Party of 8 Setting off for France.

Tuesday 23rd July

An early start at 6 and we all had breakfast and put our bags into the 2 cars and set off for France at 7. We [Ewout and Jenny] have been joined by Willy [Ewout’s sister] her husband Dean, Astrid [Ewout’s sister] and her husband Chris with cousins Martin and Ewoud.

We were to be staying at a property in Orgerus which is about 45km’s west of Paris. There are two houses with a swimming pool, tennis court , boulles court on a large lawned property.

We had a long drive, stopped for coffee in a Belgian roadside cafe and continued on until we reached the area of the Somme and stopped in the village of Poziers. This was a place that during the First World War that the Australian’s were involved in the Somme campaign between 1916 – 18. Our next stop was the monument at Thiepval which remembers 72,000 soldiers who have no grave sites. It was an impressive buildings with  names  inscribed on the walls of the monument. Also at the site there is a small display centre which explains the battle of the Somme with pictures and a video display.

Our next stop was Villers-Bretonneux where there is a large Australian cemetery and monuments.In April 1918 it was the where the Australian Army stopped the advance of the Germans. On Anzac day they have a memorial service on the site. It sits on a hill with views all around of the villages and countryside, it is about 4 stories high and you can climb the steps inside which gives a spectacular view. We stopped in a small French village to find something to eat and settled on a take-away place situated in the centre of town.  With our limited French and the lack of English spoken by the waiter, we managed to order some food and drink and patiently waited for our lunch.

After lunch  we drove the final kilometres through the French countryside to our home for the next 8 days arriving at 5pm. It was a warm and sticky day and after a trip to the shops for groceries we settled into our lodgings took advantage of the pool and had a quiet evening.