I remembered not to park my car down in the street . There is a delightfully excited atmosphere around town .

Have you read the hilarious 'French Revolutions' by Tim Moore on the subject of the Tour de France ?

Sure have - hilarious! I haven't mastered the art of the pissant-au-dessus-de-la-cycleframe yet - and, luckily, also haven't suffered the adverse effects of Savlon deficiency. Cyclefrance2004 was a bit of a tribute to Mr Moore - not as funny but almost as quirky, that's for sure...

Cyclefrance , I looked at your link and see that you too are a true fan . I have read all Mr Moore's books , apart from that monopoly one about London . Tears of laughter , and shaking shoulders . No-one has made me laugh so much since Noddy . I especially liked the account of his voyage around France in a knackered Rolls Royce and a velvet suit .

Do you think our American friends would like him too ?

Give'em a nudge via the 'books you are currently reading' thread. BTW, if you like Mr Moore for reality, try Robert Rankin for surreality - can recommend The Brentford Triangle and also The Armageddon Trilogy

Excellent tour. Excellent presentation. Thank you! :notworthy

I assume Norman was compensated well.

What would we do without Norman! - suitably rewarded, I assure you...!

I saw the pictures yesterday cyclefrance and fell in love with the place. I Imagine how much more beautiful in real life.*sigh* I would imagine I would be rendered speachless.

Generally the English have mixed feelings about France and the French - I suppose in history we have fought them too often and when we did then it was for too long. When we have been on the same side it hasn't always been the most happy of relationships.

But one thing no-one will deny is that France is a beautiful country. In fact every region has its own charm and character. The French are very protective of their way of life and traditions. Something we English didn't at first understand but I now think we perhaps envy. The country is big enough to retain its rural identity, even though in many towns and cities innovation and technology are evident and accepted.

The Somme area is as lovely as any. The fact that it also hosts so many momuments and cemeteries to the First World War in a way sends an even stronger message to its inhabitants to make them now want to protect and sustain the beauty of their region's countryside even more.