Le Quesnoy to Eypre

After the September offensive , the German army reset their line further north. 

  The fortress town of le Quesnoy ( say 'ken wa' ),which is by the way ,another Vauban designed fortress,was an important link in this line and would have ordinarily been subject to a massive bombardment.

  Enter the kiwis. A mixed NZ regiment entered the fort by scaling the walls at night , and with the element of surprise, captured the town. 

Look closely at the NZ memorial and you may see them scaling the walls. The town folk have since then, honored us with a service each year, flying our flag ,naming streets after NZ places and various statues and murals like this one on the primary school. And for our Cambridge grandchildren , le Quesnoy is twinned with Cambridge. ! 

Oh NO !

What we didn't like about the place was the rain. Still ,First real rain in a month so mustn't grumble.

This morning our route back to the coast takes us through Ypres. This town was totally leveled by bombing and then completely rebuilt copying the old style.

  It's also the closest town to Passendale where NZ lost more men in a week ,than in any other war.

Only about 20% of the 5000 lost are here . The rest were never recovered and their names are among these on this memorial wall

Most losses for us occurred on 4th october 1917 ,including that of Katikati's own son and NZ's first all black captain Dave Gallaher.

At 8 pm we joined about 600 others for the service at the Menin gate. This gate was built to house another 100,000 odd men who were never found. The last post has been played here every night since 1928 and pulls a large crowd every night

Our hotel was in the town square .Bit worried by this sign though.

  'those who live by the sword...' etc etc

The Belgium's love vending machines!

 They sell fresh bread, sandwiches , ciggies , and in this case potatoes and strawberries.

 

 

Wollonia to Waterloo

I read an article in an English camping magazine about the beauty of Wollonia,a region in the south east of Belgium. It's close to Luxembourg so we headed there for a look.

    The houses changed to stone facade,large, and quite pretty, and the first major town, Dinant , was lovely.

  It sits on the river Meuse which is a very busy waterway to Paris and the south.

  To enter Dinant from the south you have to pass through this gap in the rock which is only 400 mm wider than a campervan with the mirrors in. It was fun to watch the vans stop ,and the wives jump out and guide hubby through.

 Reminded me of when we tried to take a Chevy van through a gap in a redwood tree and got stuck !

It has a big Jazz festival here and The saxophones are a permanent display. 

 We intended to bike along the river but couldn't find a camp near it. They were all full of permanent trailer home people, scruffy, with lots of dogs and beer bellied Belgiums.

  The river was very industrialized and the roads busy so we left it and went looking for a camp further west. 

  When we came across one in the grounds of a chateau we thought we were right. Yeah right !

  It had 750 sites and was set up like a theme park. Kids and dogs by the thousand. Also twice what we'd been paying in France. Never mind, I've seen Wollonia and it's not an area I'd rush back to.

The next morning after a good sleep in, we set the sat nav for Waterloo. Don't use it often but drivings not so easy here. 

  Waterloo ,kids, is where Wellington defeated Napolean. Google it!

 Its a huge tourist attraction and that big hill is a man made monument. When you climb to the top the battlefield is explained ,out there in front of you.

  Now ,I come from a mural town and some of ours are big, but this one , painted in 1926 of the battle, is 110 meters long by 12 high. They built a special round pavilion to house it and you can stand on a platform in the middle to view it.

  Just fantastic !

  We've dropped back into France tonight, I DO like France, and are in a town called la Quesnoy . It has a special NZ connection which I'll tell you about next time.

Metz and the Moselle

Most villages we'd passed through in the Lorraine were not what you'd call pretty.

 The main streets are usually wide but without the flowers and colour of other parts of France.

  The city of Metz is quite nice though, and the Saturday that we arrived was market day. This is part of the huge covered market beside the Cathedral

      Cheeses! Let me at 'em

They always label kiwi fruit as 'grown in NZ' even chilian fruit.

Everyone stocks up on a Saturday, as all shops including supermarkets close Sunday. The  boulangeries are open until mid day, after that it's tough luck !

  The Moselle , which runs through Metz, has a great cycle way . You can even do it the easy way and have this little boat follow you with your bed.

If our map shows a village with a sign like this we go out of our way to visit it. This one is called Rodemack.

  Nearby , we found a camp on the edge of the Moselle again. Same price as the other too. €11 

  That chateaux is in Germany and the far bank is Luxembourg 

Today we visited a vintage car and tractor show in Luxembourg . It's a lovely little country, clean and colorful,and with the cheapest gas ! € 1.22/  

I think the driving age might be a bit low though

Tonight we're back in Belgium and tomorrow will head for a region called Wollonia .

Verdun

This camp was so relaxing we stayed an extra night. Truth is, the old back needs a bit of a rest.

  There must be a smelting plant upstream as I saw several loads of scrap metal going past ,and a couple of barge loads of reinforcing steel going the other way.

Toul is another walled town , right on the Moselle . Not as interesting to these old dears though ,as the clothes in the market. ( pricey I thought )

We're making our way north to Verdun and through some of the most fought over land in France. By stopping at the military cemetery's we passed, we could read a brief history of the front in that area. 

The Americans came into the war when things were at a bit of a stalemate, and made a crucial impact by taking the Saint Mihiel Salient. 350,000 of them and 117,000 French.The Armistice was signed 2 months later so it must have made the difference.

  This memorial is on Montsec and the cemetery is near by. Beautifully managed by the American war graves commission .

Verdun is a beautiful town with a lovely port and an amazing underground citadel  . We went through a museum on a little train inside its maze of passages. Nice and cool too as its 37 degrees outside.

The battle for Verdun lasted 300 days at a cost of 700,000 casualties from both sides. It's a wonderful place to visit, as you can drive along the front line from fort to fort amongst the trenchs and the barbed wire. 

  It's just been left for all to see, even the remains of a village that was destroyed by the bombing .

The Ossuaire memorial looks down on a graveyard of 15,000 Frenchmen ,but was built to house the bones of 130,000 from both sides. A movie theatre underneath tells the story of the war very well.

 We particularly liked the rose bush on each grave.

See,  rose and rose of them

   Found a lovely campsite not far along the road to Metz. It's on a farm ,with a fishing lake . Only 10 euros and you can try to catch a carp for only 2 euros .