Cream of Chantilly

One of the most extraordinary collections of art and rare books in France can be found at the Château de Chantilly, around 25 miles north of Paris, in a beautiful palace surrounded by forests. The collection of old masters is the second largest in the country. You might think that this would attract the long queues and crowding that the Louvre often sees, but not a bit of it.

This place is relatively lightly visited and you can often find yourself alone in a room filled with gorgeous paintings that include works by Raphael, Delacroix and Poussin among others. It has to be one of the best kept secrets among day trips from Paris, which is appropriate as I first learnt about the place through the marvelous Secrets of Paris blog many years ago!

Château de Chantilly

The magnificent Château de Chantilly and the art galleries that we can wander around today were the creation of Henri d’Orléans, Duke of Aumale, son of the last King of France, Louis Philippe I. The Duke was one of the great collectors of his age and built up an astonishing collection of artworks and rare books over his lifetime. It’s a striking echo of the past activities of the Bourbon-Condés, the owners of Chantilly from 1643 to 1830, whose collections were confiscated during the revolution and transferred to the Central Museum of Arts (later to become the Louvre).

The Château is the work of the architect Honoré Daumet who was commissioned by the Duke to rebuild the Grand Château after the destruction that took place during the revolution. The new building was constructed on the foundations of the medieval towers and designed to integrate with the Petit Château, a renaissance survivor that somehow made it through the revolution intact. From the outset the new building, constructed from 1875 to 1885, was designed with the needs of the Duke’s collection in mind. This is most obvious in the large picture gallery which is illuminated by natural light coming through massive overhead windows.

The Duke was predeceased by his children and bequeathed the Château to the Institut de France in 1886 with the stipulation that it be opened to the public as a museum and that the artworks be presented just as they were in his lifetime. It is strange to walk around the galleries knowing that nothing has changed in over a century and that you are standing exactly where others have gazed in decades past. Equally, it is a pleasure to see a gallery presented quite differently to how it would be arranged today – a little like stepping back into the 19th century.

The Cabinet des Clouet

The astonishing nature of the art collection is perhaps best encapsulated by a small room known as the Cabinet des Clouet which displays the portraits of 90 French Kings from the 16th century – more than you would find at the Louvre!

On a wander round there are many delightful stories to discover. One of the most curious was the tale of The Madonna of Loreto which can be found in the Rotunda. The painting was originally considered to be a copy of a lost work by Raphael from 1509 until restoration in 1976 revealed the number 133 in a corner of the painting. This matched the inventory number marked on the original when it was part of the Borghese collection in Rome. The discovery saw the work rightly recognised as an original work by Raphael.

The collection of rare books is equally impressive, even if this is a little less obvious to the visitor. The Cabinet des Livres is the largest library in the country outside of the Bibliothèque nationale de France.

Inside the Cabinet des Livres

A short walk away from the Château you can discover the Great Stables (Grandes Écuries), now home to the living museum of the horse, adjacent to the famous racecourse with its gorgeous nineteenth century grandstands. The impressive stables were commissioned by Louis-Henri, Duke of Bourbon (1692-1740) and may, in part, be down to his belief that he would be re-incarnated as a horse. Whatever the reason, this is one of the masterpieces of 18th century architecture and a delight for us to enjoy today.

The area is the centre of the horseracing industry in France with over 2500 horses undergoing training in around a hundred stables. The first thing that strikes you as enter the great stables is just how much the space lives up to its name. These stables are the largest in Europe, built to hold up to 240 horses and five hundred hounds.

These are no ordinary stables. A better description would be the cathedral of the horse, a description amply illustrated by the three horses thundering out of the stonework above the doorway and a vast 14 metre high stone roof above the stables. The stables are still in use today, so this is no historic relic, with visitors able to take a wander along the stables inside before taking a right turn into the museum. The museum does an equally wonderful job of capturing the magic of the horse kingdom, from historic horse carts to merry-go-round horses presented in a compelling display.

