Part 3 of 4 describing how to take on the Western Front Way, the 1000km trail the length of the First World War trench-lines, brought to you by Waytrails.
On this section we take you from Corbeny to Notre Dame de Lorette. The rivers section is a cracker, past the Armistice Carriage and hooking north towards the sea. The Somme, Albert, Arras, Vimy, a packed section for you to explore.
[Music] welcome to hike Bike Run the official podcast of way Trails part three coming at you of how to go up the Western Front way uh we finished the end of part two in Corbin yes so we’re traveling from south to North haven’t introduced to you professional this this is Kim hello uh I’m I mean unless you’re a bit of an otter you won have started at part otter no someone that’s odd you would have started at part three so people know who you are by now unless unless yeah unless you unless you’re in corpy you suddenly realize oh my God I got to listen to theck that you know what a lot of people are feeling that this podcast has got serious traction serious traction um wake up at a cold sweat not having heard us that people yeah they they’re honestly emailing us all the time saying that um talking talking of part two we do have an apology to make for a slightly misplaced factoid I’m mortified yeah I got the wrong King okay in veren on Aron it’s where Louis the 16th was stopped not Louis the 13th and the reason I got carried away blame because Louis the 13th is my favorite French King okay you know of musketeer Fame oh okay good so I you know when I think of the Lou I just I honestly I only think of him okay well fair enough I mean I don’t know how many other people listening have a favorite Louie unless it’s your child’s name in which case you probably do well hope well I don’t know if you anyway uh right part three uh we are starting at coron which is on the Shima Dam um trender Dam short potted history for you is controversial would be a word would it be controversial uh it’s a rid line which effectively stands out a lot in that in that part of the world so it was prized by by both the German and the French armies uh much fighing back and forth to take it um the problem being is that whoever is attacking is coming up the very steep slope to the Shima Dam so almost impossible to take uh and it led to kind of a slight discontentment should we say in the French army about repeated attacks it’s also very pretty it’s a lovely okay good change Max violent U-turn there of mood it’s so pretty it’s pretty um but it is it’s it’s um if you’re going from south to North it’s your last big bump that you go over isn’t it big bump the big bump we’re very we’re very very key on the mapping yes Topography is our yeah geography but I mean actually oddly we say that but but by walking or cycling the Westway you actually understand good because of the topography why so much of it took place where it did and how it took place which so actually and oddly when we do visit the West front way we get quite Carried Away about the topography because we under it you get these aha moments going oh well that makes sense similar here on the shamanda you have on both sides views you know and and um you have a much better um idea of what what the landscape is and what you’re looking at you know as an oncoming or defending um army so it’s it’s a very important place and and historically it has been for for many many many years um and yes so you’re setting off from corbon and you’re heading west yes almost in a direct line over the ridge line um you’re heading west and you get to the Cav Dragon which is your first major stop um dracken holen is it yes I mean it’s there’s there’s quite a lot to see on the on the way to there but that is the um that is the key the key Point you’re getting to it’s a great museum again we bring this up a lot we are very conscious and very aware of where coffee machines are yeah good coffee machines great gift jop great gift shop the staff are fantastic yep um really good displays really I mean I’m not going to do the disservice to the entire French history of their military by trying to describe what happened on the Shima d add something you get there but go there because they have five or six panels with uniforms with weaponry and it is um every nation has you know places in the first world war that are kind of very sacred but this was this was prized by and the viewing platform means you really understand what they went through to to to get there um you just as an aside you passed the AB de vauclair which is a ruined Abbey very beautiful but it’s again it’s very attractive to hikers and cyclists in that area so it’s it’s again well lunch beautiful place to have a picnic um is that where we had the disasterous picnic where we had to which one was that we had to go throw away the cheese cuz it was just too much no that’s in the other stop that’s coming up next that’s why you’re going you’ve also got the rugby Memorial up there yeah you have where we so it’s quite it’s it’s Sportsman dedicated yeah dedicated to all sports it started as a rugby Memorial but it’s to all Sportsman of the first world war of which there were an awful lot of them and The Basque Memorial the Bas really beautiful Bas which is the only Memorial on the Western Front where the figures on it are not wearing uniform yes that’s right civilian clothes yeah yeah um that’s not actually written down guys that’s just plucked from my brain from your brain um so this section so you’re carrying along um you’re actually following the river a so um which is why um the route