Somme to Epernay

Somme Battlefields

First stop is the very lovely town of Arras, said to be one of the prettiest towns in the north and indeed it didn’t disappoint. Sipping a coffee, looking out onto a very picturesque square housing a very handsome Hotel de Ville, one has to ask how a place so pretty can be twinned with Ipswich!

The Circuit de Souvenir is a route which winds through the old towns within the Somme area, many of which display memorials and exquisitely kept graves for the soldiers of the 1st world war. The graves are tended with such precision; perfectly straight lines and mowed lawns, each with an individual beds of flowers. There are tributes to all nationalities and a huge memorial for the 70,000+ British troops whose bodies were never recovered.

This isn’t our usual cup of tea but something was pulling to visit and we were surprised at how moving and thought provoking we found the experience to be. What particularly touches is how serene, well preserved and respected this area is now when once it was such a bloody battlefield and full of shocking destruction.

Stayed in Peronne and encountered our first crazy storm; full on thunder and lightening for hours was quite surreal, if not a little scary, in the little Lunar Champ!

Laon

Famous for having one of the earliest and finest gothic cathedrals in the country we make a stop here for a few hours. One town split so very obviously - the lower part is somewhere you would want to drive through very quickly whilst the upper part is like an old medieval city that you only discover once you enter its walls - a strange and likeable place.

Epernay

The champagne region! Need we say more!
Missing Reims we head to the much prettier town of Epernay for a couple of days. On the Avenue de Champagne we visit the Mercier Masion where a little train takes us down into the cellars for a tour and interesting insight into the makings of champagne, topped off with degustation (tasting) of course. The Avenue is full of such Masions, some of which are housed in very attractive buildings.

A week gone already! Andrew has declared that ‘its grim up North’ actually derived in France rather than England. It sounds a contradiction as the people are helpful enough but it is fair to say they are blood miserable! In a whole week, only one butcher stands out as having being jovial.