Exploring WWI War Graves & Battlefields | Beaumont to Blessey Adventure | Riding Can Am Ryker

Join me on Day 15 of our European tour as we ride from Reims to Saint Quentin, visiting significant war graves and memorials. This journey honors the sacrifices of those who fought in the battles of Aisne, the Valley of the Somme, and the Battle of Arras. Explore historic towns and cities, including Reims, Bapaume, Arras, Aix-Noulette, and Saint Quentin. Reflect on the importance of gratitude and remembrance as we visit war graves and discuss the Machine Gun Corps, WWI War Graves Commission, and Genes Reunited.

🌍 Highlights of This Episode:

War Graves Visited:
La Ville-aux-Bois-lès-Pontavert
Arras Memorial, Pas de Calais
Sunken Road Cemetery, Fampoux
Cabaret Rouge
Battlefield Rides:
Aisne
Valley of the Somme
Battle of Arras
Towns and Cities:
Reims
Bapaume
Arras
Aix-Noulette
Saint Quentin
Crocodile Buffet: Enjoy a meal at the Crocodile Buffet in Saint Quentin.
Historical Discussions: Learn about the Machine Gun Corps, War Graves Commission, Genes Reunited, and the importance of gratitude and remembrance.
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Tags:
#WW1 #WW1WarGraves #Battlefields #EuropeanTour #TravelVlog #CanAmRyker #BRP #RecoveryJourney #AdventureTravel #HistoricalTour #Aisne #SommeValley #BattleOfArras #WarMemorials #Reims #SaintQuentin #Gratitude #MachineGunCorps #WarGravesCommission #GenesReunited #WW1#MotorcycleTouring #TravelWithMe #ExploringFrance #HistoricalReflection

good morning today I’m finally off to the wargraves of my relatives and Andy’s relatives and I’ll give you a bit of a story about them and how I found out about these people our ancestors as I get there it’s light rain this morning I’ve not had a very good sleep because I woke up in the middle of night thinking I really need to get better equipment for my tour next week to Scotland so I’m not taking so much stuff with me so I’m very grateful this morning for sports bike.com cuz I’ve ordered all the stuff I need I’m also very grateful for my accommodation that I stayed in last night because it was really comfy I think it’s all on one level I got secure bike parking right there so no stairs nothing to contemplate that made it nice and easy for me this morning I’m happy with that anyway let’s get on our way [Music] I’m here at my first stop laille a boy the pon there and it’s been really emotional riding through here I’ve just had to compose myself just riding through this area through the fields or the battlefields and standing this area here anyway I’m going to go and find my great Grandad on my dad’s side so I’m here where my great Grandad William Robert Neil is commemorated he didn’t actually die here and he’s not actually buried here he was initially buried in a German extension Cemetery in poo but that Cemetery was later to destroyed in other battles and they couldn’t unfortunately find his body but he is commemorated here along with others whose bodies they did find from other areas of the battlefield of France this area was kind of made to bring those people and those bodies to one place I I can’t take credit for the genealogy on this um William had a son called David who did the genealogy he was an unknown side of the family to us and he contacted M Joyce and sent her all the information she shared it with our family so it was really brilliant so if you do do geneology and find relativ you didn’t know about then share it around because it is really good now I don’t know if William even knew that his wife was pregnant with my nana because he was away at War probably when she found out that she was pregnant with with her and he obviously never got to see her or any of us but I am very grateful to him because without him I wouldn’t be here and without him and others like him many of us wouldn’t live the life that we live today he died on the 27th of May 1918 just one day before his 29th birthday and it was during the first day of the Second Battle of ANS [Music] lunch start hopefully well I didn’t enjoy that ride very much unfortunately apart from the rain and the wind the road surface was pretty atrocious put it this way it was a bad maybe even worse the English roads and um it went on for miles and miles and miles on a main road and my elbows are really hurting from riding sideways like this where it dips and then bouncing over everything anyway I’ve just come to this uh crocodile place at St Quentin um to not in America not the prison the buffet I’m waiting for a vegan red tie Curry get in that was lovely I really needed that I’ve had two cups of caffeine I really need my wingman with me today I’ve taken on turns into car parks and then been riding on the wrong side of the road in the car park and then pulling out on front of cars on roundabouts they all been very patient though must be used to this in France perhaps this is their normal way of driving nobody’s bibed me yet I’ve had some coffee I’ve got two more cemetries to go to than CA um avoiding motorways and tolls it’s going to be 6 hours and it’s now just gone 2:00 so we’ll see I might have stop a little bit short of Cal and just get an early start tomorrow not that I’ve booked a train or a fery yet but um I will I will do want to get one tomorrow I’ve just put the camera down to get sorted look at that sky there are some rays of sun in there somewhere we just