Full Circle amongst the Battlefields

When I say I was up early…I really was, waking around 4-30 a.m., and lying there until 6 a.m., when I thought I may as well get going, so I was up,washed,changed and packed up , ready to move as the site opened the gates at 7 a.m….this is early.

It was a perfect day to travel-overcast ,cloudy, and at the time I set off, little traffic on the road.It would be a long days travel, as I still wanted to travel on the back roads,to see the real France – and it was cheaper..I had just over 420 miles to travel.

Again I continued through lots of differing towns and villages, most of them seemingly sleeping, skirting Fontenbleu, and eventually Paris-I realised as I passed Charles de Gaulle airport ..

I then travelled into the area of the Somme..http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Somme and quickly saw several Military cemetery’s from the First World War, most of them seeming to be French, although as I continued towards Arras, I came upon several differing British Commonwealth Cemetery’s , including poignantly  the             ‘Manchester Cemetery’,http://www.greatwar.co.uk/places/somme-cemeteries.htm  full of young men from Manchester, killed far from home. What did surprise me for a time, was out of so many cemetery’s, there didn’t seem to be any German ones, although I did then see one large one, but certainly not the same number as the Allies.

I then called at the French memorial grounds http://www.somme-battlefields.com/battlefields/the_western_front/monument_de_notre_dame_de_lorette_pas_de_calais  a sombre end to my travels,I had started my travels in France on the beaches of Normandy,so famous in the second World War, and now concluded in the Somme,famous in the First World War, again as Edwin Starr sang ‘War, what is it good for ? –Absolutely nothing ,say it again yeah ‘

I soon arrived at a Hotel (yes, Hotel !!) at Bethune for the night, before my morning boat on Sunday, and a gentle drive up North and home..