The impressive roof of the stables

On our way out of the stables we had a moment to see one of the horse in training. If you have the time, there are regular shows and demonstrations beneath the 28 metre high dome of the Great Stables, a space which can accommodate 600 people.

In short, a day trip to Chantilly is a wonderful opportunity to be wowed by artworks, a beautiful restored historic palace and artistry of the equine kind. All without the crowds of most Parisien attractions. What’s not to like!?

Practicalities

We kept things simple and purchased a Pack TER Domaine de Chantilly from the green ticket machines located around platforms 15-17 on the ground level of the Gare du Nord (not downstairs where most of the other ticket machines are located). The machines were very clearly laid out and had options in five languages. You use a dial to select your preferred option and the Chantilly tickets are pretty easily located through the menus. The machines only accept credit cards and didn’t seem to have the option to buy more than one Pack TER at a time. The price is a very reasonable 25 euros per adult (a saving of around 10 euros).

The journey out to Chantilly takes just 22 minutes. The timetable is a bit quirky, so it’s worth taking the time to check in advance of your trip. The gates to the chateau don’t open until 10 so we opted to take the 8h49 from Paris Gare du Nord in the direction of Compiègne with the 9h07 in the direction of Amiens as a back-up. After this, there was over an hour’s wait for the next train (10h37). A similar pattern emerges in the afternoon – the timetable showed trains running at intervals of 30-45 minutes for a few hours and then a surprising gap of 75 minutes between trains in mid-afternoon.

Gare de Chantilly-Gouvieux

On our arrival at Chantilly-Gouvieux we headed out by foot on the well sign-posted route to the Chateau. Some of the promotional material we had seen suggested this was a 15 minute walk but we took a good 30 minutes and while we were not racing, we were hardly slouches either! The walk was quite lovely with views of the race course, the exterior of the great stables and the chateau surrounded by water.

When we reached the chateau we had a little wait for the 10 o’clock opening. There are two ticket buildings – one with automatic ticket machines (right) and one with staffed counters (left). We had to use the latter to exchange our Pack TER tickets for Domaine tickets. All fairly painless, but with only one counter open it took a little time with a few groups to process ahead of us.

As our visit took place on a week day we thought it would be quiet, but hadn’t counted on four school parties and a pensioners coach outing. However, once inside we didn’t really encounter any crowding at all and only stumbled upon the occasional room of children listening intently to an explanation of the treasures on display. Once the initial crowd gathered at the gates had been let in at 10am we never saw any queues to get in. For most of the time we were there the area around the gates was incredibly quiet. I suspect that weekday afternoons are rather quiet!

The ticket office is located in the small building to the right

The official website states that tours of the Duke and Duchess of Aumale’s private suites were available in English at 11.30 every day but on our visit we were told that only tours in French were available. This was a disappointment at first, but as we made our way around the chateau we soon realised that we had underestimated the time needed to appreciate the historic rooms and galleries properly. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise. In total, we spent three hours visiting the chateau and taking in the great stables at a canter but felt we could have done with longer to explore the grounds and enjoy the museum of the living horse.

Gallery

Coulée verte

One of the most extraordinary green spaces in Paris, the Coulée verte René-Dumont, can be found high above the streets of the twelfth arrondissement on the trackbed of the long closed railway line from Bastille to Vincennes. This linear park, also known as the Promenade Plantée, was the pioneering creation of landscape architect Jacques Vergely and architect Philippe Mathieux in 1988.

The elevated park was officially inaugurated in 1993 and its ground breaking re-use of an abandoned line has gone on to inspire similar projects around the world, such as New York’s High Line, The 606 in Chicago and Philadelphia’s Rail Park. A campaign to develop something similar in the UK, the Peckham Coal Line, has already captured the imagination of the local community.