now entered the Valley of the Sun I’m looking for the Essex regiment second Battalion there are nearly 39,000 people commemorated here so it might take me a little while so the commemoration I’m looking for is for Percy Terry he’s my great great uncle on my mom’s side he was 32 when he enlisted I’m not sure when he enlisted and I’m not sure whether he was subscripted or whether he volunteered unlike my great Grandad that I’ve just been to see he was a military man he was in the Army he um resigned retired and then went back in when the war started but I don’t know about Uncle Percy I don’t know where he stood with all that what I do know however is that he died in France and Flanders at the Second Battle of Aris on the 3rd of May 1917 now that day is important to remember that oh my goodness there’s loads and these are just the people listed for the first world war I’ve got to find the teas cover four this is cover nine and this is just the S is and the t’s look how many terries there are regiment this is him ess6 regiment Arthur that’s it his dad and my son my grandson’s called Arthur as well grave reference B seven now just to find out where Bas seven is assume it’s one of these but I can’t see any numbers cuz I don’t think he’s actually in a grave I keep looking at least I’m out of the rain although look now I’ve stopped R riding everywhere look at the beautiful blue sky I’m absolutely soaked but I’ve got time to dry now I found him there’s the ess6 regiment there’s lots of them and there he is what an emotional day this has been the ride I’ve been on if you’re just coming for a ride I wouldn’t kind of recommend it for motorbik ride but if you want to come and see the war memorials then it is a brilliant ride cuz a lot of the memorials are actually on the road or just slight turnings off of them as I left St Quentin there was a huge huge grave of all the wooden crosses and there’s just been so many I left champagne the started riding then into the valley of the th and there just Memorial after Memorial obviously I can’t stop at the mall but I’m so glad that I’ve come here and I found my great uncle Percy thank you great uncle Percy and everybody else that fought for our freedom you know Andy was fascinated with the first and second world war and many of time did we come to memorials like this and become completely humbled just looking down the lists and lists of names but actually to come and see somebody that you’ve discovered through genealogy one of your relatives is just incredible I would thoroughly thoroughly recommend it my next stop is off to the sunen road Cemetery at fampo not far from here to find the grave of Andy’s great uncle Fred now there’s a story I’m walking around thinking these look like normal Graves I think this is just the F poo Cemetery not like me to get it wrong is it it’s three minutes away hop back on my bike I’m heading up this track I’ve just stopped at this Memorial cuz I remember reading when I was researching and his uncle Fred about all the Highlanders that lost their life here at the Battle of Aris on these fields looks more like it this one actually doesn’t look too big so hopefully I’ll be able to find him I couldn’t even find the Symmetry could I but I have now has to happen sometime to day so four years ago Andy his mom started speaking to me about her uncle Fred who didn’t want to fight in the first world war but who was subscripted and through my research that he lied about his age to try and avoid getting in I think but for very good reason now she knew he was in the war but her family never ever spoke about Frederick water clap and so therefore she’ always assumed that he deserted or had been shot at dawn and she said she was about 89 at the time she said to me I’d really like to know and I said leave it with me I’ll see if I can find out and she said really went yeah and I came away and I thought I don’t know where to start I don’t know the first thing about any of this but anyway I joined Jean reunited started looking on there spoke to my cousin Sue who told me about the Warg Graves commission who were really really helpful so I had contact with them as well I did have to pay a a subscription for a year for J United and the Warg Graves commission but it was well worth it because I found out all about both sides of Andy’s family and all about both sides of my family as well so it was really good value for money um if you’re going to just do it for a year and just hack crack on and do it anyway through my research I found out that yes he was in the war and he was in an A6 regiment and he was good they developed um the machine gun Corp during the first world war it was dis abandoned in 1921 and wasn’t really spoken about much but it is um there’s a big at Hyde Park there’s a big Memorial there that I’d like to go to one day they have a service there once a year to commemorate the people in the machine gun core now there was two parts there was the heavy artillery which was the tanks and there was the light artillery like the the men on the ground with machine guns and that’s what Frederick water clap was in and I found him and yes he did die but he died a war hero here at the Battle of Aris he’s got medals the same as my great Grandad and my great uncle pery or was entitled to them I don’t know whether he received them but his family probably did and yeah I