Le Prunellia Verdun

Nice country drive throughout the Verdun region to the little village of Stenay, where there is a council platz with washing machines etc, in a picturesque setting next to a canal. The whole area is scattered with monuments to the Americans, and with a large cemetery. It seems as though no Frenchman would need to mouth off at the ...

... vines that produce the grapes look entirely different than the ones we are used to, a lot squatter. Instead of going out for dinner we bought 2 roast poulettes and salad and had a beaut meal at home washed down with champagne and Pepsi Max!! When we got back to the camper about 9 I decided that seeing as we still had at least an hour of daylight we would hit the A4 again towards Verdun and find a nice quieter Aires for the night , which we did about 50 k out

Today after some home work by the kids we leave the house and head for Verdun and as usual it is raining so the tour of the city will be very fast ... a quick bite to eat and for a change of war and we are visiting some fortification from the "Maginot ligne" which is a piece of work dating from WWII it was never taken even after being pounded for days by German 88, 105 and 150 with countless direct hits ...

It's our last day around Verdun so I thought we could we should take a drive to the memorial of the "Voie sacree" or for our English listeners the sacred way. This is the only road that was able to bring supplies to, Verdun during the critical months of the battle. It is remembered with a massive monument just a few km outside Verdun and every km of the road are marked ...

Now the real site seeing starts, so far it was more of a break for me than for the family, we all got up bright and early to go and do some sightseeing of the 1st world war starting with the "Memorial of Verdun" this place is amazing no matter how many times I have seen it, it always brings me goose pimples. I then took every one to ...

... have stay in bed longer). Got a park and got out of the car park on the wrong side... that was it for the rest of the day, I was not to be trusted with directions anymore lol. We finally collected Alex; he did not look to bad considering the 36 hours flight and transit time he had to endure. We went back in the car ... back to Etain (yep another 3 hours on the road. Arrive back to base this afternoon where we just chilled for the rest of the day.

... Etain 20km from Verdun in the Meuse area. On arrival it was amazing... I did not think I left France so popular (lol).the last time I saw them all together was for my mum's funerals. We had a typical French lunch lasting for hours... more conversations than food (thanks god for that) it was a lot of fun to catch up with them all.

... aanvechtingen hebben om te gaan sightseeen, want dat hebben we dus al gedaan. Het weer was de hele dag best lekker, maar nu zien we toch wat schepen met zure appelen verschijnen. Het lijkt erop dat G's weersvoorspelling alweer perfect is. Hopelijk krijgt hij voor morgen ongelijk.

Distance: 138 KM Best bit: finding out that Verdun is actually a pleasant little town Worst bit: legs got very tired and I finished mu Harobos Hills galore today. Beautifully quiet. I set off at 0700 and watched France wake up as I pedalled through each small farming village. It was Saturday and the roads remained blissfully free of lorries and cars all day; I am now in the ...

... but a memorial. The whole place had been wasted in the war, but there were markers where the streets and houses had been. It was quite nice walking through a little forest where a village once had been. There was one more fort to see. Fort de Souville. It has collapsed, so we armed ourselves with torches and in we walked. It was fun walking around on our own in there. Just us and the resident bats !!! On top, were some more turrets, the same as what ...