takes you along we’ve designed it because because of the river and the crossing points so you might think that you know at some points why why am I walking on this side of um when you know when there’s a road over there well actually that road is very busy yeah um and there’s we’ve we’ve driven along the road on that other side this is an example and there isn’t much there there’s it’s like car sales and um I mean that will make you complete the Western Front way faster buy a car um but this is you know this is a safer and prettier uh route and actually along the a it’s it’s very it’s lovely and um you eventually will get to somewhere called supir mhm with um German cemetery next to French Cemetery really pretty and that is where we had the picnic of the cheese disaster I got carried away with the type of cheese and uh the moment we opened it we realized that you could probably hold back um an entire Army an entire army with the scent of the cheese yeah we put it in a bin and I’m pretty sure that people in Hazmat so it’s probably turned out but where we had the picnic was very pretty because it’s in the center of su which is a hamlet I suppose stunning yeah very pretty um but it has a church where there are um Commonwealth um it’s a commonwealth um Cemetery yeah they’re in the amongst amongst yep and the church itself uh has got really um um visible shrapnel yeah marks um so it’s quite it’s it’s quite unique and at the front is there you’ve got an Italian Memorial yeah you do which I think is quite because the top is it’s a little hat like a Robin Hood hat yes um at the top but it the all of that mixed together makes a lovely just a great place to have um to have lunch or you know just to take note of but um do do do stop in the church at suir it’s um it’s really interesting how that’s um what what you see there yeah and then you sort of carry on along river keep going the river stretch until you hit SW again if you’re looking if you’re you’re following us on the podcast and you’re looking at the app and the route you’re thinking well hang on there must be more to talk about but it’s it’s it’s a it’s a route that’s very pretty it’s safe it’s secure you pass um some cafes you do and there just be obviously I sit here and tell you military tactics but Rivers obviously have quite a big effect on how you can move armies so the river was actually very close to the front line um and at the very beginning of the war that was it was kind of taken a few times by either side the river you’ve got to make this decision as a commander says the guy with loads of experience but you’ve got to make a decision whether you go over the river and then you know you’ve got your back to it so if you do start getting pushed back you’ve got a heck of a problem or do you stop short of the river and make the enemy cross it so it’s that really dictates quite a lot of where the front line was there yeah and hence hence the trail goes past there are again there are some equations there are some campsites on this on this on this section and what I think is rather pretty you get these things called lavoir and um they are little square Huts oh um that had fresh running water brought to them in a sort of small um uh trough almost isn’t it where people could go and wash their clothes and and wash um and they’re really pretty and once you you start yes they are and yeah and once you start noticing them they’re quite a delight to find um and can you drink the water from them question because people will ask I wouldn’t recommend there we go that’s good now we’re covered but it’s cool to you know you can wash your hands and I don’t know if anyone I mean there’s I mean again it’s it’s a hard walk and you need to be prepared but I don’t know if anyone has taken kind of you know the water tablets where you can purify water yeah they’re great they’re good yeah I used them I’ve never used them don’t need them in Southwest London no you don’t yet um no they are very good they’re very good okay um but it’ll have a sign saying um you know non Port yeah and so yeah then you head up in swaso which has got the most beautiful I suppose Skyline really because you have that lovely if you could see my face now listeners I’m desperately desperately trying to remember SW it’s it’s got the ruined church it’s that lovely um uh the Bal day okay sorry guys I’m back with you I’m back in the room I’m in swas sorry swas has got um here and swel yeah same well they I mean they’re far apart really offensive to everyone in swel I’m sorry swel is a big Hub um you have lots of restaurants cafeses supermarkets even worse by lack of knowledge you yeah once you get there you you um you’re you’re good um still on the River where are we going now the river keep going west that’s really pretty that stretch as well we’re coming into the great the great hook north um yes so in to compen we head compen is very towards compen we don’t we can’t go into compen because we’ve tried this in so many so many tracks and so many so many times trying to um get into compen compen itself is very pretty and the problem is there is a great big road there called the n31 uh and you know when when they were designing the French Motorway system they didn’t have the Western Front way in mind uh but we have to so we get you close if you want to spend time there you can obviously get yourself taking a cab is that where there’s a very lovely house there where you can stay which is on the a yeah schwaz your backw your back but beware one thing of the quason eating Labrador oh he’s lovely he a beautiful