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Gary And
Geoff’s Trip To France
- Part Two
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The Smart-Alec Character Tuesday night 13th May On Sunday morning we set out to see some of the 1st of July sites (First Day of the Battle of the Somme) near Albert (these are sites, like the Ulster Tower, that everyone visits, but moving just the same). We meet a young English smart-alec and his girlfriend; he plays a bit of one-upmanship – starts showing us where the so-and-so’s start-line was on the 1st of July, where X was killed etc. We move from there up to the giant crater at La Boiselle – and bump into the couple again; both Gary and I recoil slightly from his rather smart-alec behaviour. We swing off in an opposite direction & eventually go back to our hotel for our last daytime meal. |
The Ulster Tower: The Memorial To The 36th Ulster Division |
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Boom Ravine, Hidden By A Rubbish Dump |
The Rubbish Dump At Miraumont Afterwards we try to find the site where our Battalion fought its battle at Miraumont. To my great joy I find that our map reading is equal to the task and that while we can only place the start-line of our battle to within perhaps 50 yards, the ravine where the German machine guns fired from is still there (Boom Ravine). Except that it is not visible from the road because it has been made into a giant rubbish dump. |
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Taking the car slightly further away for a better view, we see that a line of trees and vegetation branches away from the road just where we would have expected the ravine to be. When we come back to the spot we find the rubbish dump. Going over the rubbish dump we find most of the ravine is still there, plus obvious signs of dugouts and defences having been there in the past. It is a pleasing, if not world-shattering discovery, because it is the first time we have found something original. |
Looking Along Boom Ravine |
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A Moving French Memorial At Miraumont |
Searching for the site of a successful raid carried out by the Battalion, we arrive at a small cemetery on the site of Luke Copse (there are copses nearby with the names of the other three apostles). We go down to Mark Copse and find another little bit of preserved battlefield near a cemetery called Railway Hollow. |
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We get into conversation with two Dutchmen doing a magazine article (a writer and a photographer) on the First World War. They pump us for information for hours. |
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The Smart-Alec Outsmarted
Who should then come along but our friend from this morning?
Then he had been full of himself, with carefully marked out maps from the Official History. But this time his eyes pop when he finds out that we are using real trench maps taken from the War Diaries. We take full advantage to do the full condescending explanation bit “Well, it’s like this…”
He makes a rather shorter tour of Railway Hollow than he had intended, saying that they are driving back to get the ferry. (What! You mean to say that the smart-alec character was only a day-tripper!)
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Gary At Flers (41st Division Memorial) |
We go on our way, visiting the always-moving Battlefield Memorial Park at Beaumont Hamel, and then try to find where the Battalion fought in November 1916 (a little to the north of it). We are in luck; a later British cemetery marks the spot of their victory at the Quadrilateral. When we return to the hotel we find that our Dutch friends have booked in there, so we have a few drinks with them. Next morning is the Monday, our last day. We go back to the Quadrilateral area to check other areas of the November 1916 fight that we had missed on the previous night (mainly because Gary was getting tired and grumpy). |
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On we move to Vimy Ridge and the great Canadian Battlefield Park, and a moving memorial there to the Canadians, and to the preserved trenches and tunnels there. A Canadian student shows us around and we have a long chat with the Canadian students present in the office about Canadian history in WW1. We bow to their great local knowledge, but we can tell them a lot more about areas of Canadian involvement away from Vimy Ridge. |
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Documents Please
Leaving many areas unseen, we get on the motorway to get to Calais early because it’s a Bank Holiday and bound to be busy there. Just as we get off the motorway we are motioned to stop by a gendarme who asks for our documentation; for almost the first time in the entire week I haven’t a clue where anything is!
I am searching around turning everything upside down can’t find passport, can’t find driving documents (all those driving documents so carefully prepared for me by the people at work). Eventually I point to the Lex Leasing sign on the car [to explain my ignorance of the car’s details] and my passport is found at last.
Calais Guide
Calais is indeed jammed; although I get more or less lost, some car behind us thinks we know some secret way to the Docks & follows us up every nook and cranny. Oddly enough, our zigzag route does cut out most of the town through the back streets, but it’s all luck and no judgment.
We then have to sit and wait in a queue at the Docks for an hour and a half for our ferry, all the time hearing irate British persons creating hell with overworked French officials just because they can’t see why they should be able to get on the first boat - even though it’s full. “Why didn’t you come earlier, sir? You are supposed to book in at least 30 minutes before the ferry is due to leave –“ “How dare you frogs (this would be the mildest word) tell me what to do?” It makes you ashamed to be the same nationality.
Of course our ferry starts ½ to ¾ hour late and then hits something in Calais harbour – much delay. And when we get to Dover, there’s a three hour drive looming – one in which it is a struggle to keep awake – but at last the great adventure is over.
Love
Geoff
