Interesting nights sleep for the 2 of us last night. Our airbnb only has sheer curtains and no blinds, so once it gets dark there's nothing to keep the lights outside from shining in. Not great, but thankfully Sue kept her eye mask from the flight, so will use that tonight for a better sleep. She's still fighting her cold, but it seems at a standstill - not worse, but not better either 😷.
Today we had a Private Somme Battlefields Day Tour and visited the following:
- Adelaide Cemetery - the original resting place of the unknown soldier
- Villers-Bretonneux - a place I've been hoping to visit since 2016
- Sir John Monash Centre
- Hamel - a battlefield
- Lochnager Crater - where the Somme battlefields commenced
- Dive Copse British Cemetery - trying to find a headstone for my friend Sue J in S.A.
There wasn't a cloud in the sky (although it was a bit chilly) when Michal (our Tour Guide) picked us up about 9.15am. Our first stop was Adelaide Cemetery to see where the Unknown Soldier was originally buried. On 2nd Nov 1933 Australia exhumed the body, and on the 11th Nov at 11am that same year, his remains were laid to rest in the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in the Hall of Memory, at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. Here are some shots of this immaculately maintained Cemetery:
One of the fantastic things they do in Somme is provide a Cemetery Book that contains;
- the reason the cemetery exists;
- how many are buried and from which country they came from
- a list of names and information of each person and where they are buried (both known and unknown).
Absolutely brilliant. Their final resting place is serene, beautiful and honoured. Here's the front cover, history page and number of buried (known & unknown) by Country:
Our next stop was to Villers-Bretonneux (VB) - a place I'd hoped to visit with my Dad back in 2016, but we never managed to get there. WW1 destroyed 80% of the town. Australia contributed to it's rebuilding by raising money to build a school and named it the Victoria School.
The state of Victoria sealed a friendship with the town which continued with the twinning of VB with the Victorian town of Robinvale in 1984. Within the school is an ANZAC Museum and in partnership with the Australian Government, the refurbishment of it symbolises the wider connection with Australia.
Here's a shot of the plaque provided to the school and the plaque about the ANZAC Museum (English on the left and French on the right):
Below is a couple of WW1 recruitment posters and a replica picture of the signing of the Armistice:
From VB we headed off to see the Sir John Monash Centre which my ol' Army Reserve buddy Mel had previously filled me in on when she visited the Centre a few years back. It provides an interactive experience about the Australian Western Front experience told in the voices of Australians through letters, diaries and life size images - the aim is to help us connect with the places they fought and died. It's located on the grounds of the VB Military Cemetery and adjacent to the Australian National Memorial.
Very much enjoyed visiting the cemetery and Centre and even grabbing a hot chocolate and sharing a raspberry tart with Sue!! Here's some snaps of the entry to the Centre. The brick wall randomly contains some Australian slang/words as well. For example in this shot there is : Smoko, Furphy, Mates and Dinkum:
Having seen a great video of the battlefield, it was time to head to Hamel where the battle took place. The vastness of the battlefields is much larger than I ever imagined. Now the area is lush, green and has excellent soil for growing canola, wheat and potatoes. Any Defence Personnel still here are truly in a lovely place (after all the horror they suffered).
The land upon which the Hamel monument stands has been donated by a local farmer and he receives zero stipend. He has preserved a couple of the trenches and filled all the others in, so he could continue to farm his land. Here's the sign when you first arrive and the first trench:
Here's the memorial to the countries who fought on this land and the 2nd trench with me standing in it:
I couldn't resist taking a photo of what the surrounding countryside looks like over a 100 years after the carnage it suffered - it just seems right that it is so beautiful now:
The second last stop of our tour is to a place called Lochnager Crater (mine). It is actually the starting point of the battle in the Somme. The Germans had the high ground, the British the low and in between was dead mans land. The British secretly began tunnelling (using the Tunnelling Companies of the Royal Engineers) under a German field fortification known as Schwabenhohe. This mine was one of 19 mines dug under the German lines on the British section of the Somme front, to assist the infantry advance at the start of the battle (1 Jul 1916). It took three months to dig the mine.
They blew the mine at 7.28am on 1 Jul 1916 and left a crater 21m deep and 100m wide - which was captured and held by British troops. The crater has been privately preserved as a memorial and a religious service is held each 1 Jul. The photos don't show it very clearly, but it is a huge crater (hole):
Our final stop of the day was a personal request for my dearest 'female' (I have to say that so her hubby doesn't get jealous!!) South Australian friend Sue J. Once she discovered I was going to the Somme she asked if it would be possible to try and locate her Great Uncle's headstone who was killed during WW1. I'm very happy to say 'mission accomplished'. I've taken heaps of shots and will be providing Sue J with all of these and a back story real soon - hang in there Sue, it will be within the next 48hrs tops x
On our way back to Amiens, we stopped off for a late lunch which hit the spot very nicely. Michael has led an amazing life - he is 80 and about to retireish. I just wanted to share one of several stories he shared.
He was on a garden tour in Scotland (yes he's an avid gardener and does those tours as well) with a bunch of Americans, Aus, NZ and British and they were yakking at the Pub (about 30 yrs ago). He'd had one too many whiskey's and an old NZ guy (who was 93) asked if they were going to meet the Queen Mother when they visited the Castle of Mey (her Scottish holiday house) tomorrow. Without missing a beat, he said hang-on I'll check. He went to the phone book and looked up the number for Castle Mey. Having found it, he wasn't concerned as it was past 8pm and he knew no-one would answer.
He made the call and blow me down someone did answer. He smartened up his drunkish voice and told the guy on the other end of the phone he had a 93yr old from NZ who was hoping to meet the Queen Mum when they visited her gardens tomorrow. The guy replied "ring back tomorrow at 8am, not 1 min before or 1 min after". He then hung up.
Michael duly made the call at 8am the next day and another guy answered. He explained who he was and the new guy answered, "Yes I was told your story. The Queen Mother has a luncheon, but if you are at the back gate in the bus at 1.30pm she will come and say hi". And sure enough, the Queen Mum popped in to the bus and spoke with the NZ guy and group!!!
How's that for a great story 💂.
Tomorrow we are back on the train to Paris for one night before heading off to England.
Side bar - I just discovered a rod next to the window which when you wind actually brings down an outside blind. So we will both sleep much better tonight 👋👌😏
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