George's Trip to Europe 2008 - Part 5

The map of our route for Day Five.

On the fifth day, we decided to explore the Somme.  We headed out from Ypres in the morning and made our way to Ploegsteert to find the Calvaire (Essex) Military Cemetery, where one of Mike's great, great uncles is buried. 

Mike by his great, great Uncle J Scanlan's grave near Ploegsteert.


On the way to this cemetery, George decided he needed to be naughty again.  As we drove, the tell tale aroma of burning antifreeze struck us.  I wondered what could be wrong this time.  We pulled over outside the cemetery and a cursory glance revealed that a small hole had appeared in one of the smaller coolant hoses.  Nightmare.  I couldn't believe it!  Of all the times to go wrong, George chose the time when we were in Flemish speaking Belgium!  In every other place we went, I could speak the language but not here.  I was not keen to be ripped off, so we wrapped the hose in electrical tape, topped up the coolant and headed for the border - into France.

Once in Armentieres, France, we realised we had arrived during the two hour lunchtime shutdown, which renders the whole country closed for business.  After grabbing some lunch and waiting around, we made it into a motor factors, who told us our only hope was the scrap yard around the corner.  We drove where we were told to go and we found a lovely man, who replaced the hose and topped up the antifreeze for a mere 20 Euros!  It really does pay to speak the language.

Fully functional once more, George was on his way.  Minor concerns about head gaskets and the like were flying through my head but, for now, all was well.

A while later, we arrived in Gorre Military Cemetery near Bethune, where we visited the grave of a Mr Rafferty.  He was no relation to us but we had heard of him.

Past Bethune, we headed to Thiepval - the impressive monument to the missing of the Somme.  One of Mike's great, great uncles - another J Scanlan - was killid in Guillemont and is named on the monument.

George parked at the Thiepval memoria

The Thiepval Memorial

The Thiepval Memorial itself is massive.  Photographs don't really do it justice.  There are many thousands of names upon it, all of which are easy to find through the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website www.cwgc.org

After Thiepval, we headed for Guillemont.  Mike had discovered through his research that his great great uncle, who is named on the Thiepval Memorial was probably killed in the battle for Guillemont.  When we got there, we found a monument to the division Mike's great, great uncle fought in.

Whilst in the Somme area, we had a cup of tea in Tommy's Cafe and visited the Lochnagar crater, which was created when troops tunnelled under the German lines and placed explosives.  The explosives were detonated on July 1st 1916.  The explosion marked the start of the Battle of the Somme.  We also found innumerable monuments to various different regiments.  The photo below shows George next to one of them.

We headed back to our lovely hotel room after that.

Miles that day:  160

Total Miles:  1434