One of the routes up to the Coulée verte

Our visit to the walkway fell on a Sunday afternoon. We soon discovered just how popular the park was as we joined the relatively slow procession on the – at times – relatively narrow pathway. Everyone seemed to be up there and who could blame them? It was a lovely day and this was clearly the perfect spot to sit and read, walk the dogs or take a wander with the family. The large green space at the Reuilly Garden was busy with families, couples and optimistic sun-worshipers.

There was also another good reason for all the activity on the Coulée verte that I had overlooked – the European elections were taking place and the old station building at Reuilly had been transformed into a polling station for the 12eme arrondissement. It would have to be the most impressive place to vote that I can recall.

The station building at Reuilly was opened, along with the line, in 1859 and remained in use until goods traffic on the line ceased in 1985. Historic photos from 1900 show a beautifully maintained station with well tended green borders. The contrast with the overgrown and unloved station of 1985 couldn’t be greater, so it is lovely to see it so beautifully restored and now very much at the heart of the community.

The ancien gare de Reuilly

Our walk took us from the Viaduc des Arts to a point near Rue du Sahel (helpfully marked up on the official map) before we headed up to street level and hopped on the metro at Bel Air.

The Coulée verte turned out to be every bit as wonderful as I could have hoped with wonderful views of the neighbourhoods it passes through, lovingly well kept gardens and delightful artistic additions. At times it can be really hard to remember that this was ever a railway, particularly when standing in front of a feature like the long duck ponds.

Among the surprises along the way are an office block occupied by the local police, a relatively modern creation from the 1990s, which is topped by a sequence of statues copied from Michelangelo’s dying slave and a cheeky sequence of painted bollards in the tunnels nearish the Rue du Sahel. However, the real highlight was the walk itself. It’s so easy to let city life fall away and just relax in to a leisurely walk. Highly recommended.

Gallery

Palace of the Salamander King

Our long weekend in Paris gave us a perfect opportunity to get out from the city and see the ‘true abode of Kings and the Palace of the ages’ at Fontainebleau which has a history going back to 1137. My grasp of French history is pretty limited, so I had no idea that one of the key players in its restoration was Napoleon who refurbished the palace in a manner worthy of the ancien régime after its sacking in the revolution.

A view of the Palace from the Grand Parterre

The magnificence of the rooms in the palace can’t be overstated. There are so many rooms that simply take your breath away as you enter with their ornate decoration and craftsmanship. The rooms of the Napoleon Museum are equally compelling, albeit in a different way. It is quite something to see Napoleon’s cloak and hat, along with his travel kit and some of the imperial regalia used in his coronations in Paris and Milan.

One of the things you can’t help but notice as you explore the palace are the symbols that its occupants stamped upon the place. King Francis I (1515-1547) used the salamander as his personal emblem, accompanied by the motto Nutrisco et extinguo (I nourish and I extinguish). The symbolism of the salamander, able to walk through flames unharmed and extinguish them, was meant to show the triumph of virtue over the evils of the world.

The salamander is especially evident all the way down the beautifully decorated renaissance marvel that is the Francis I Gallery. Salamanders can be seen on the stucco decoration, carved onto the walnut wainscoting and on the chairs that line the space. From the moment we learnt about it, salamander spotting became quite a feature of our exploration of the palace. You never had to wait too long before encountering another!

A salamander on the Golden Gate

In contrast, Napoleon sought to draw a parallel with the mighty Roman empire and adopted the eagle (for its association with military power) and the bee (for its association with long life and hard work). These symbols can be seen in some of the restored rooms of the Imperial residence and in the museum, though the royals were understandably eager to remove these when they returned to Fontainebleau after the restoration of the monarchy.

Now that we’ve seen Fontainebleau, I think I will have to add the Château Royal de Blois and the Château de Chambord to my wish list for a future adventure (and more salamanders!).

Practicalities

We took a double deck TER train from the Gare de Lyon in the direction of Montargis, using a 1-5 zone Mobilis ticket costing 17.80 euros per person (following everyone else and compositing it using the square looking machines at the end of the platform before boarding). The journey takes about 40 minutes. On arrival at Fontainebleau-Avon station we took the ‘Ligne 1’ bus destined for Les Lilas, getting off at the ‘Château’ stop right outside the gardens. All incredibly easy.