managed to get a letter a certificate from the war commission saying thanking Frederick for his service and his family which was just wonderful now this is one of the things Andy wanted to do he wanted to come here because OB obiously we realized that probably nobody has ever been here since 1917 when he died so it was our mission it was Andy’s mission to get here for his mom and at one point when he was there he was like I really want to bring my Mom and Dad here unfortunately Andy didn’t make it here he did wake up from a lucid dream one day though about 6 months before he died and he said oh I had a really strange dream I was in the trenches with me Uncle Fred I said what what were you doing said we just sitting there chatting he was just having a cigarette we were just chatting away and I like to think that I’m here today for him and that both of them up there or wherever watching me and guiding me and helping me to find the way to his gravestone because unlike the other places he’s actually here because this is where they fell so he’s actually buried here I have to go and find his headstone just wandering along going where are you you’ll be here somewhere and there he right was look Frederick water clap machine gun core infantry who died on the fourth of May 1917 yes if you remember from my great uncle Percy that is the day after he died and that sent Goosebumps to me and Andy just thinking wow what if they just shared us sret or had a light or had a tea or their eyes had just locked they both died uh the Second Battle of arth one day apart it’s so wonderful to finally be here I’m here I’ve done it I promised I would I love the beautiful flowers that are down here as well now to head for Cal and I want to get back to us6 tomorrow so I can tell take these photos and video footage to Andy’s mom and dad I’m still here look at those rain clouds not coming down yet but I’ve just been booking somewhere to go and stay tonight it’s about an hour and a half away 41 miles four bedroom Farmhouse and sheet for £37 I think that would do me I’ll still be an hour from CA the next day but that’s fine so I better get on my bike get a toodle on and go get there see you there I’ve just stopped here as I was riding past there are so many so many places to come and see some simply just crosses but this is Cabaret Rouge and it is the biggest Commonwealth War grave site in Aris there are around 7,660 people here and over half of them are not identified and it’s called Cabaret Rouge because there used to be a little cafe here by that name it was obliterated in 1915 by shellfire but it gave its name to this grave [Music] I’m here soaking wet freezing cold I don’t know um how to put the heating on I can’t find out so I think it’s going to be a cold night but I’ll just get under the blankets and make my movie in a minute anyway lots to be grateful for today um it’s very easy in this world of ours isn’t it just to look at all the netive stuff look at the things that we can’t do look at the things that other people do to us and forget to look at all the good stuff so I think it’s really good to do a gratitude list each night of three things that we’re grateful for just each day to remind us to stay in that positive mind mindset I also like to look at something that I’ve done well each day as well cuz we’re very good at going oh I couldn’t do this and I didn’t do that instead of saying but I did this you know it could be just that you got up out of bed it could be be that we had a shower it could be that we climbed Mount Everest who knows it could be that we rode through France on our own in the pouring rain it was raining so hard I couldn’t have my phone up so I had to have it on in my Bonnet charging and was just listening to it in my headset so I was just riding round and around in circles lot so I won’t follow my route today cuz you’ll end up in car parks of shopping centers and down tents and all sorts of things three things that I’m grateful for today um firstly that the Sun was still there shining behind all the clouds and the rain and helping to keep me warmer than I would be than if the sun wasn’t here um my waterproofs they were very helpful I’m very grateful for them today and for my life for everything I’ve experienced in my life The Good the Bad and the Ugly because it’s made me who I am today really and I’m quite happy with who I am now and that’s because of some of the things I’ve been talking about the last few days about just learning to be with me about choosing happiness over suffering going with the flow acceptance areas of control Andy before he died bless him he wanted people to know that he’d had a good life it hadn’t been conventional but he’ done what he wanted when he wanted and it had been a happy one and I kind of took that as a legacy of like I want that for me I want to be able to say that at the end of my life now I can not that I’m planning on going anywhere soon you understand but I am happy I am content I have made peace with myself let me know if you want me to keep doing these themes or if you want me to just shut up and ride I can do either I’m happy Tada for now [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] n [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] n [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] n [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music]