Just before the alarm went off, I woke up. A new day, the hum of a paraglider flying over the bay, the sheep in the meadow behind our hotel. Living like a god in France. Now, I’m not a god, but I am living in France this week. We had a long day ahead of us; I wasn’t fully aware of that yet, though. The end of the day would tell a different story.
We got in the car just before 9 a.m. and headed for Peronne, a town a two-hour drive from the hotel. Along the way, we thoroughly enjoyed the surroundings. When we got close to our destination, we popped into the supermarket first, as it was almost 11 a.m. and time for a bite to eat. With a full bag, we drove on to Peronne Castle and sat on a bench to enjoy our breakfast. Next, we went into the castle, which also housed a World War I museum. Win-win. Afterward, we quickly raided the museum shop and, with five new books in hand, set off to explore the rest of the castle. But that was all done in a flash. Then I wanted to pop into the museum shop at the “Musee Somme 1916,” a tunnel several hundred meters long with displays in the alcoves. We’d been there last year, but I really wanted to buy an original British cap badge for my uniform.
We couldn’t remember Albert Church, so we popped in there for a quick look around. Afterward, it was definitely time for a glass of cider. With a delicious glass under our belts, we headed back to the car and continued our journey to Lochnagar Crater. By tunneling under the German trenches, the British had planted explosives, and on July 1, 1916, the whole thing blew up. The result was a scar some 20 meters deep and 50 meters wide in the earth. Here and there around the memorial, photos were visible, along with eyewitness accounts. A very impressive sight (and more to come that day) was the journey from Lochnagar Crater to the Australian Animal Memorial, which honors the nine million animals that perished during the war. This memorial was erected by the Australians who served in that area.
After filming some footage for the YouTube channel, we drove on to the Thiepval Museum and Memorial. Although the museum itself wasn’t very large, there was a wealth of information, and behind the museum lies the imposing monument. It lists the names of some seventy thousand men who died during the five months of the Battle of the Somme. From the monument, it was a short seven-minute drive to the final monument, and in my opinion, the most remarkable of the day: the Beaumont Hamel Newfoundland Memorial. A beautiful site where both the craters and trenches are still clearly visible. A rock with a bronze caribou has been placed there, and plants and trees from Canada adorn it. Even though the visitor center was closed, I ended up spending about forty-five minutes wandering around and trying to see as much as possible.
Our feet were starting to get sore from all the walking we’d done that day, but first we had to walk an hour and a half back on back roads to the village where our hotel is located. We finished the evening at a restaurant where we had skate and fish soup, washed down with a few glasses of cider. As soon as I get home, I can start editing the videos, which will be available on my YouTube channel.
