Forests
Trip Start
Aug 23, 1996
1
355
450
Trip End
Ongoing
Verdun,
France
Saturday, August 25, 2007
We left on the Friday, drove down to Dover, jumped on the ferry and headed towards Arras. It's around 400ish K's to Verdun, a bit far to drive in the night, so we grabbed a hotel instead. Moules went down well for dinner, washed down with a nice red. As you do !!! I do like the French way of life.
Day 1
Arriving in Verdun, we chucked the tent down and hit the Citadel. It was a old huge fort with a constant temperature of seven degrees. We didn't realise this when we parked up and walked inside out of the heat. Also, you're not allowed to walk around on your own, you have to do a kind of ghost train tour. You jump in this carriage and you go from point to point, and every stop there is a little movie which you watch. After 5 minutes, Lucy was freezing and the only way to keep warm was to get off of the train and walk beside it !!! After we finished, we took a walk around the outside. It was huge and disused and certainly looked like the type of place that people would piss or shit in the open at. In fact, we actually saw it happening, so we moved on into the centre. Most of it was closed up as they seemed to be having a siesta, which was nice as we had the town to ourselves. There were a couple of memorials to WW1, and a couple of town gates that had been rebuilt. They were quite nice so we took photos. As the time rolled on, we found a cafe and had dinner washed down with some more red. It had been a nice first day. So to celebrate, we walked back to the tent and had another bottle of red !!!
Day 2
We had our croissants for brekkie as you do when you are in France, then went driving. Before WW1 not far away from where we were, was part of Germany as the French had lost that part during the Franco Prussian War. Because of this, they built a whole series of forts around the area, and they believed that that part of France would one day come back to them. Eventually, as we all know, they did.
Fort de Douamont is huge, and the French not having their heads screwed on, removed most of their big guns and men. The Germans just walked in and took it !!! They say that there are over 10 K's of tunnels built into the hillside, they have opened up around 1 of them. There were a couple of memorials for the dead inside. We walked around the top and there were little turrets that looked like little mushrooms everywhere. We ran around before we drove on. As we drove, we came across loads of trenches that were better preserved than other places we have been to. Around the corner was the Ossuaire de Douamont. Built as a memorial to the French and Germans who fought here, it was quite moving. 137 metres long and a 46 metre high tower which looks liked a missile, which you can climb. Looking out, it gave a great view of where the battlefields use to be, well you can't see much as there are now forests everywhere. Amazing !!! We climbed back down and had a look at the graves. Amongst them, was a batch of Islamic ones from Morocco. I had never seen or heard of Northern African people fighting in WW1. Once again, you learn something new everyday !!! Their graves were pointing towards Mecca and there was even a littled Islamic mausoleum built for the Issy lovers. We walked back to the Ossuaire and took a walk around the back where there were little windows. Looking in were the bones of around 40000 German and French soldiers. They had fought each other, but now they lay resting together. Next up was the Tranchee des Baionnettes. It sounded good so we headed over. Apparently, a whole troop of guys were in their trenches when their trench collapsed on them, killing them They were discovered three years after the war finished with their bayonettes in the air, ready to attack. They have been left there. There was a little bit of metal sticking out of the ground, but not much more. We drove over to see the Fort de Vaux. Smaller than Douamont, but still worth the effort. There were still bullet holes inside and out. The Germans had to fight for this one. It took seven days, but they only held it for four months before the Moroccans took it back. One of our favourite wines is called Fleury, and when Lucy saw that there was a village called Fleury, she wanted to go. We put the name into the GPS, and followed the directions. Once there, there was nothing 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 we had seen in the other two. Back in Verdun, we had another dinner on the river and then back to the campground for our desert of wine. It was going to be sad leaving here tomorrow.
Day 3
Once breakfast was done, we packed up and drove away. 200 K's away was our next stop. Compiegne. It was a place steeped in war history. Back in 1918, there were a couple of train lines going through here in the middle of a forest, and on the 10th of November, the Germans and French, sat down and started talking. On the 11th of the 11th, armistace came. The railway carriage where the documents were signed, went on a tour of France before returning to Compiegne. It sat in a shed for a few years, then on the 22nd of June 1940, Adolf Hitler brought the French here, and using the same carriage, the French signed France over to Germany. He then packed up the carriage and took it back with him to Berlin. It sat there until 1945, and then either one of two things happened, it was either destroyed in 1945 in a bombing raid, or Hitler burnt it himself to save having to sign France back over to them !!! There is a memorial built, still left standing from WW1 and there is also a copy of the railway car. To pay to see the car, realistically wasn't worth it, but at least we can cross it off of our Lonely Planet list !!!
We drove back to Calais, late as usual, not having any time to do shopping, and then we saw what we have only read about. As we were lining up to get into customs, there were illegals everywhere. As the semis drove past, they were checking them out. We really wanted to see some jump into a truck !!! Onto the ferry and 90 minutes later, we had landed.
It had been loads of fun to go camping and to see the forests of Verdun was so different to the Somme and Flanders. We would love to come back, but there is always somewhere new.