black in the morning he’s yeah he kind of comes out he rests his head on the table and you’re like that’s a cute dog and then he eats crass on woof he’s gone it’s good work but no it’s a it’s a wonderful um it’s a B&B we highly recommend it but book in advance cuz they don’t have many rooms but it is it’s worth we live in an age now where people do book in advance I’m not being offensive but just like turning up at is that do people still do that they just turn up be like do you have a room sounds like Nativity no most people most people book ahead well it’s you can with the app you can let’s plug that there right there that’s nicely set up isn’t it yeah so you’ve you’re heading north what on team yeah so you’ve done the you’ve done the hook and can we quickly stop yeah there we go thank you so yeah the the compan forest was chosen to sign the Armistice which is obviously the agreement at the end of the first world war to cease hostilities um it was chosen for two principal reasons one it’s quite far behind the lines um so people from different countries could get there on the rail heads without fear of attack and the reason that they did it in a deep deep deep forest is so spotter planes overhead couldn’t kind of drop things on them effectively um the museum there they have recreated the carriage because the carriage has a very interesting story which do you know what I’m not going to tell you cuz then he got no has two plugs in a minute and a half no I was going to say you have to go over there but it has got a um a story which I don’t feel comfortable telling because I don’t have the full detail but go over to comp and have a read yourself yeah um but you’ve hooked North here we go we’re on the kind of drag but and also just to say um when you get to the arm’s Carriage which is a beautiful place yes there is no food or drink there there’s no Cafe so again be aware that there’s nothing miles around there actually so yeah what you don’t want to do again plan properly you don’t want to be ending at compen at the armer carriage at the end of the day no do you because there is because it’s you’re in the woods yeah you’re in the woods um uh you could obviously get a taxi to compen itself but um the idea is that um make your halfway stop with a pack lunch kind of we love a pack lunch um okay so we’re heading north which is fantastic because everyone starts to get kind of yay um yeah in towards neon yep we get towards neon um again you’re following you’re following uh the river Y and you no’s great because again it’s um it’s a town it’s got a big hotel it’s got um restaurants it’s got a beautiful Memorial in there as well yes it has and um yeah highly recommend you aim for that it does it has a fredal there to effectively every conflict um so we’re moving to the next stage we’re using the app as we do you want to move to the next stage oh yeah see what we’re doing the reason we using the app with you is because we want to do it how you will do it when plan um so you’re getting up towards British territory now uh yeah crisol uh that’s terribly pronounced but there you go um you’re still heading due north um and then you kind of when you take the next left another River more following of river mhm out of ham that’s the som the river Som yeah the river and um oddly here you will cross the route of Santiago compostella yes you will well in Parts you will do it um the ham has got um very interesting British and German yeah back to back so you could tell that there’s some thought gone into this because um there is a distinguishing you know they do distinguish between where the cemeteries are but what they’ve done is they built a wall with gap so you can walk between them yeah which I think is quite lovely because one of those it’s not a compromise but it’s one of those do they build a wall did they build nothing and they’ve done this lovely you know W it’s no it’s well ham itself isn’t isn’t a nice um rest stop there’s actually no hotels there that we ever found but it does have big supermarkets and ites we would recommend you stay on the road yeah and what’s really funny is just south of it is something called Bri so have Hammer Bri uh but yeah do do listen to Kim there hor hor um we’re coming up to my favorite Memorial on the entire front uh chipil I think uh which is oh we’ got Pon my God yeahh so Pon is got one of the best museums on the entire front uh which is the historial uh which is absolutely fantastic they’ve got laid out uniforms there Pon is an Old Market Town brilliant hotels great restaurants definitely somewhere to startop yeah 100% um Pon is it’s it’s such an unknown kind of jewel in the crown of the Western Front way and no British people to go there it’s really odd they all seem to miss it they either stop in Al be or they go to veran but this whole bit here is is absolutely amazing yeah so we we really highly recommend it that the museum as you said it’s fantastic it’s got all the things you want to to see in the in in a it’s also it’s set in a castle so it is theast the Museum of London it is not um so the first section we called the mountains the second section we called the forest or the woods I reckon this actually be Rivers this is very much River you follow the river s almost entirely all the way until my favorite Memorial just so you know because I know you’re all crying out to hear that um it’s the man in the Horse Memorial from the 81st London division uh which is is it CI some I like that beautiful it’s got a man clutching a dying horse oh it’s beautiful which is very very touching um and