This section of the Western Front Way involved cycling north from Compiègne to Voyennes where I camped in the most expensive site during my entire route from Basel to Nieuwpoort. The manager was pretty grumpy too! Campsite fees generally ranged from €8 to €30 for a single cyclist. Facilities varied from site to site. Some municipal sites were excellent and even though basic had all you required in on site electricity connections to charge phones, Garmin, Wahoo etc. Private sites had better facilities such as washing and drying machines for your laundry. Some even had cafés which was a nice change to relax and chat with others and have a good coffee.
After leaving Voyennes I headed north along the Somme from the German cemetery at Béthancourt-sur-Somme to the Second Australian Division Memorial at Péronne. To cycle along the Somme was eerie at times. It was peaceful but there was the ever present awareness of what had occurred here over 100 years previous. During my day on the Somme I would experience a range of emotions from very moving, upsetting and inspirational to scary. I was overwhelmed at the staggering loss of young lives for nothing but a few hundred yards and the thought that this went on month after month, year after year until improved tactics and advances in weaponry provided some thought and protection for the soldiers on the frontline. The respect accorded to the soldiers who lost their lives, the dignity of the memorials and the sacred space created to honour them is a wonderful achievement of the generations who recovered remains, recorded names of the lost, built the memorials and maintain them to this day. When you walk the ground of the battlefields, stand among the rows of the graves and read the names of soldiers who died on the field and were never recovered the titanic struggle and tragedy of a world war comes home to you in a most profound way. Some of the soldiers graves and names on memorials have over the years ceased to be visited by anyone as their families have passed away. Remembrance and Commemoration is an acknowledgement of life lost with an emphasis on community.
I visited Guillemont and Ginchy which have special significance for Ireland and Delville Wood for the English, Welsh, South Africans and Irish. At Mouquet Farm near Thiepval I did a field walk and found some artillery shells. Locknagar Crater was an astonishing site & is testimony to the destructive capacity of industrialised warfare and also the effects on generations whose wish is to have a place to remember.
I cycled on toward my campsite at Miraumont as the sun set. Unfortunately the campsite was permanently closed so I continued cycling into the dark beyond Pommier. I wild ‘camped’ in a sleeping bag under the stars on what was a beautiful night. I was shot at by locals who were lamping wildlife. I covered the bike with the sleeping bag & lay in the dead ground of a ploughed wheat field. They went off after 3.30 a.m. I was up at 4 and on to Arras and a BIG breakfast.
Thank you for taking the time to read of my journey. Part 4 is in the works – Arras to Ypres.