| Day 2 - Arras to Courcelles-au-Bois |
| Courcelles-au-Bois |
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| It's a hard life being a cyclist... |
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| British 'Tommies' marching through Courcelles-au-Bois... |
| L'Amartinierre proved a good choice with its kitchen facility, although the nearest supermarket was about 10 km away and a hot and steamy cycle ride. Mind you they did have a particularly nice 2003 Sancerre which, as the photo left evidences, slipped down remarkably well (I think we were on the last dregs of the bottle at this stage...!) The trip to the supermarket must have taken about an hour and a half in all, which was time enough to miss the arrival of the British troops shown in the photo below. Our host kindly sent these pictures to me after we had returned to the UK. |
| One of the unique events of the 90th anniversary programme was the reconstruction of a field camp at Auchonvillers. More of this later, but essentially, a number of British, French and German enthusiasts had come together to create a WW1 camp with tents and equipment of the type that would have been used in 1916. For a week, they lived the life the original soldiers would have. The 'troops' took excursions around the adjacent countryside from time to time dressed in the uniform of the day. This particular afternoon a small group of Brits found their way to Courcelles-au-Bois and clearly were thirsty by the time they arrived. In true British fashion they won the hearts and minds of our hosts and their neighbours - even Christine and Pierre's (our host's) young daughter seemed entranced by it all. Quite a surreal gathering as one century met another.... |