then we there’s a there’s a funny one here with the walking route we couldn’t get you ex did we get to exactly vill Bretner which is the center of all Australian commemoration it’s pretty amazing um again one of those places I don’t really want to overt talk cuz I’d like you to go there um but it’s absolutely amazing and if I could give you any advice when you go into the tower which you can climb so you can get a really good view of the entire battle that was unfolding there on the right there is an engraved letter written by the Prime Minister of Australia I think when they gave the speech about the Unknown Soldier which is relevant for Any Nation for any conflict for any time and particularly now reading those words really you know hits twice as hard yeah kind of thing there was very beautiful and then amazingly we’re coming into Al um yeah which is capital of the p and really HQ of British remembrance would we say for all this time um beautiful beautiful station that sounds like a Beau Brick Station I was actually there during the Centenary and it was extraordinary because they had all these people who dressed up um in the gear from day and I came out of the station there were about 2,000 people in first wore uniforms it’s quite odd um Al you got great choices of restaurant there’s the beastro restaurant which does mean bavet steak um if that’s your thing there’s the hotel basilic which is good y um the right smack in the center as well office it’s a love it’s a it’s again it’s a very it’s a proper Plus on tral everything in Cafe hug I always pronounce that wrong hug H oh yeah yeah yeah uh and then yeah there’s like to there’s there’s a s Museum there as well which is kind of so that is you know Alber is a good place to Target the other thing about alar just before we move on to actually the S battles is it’s very easy to get a train from Leo yeah so you can come into Le on the Eurostar you walk across the bridge to Le Flanders and you get a train to Aras or alar Al is kind of the end of the line which is amazing good s here we go yeah come out of you ran this bit so you can do this bit so you come out of ALB past bakeries P bakeries um again if you hit if you hit this in the morning um you you leave albar very easily through um um through allotments and sort of the back streets of Al be but it’s actually very pretty um lots of wildlife things to see and you you cross over into um some woods and then up the hill to te Val y um it is it is beautiful it’s a lovely stretch of the trail um there are two Comm cemeteries as you as you go along and you start to really understand um that this um that the again the topography that we talked about before um why that was so impactful and that there were just fields and Fields and it’s just it’s you suddenly realize how flat everything is yeah it is the song’s it’s quite notorious for it’s kind of Rolling Hills effectively um which are beautiful today but if you think of what that meant for um raking machine guns and how hard it was to attack uphill te Val Memorial to the missing is really where you’re heading which is just uh had an amazing restoration project yeah it’s fantastic place to stop which is phenomenal and really with the song I’m just going to say this is the best thing to do is to read up before you go um it’s easier than some places to understand where the front line was but when we were there recently I had to remind people people that when the war was over a lot of people wanted the land back to how it was as quickly as possible so whilst there are areas that are preserved it’s better to read a book before you go so you can understand first day of the psalm deadliest day in British military history um deadliest hour certainly um and there’s a really clear line from te B where you can see the aler tower bont haml to your West and then East you know it’s it’s it’s an impactful place oh it’s yes it’s it’s great it is and that’s really a beautiful walk we talk a lot about it in the app so do do read up there um heading further north you really are getting North now Aras um is where we’re kind of going to take you next which is the capital of part of Cal I think big old town beautiful Town Center I feel like you’re looking like I’ve missed something horrible no because I’m I’m looking at the app and it’s it’s a straight shot North it is um lots of you you come whereas I think in the southern section you stumble across little things and like the qu and um the the glass tomb and sort and here it’s I found it’s um Commonwealth Cemetery after Commonwealth you know it’s it’s yeah the scale of it bang bang bang bang um and it’s it’s just a different type of surround it is and I think it’s fair to say that people we have taken over there again I made this point in the last one but I want to make it again just because you don’t know what happened on the first day of the song does not mean you can’t go to the song yeah there’s no Gatekeepers there’s no one going to kind of check your military history I much more familiar with the southern bit and I I nothing yeah yeah we kind of swap balls in that respect didn’t we yeah um anyway we’re into Aras which key place to stay her hotel the universe is pretty good two big squares plasto uh is wonderful in the summer you know that lovely French kind of scraping of metal chairs on cobbles yes oh it’s beautiful and lots of restaurants um you know Sundowners are drunk there it’s a market town so on Saturdays it’s really busy lots of lots of um Market stores but again Sunday completely the reverse it’s very quiet um and um