Hello everyone.
All behind, like the donkey's tail I'm afraid.... Not helped by a day lost in Sweden and a drama at work (not life threatening) late afternoon, so a late arrival home this evening. Hey-ho.
As promised I have tidied up the routes and lobbed the Mapsource file onto DropBox for you to download.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/14126843/October Somme jaunt.gdb
As you will see:
(a) There is a slower and a much faster way down. Both are similar mileages but the quicker one with a chunk of payage before St Pol. The slower one takes us down to the west, then south, missing out chunks of payage. I have included the faster one in case we (or anyone) has a problem at Calais.
(b) There are two stages to day two's ride. The first, round in a sort of clockwise half loop to the Australian memorial, just south of Corbie. The second, back up to Calais, via a choice: Faster or slower.
I have half an eye that the light is going (and it gets a bit chilly) but we should be OK.
The second day's ride is still 150 miles or so, plus we are going to stop at some WW1 sites. So we do need to start out at around 09:00 if we are not going to be chasing our tails too much.
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There is quite a few of us, so we will definitely use the drop-off 'marker' system.
Lunch we will have to have on the hoof somewhere.
Thinking about it - and thanks for the reminder KevB
I think it WOULD be a good idea to bring a packed lunch on Saturday.
With a straight run - on the quickest option - we would be in Albert by 13:00 for sure. But one delay (or a biggish group) means we could well drop behind on the slower route, not least as we will stop for a coffee somewhere. I suggest we plan to bring a packed lunch. But, if we see somewhere to stop to eat in a cafe, we can stop. If we do, the sandwiches won't go off and we can scoff them on Sunday, instead. As we know when we came back from Ypres, cafes can suddenly vanish just when you want one.... and a bicycle race block a road.
I will PM you all my mobile no.
As Rasher (who had hoped to join us) says: The weather looks OK..... be prepared if it ain't.
http://www.accuweather.com/en-us/fr/picardie/albert/forecast.aspx
http://www.accuweather.com/en-us/fr/aquitaine/calais/forecast.aspx
We can guess that it will be chilly coming off the train, with maybe some frost on Saturday and Sunday morning judging by the overnight temperatures.
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I have cobbled together some guff on the bits we will see.
DAY ONE
Beaumont Hamel, the sunken road & Newfoundland Memorial Park
http://www.ww1battlefields.co.uk/somme/beaumont.html
http://www.ww1battlefields.co.uk/somme/newfoundland.html
DAY TWO
Thiepval & Ulster Tower
http://www.ww1battlefields.co.uk/somme/thiepval.html
http://www.ww1battlefields.co.uk/somme/ulstertower.html
Longueval & Caterpillar valley
http://www.ww1battlefields.co.uk/somme/longueval.html
Villers-Bretonneux, Australian National Memorial
http://www.ww1westernfront.gov.au/villers-bretonneux/
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As usual:
Full tank
See you at the train
First stop the fuel station on leaving the train, just to gather up
Paperwork, passport etc.
Cheers,
Richard