Bonsoir!
I'm back. It was a good trip. More to come including photos on my Sheffield to the Somme but here's a little overview...Wednesday - Got an early morning Channel Tunnel Shuttle. Very efficient, but felt a bit queezy; the experience of sitting in your car on a train feels very much like experiencing 35 minutes of turbulence on a plane. Drove down to The Somme, and spent around 6 hours traipsing around the battlefields and cemeteries of Serre. The front line trench from which the Sheffield Pals attacked is still clearly visible. I stood in it and peered over the top into no mans land, towards Serre. The place is littered with cemetries; rows and rows of white stone bearing the date 1st July 1916, or else 13th November 1916, the date another attack on Serre was attempted, or else simply the words "A soldier of the Great War. Known unto God." for where the body could not be identified.
Thursday - Visited Thiepval, were there is a massive memorial to the thousands of British soldiers who have no known grave, plus other battlefield sites of note including the Canadian Memorial Park at Beaumont Hamel.
Friday - Visited the war museum at Pérronne, and en route back to Calais visited Vimy Ridge which is another Canadian memorial park, but is also the place where what was left of the Sheffield City Battalion last saw action before being dispanded in 1918.
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