the the trail takes you also past bin so past the um commor yes it’s the commor wgr kind of interpretation Center isn’t it and they that’s where you can see how they make the headstones and how they engrave them worth a worth a visit it definitely is and I think it’s good to point out here you don’t have to do the whole Western Front way plenty of you are but even going from say VII which we’re coming to next down to Al will give you a very good Insight yeah happened hugely and you’ve got good bases either end Aras and um Alber yeah so leaving AR ass fully fed fully watered pumped up ready to go uh we are coming in is on your app is nerville sast um quite an extraordinary Place uh lot a lot of fighting obviously here I mean there’s lots of fighting everywhere but there is a French cemetery next to a British Cemetery larette uh which is very difficult to get to if you’re walking so just take your time but the reason we wanted to highlight here is the German Cemetery here which is staggering yeah beautiful 40,000 or something like that um terribly sad place in a way and you walk alongside it along a track and it’s suddenly sort of it does feel like you stumble across it very quickly and then suddenly your eyes just sweep over a big area yeah um and um yeah yeah I think that’s what gim’s getting at actually and the kind of one you know the cemeter after cemetery is that is that they are because of the way that the line falls in the north it’s very very compact this area um and there are also big memorials that you’re heading from to so in ALB you’ve got te Val which is massive and then you’re kind of going into Aras which is another big place then Neville vas then VII vill Bretner these are ser ious epicenters for for not just just remembrance but Nations um you know there are countries that do it differently they don’t just pop over to the Western Front they will come on a huge pilgrimage yeah for two three weeks at a time yeah um okay so we are at VII VII Ridge again an unbelievable place um Canadian remembrance Center I would say um there is the education center which is fantastic which has a wonderful museum with Incredible guides and there is the Memorial morial itself which no matter what I say no matter how many words I had would not do it justice no you can’t describe it it’s it’s extraordinary this bright white yeah stone that overlooks the ridge yeah it’s kind of everything all at once it’s it’s beautiful it’s stoic it’s sorrowful it’s hopeful it’s it’s all of them really embodied into that um and then amazingly from up there you get the view down into where you will be walking next which we will conclude our podcast with which is part four which is kind of through loose and Beyond but we wanted to finish this one with notra Dam dorette the reason I want to finish there is I’m going to let Kim take over but the circle of names yes so you you you walk up to notand De Lorette and you are greeted by a beautiful French um cemetery and um not only that you what they built was this beautiful um Ring Of Peace that you walk down into and it has names written on it looks like gold sheet really in the sun doesn’t it but names um in alphabetical order um no matter the Army I think that’s the thing no matter the nation that fought they collected all the names as part of the Centenary for those who fought everyone was killed yeah in the region and it’s it’s extraordinary you know you see French surnames next to German German Indian surnames as well which is just amazing I mean I think when we were there with a group I mean we there was was one that has quite an unusual surname and even that surname had 32 yeah so that’s that’s you have to stop there I think you you walk in there and everybody takes a breath yes they do as one of the most um you know even the chattiest of people it would keep them quiet for a bit yeah as they walk around very okay well we I hope that hasn’t been too somber at the end but it is you know it is a it is a place which holds great significance and sorrow and I think that that going from Memorial to Memorial does does lend itself to that kind of feeling I think it’s worth noting that this area we know this from people that have told us has had an effect yeah and not to end not to end on a on a random tangent or to be crass but again there is a great Cafe there that does the most superb food um the estam notand Lorette um it is there make sure it’s open before you hang all your or put your eggs all in one basket together uh but on one basket is that you put you put eggs you put eggs in the basket and you hang something yeah you hang your coat H hang hats yeah okay hang up your own kit bag work um but yes do do try and eat there uh because it’s it’s absolutely superb yeah it is and to be fair with you are when you are walking long distance and you are going through this on the emotional scale I don’t think it’s a bad thing to look forward to food I think it’s a good thing yeah yeah 100% warming food as and as I was reminded Once Upon a Time by someone that knows knows far more about military history than I um when it came to kind of talking about food and things if you look at the headstones that’s probably one of the top topics they would have talk about good well thank you for joining us to part three um we’ve got part four to come which will take us all the way to the Sea uh and in total yeah we were aiming for kind of 120 Minutes something like that total to give everyone an overview so thank you for joining us so far and we will see you on the trails y see you later bye bye [Music]