The official English language website advertises a ‘Discover the Palace’ guided tour in English which includes rooms such as the Francis I Gallery, the Ballroom and the Stags Gallery, stating that some of these are otherwise closed to the public. However, on arrival at the Palace the ticket office said that there were no such tours in English – only the audio guide. It was hard to establish what you miss by exploring on your own, other than to say that you can currently see the Francis I Gallery and Ballroom on your own, but not the Stags Gallery.

We had thought that we would participate in one of the French language tours to see the the Impérial Théâtre but the timings turned out to be a bit strange with only two tours offered each day at 16h15 and 17h15. As this would have meant many hours of hanging around after our morning exploring the chateau we decided to pass up on this occasion. Nevertheless, as first time visitors we easily filled three hours with our steady progress through the rooms and would have been slower still had we used the audio guide exhaustively in every room.

The ticket prices are incredibly reasonable at 12 euros for an adult plus 4 euros for an audio guide. The nearest equivalents in the UK would easily be at least double that price.

Gallery

Le weekend

The disruption to the railways that accompanies most bank holiday weekends is usually enough to dissuade us from travelling too far from home, but for some reason we overlooked that a while back and booked a trip to Paris. The plan for our 48 hour stay was simple enough – visit a couple of palaces, take in the Tutankhamun exhibition at La Villette and finally get round to walking along the Promenade Plantée.

Bear with wings outside the Gare du Nord

It is hard to believe that the channel tunnel has been open for 25 years. It is easy to take for granted now, but I remember only too well the time and expense of a trip to Paris in 1993. The awkward combination of a flight to Paris Charles de Gaulle and a coach into the city centre makes quite a contrast to the smoothness of the journey by train from London St Pancras to Gare du Nord.

The journey between cities was as smooth as it could possibly be and before we had time to adjust we were in the French capital, standing under the wings of the ‘Angel Bear’ installed at the time of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in 2015. The presence of this 7 metre tall polar bear, painted in red for danger, is intended to remind us of the fragility of the environment.

Our hotel on this occasion is the slightly eccentric 25 hours hotel opposite the entrance to Gare du Nord which has rooms with some pretty quirk decor, an elaborate system of light switches and balconies overlooking the entrance to the station. It’s a convenient place to stay when much of our itinerary revolves around travel to/from Gare du Nord. I quite like it, but I can see that it wouldn’t be everyone’s cup of tea.

Thoughts about Dunkirk

I made a trip to the IMAX theatre at the Science Museum (an impressive 16.8m tall screen that is the height of four double-decker buses) last week to see Christopher Nolan’s new film about Dunkirk and have been reflecting on it a little since then.

First up, I have to say that watching the 15/70mm film format version on such a gigantic screen places you in the action in a way that I have never experienced at a cinema before. This ‘immersive’ experience is undoubtedly assisted by the absence of back stories and somewhat spartan dialogue which focuses your attention all the more on the individual battle to survive. The story of the evacuation that follows is never less than riveting, from the terror of the opening moments to the beautiful cinematography of the final spitfire sequence. The evocation of the green and pleasant land that the survivors return to in early Summer 1940 is quite wonderfully realised.

The film has picked up criticism from some quarters as an assault on the senses and for various historical inaccuracies, some of which were acknowledged up front as necessary adjustments to help the audience. I think I managed to suspend disbelief for the most part, though I was pulled up rather sharply by the 1970s refurbished carriage interiors that haven’t long disappeared from today’s railways! Overall, I thought it was an astonishing creation and if it gives us a fraction of the sense of what that experience was like then it is massive achievement.

I have very little idea what my grandfathers, Alf and Pete, went through at Dunkirk so anything that helps me get a feel for that I greatly appreciate. I’ve been through the war diaries, regimental histories and a fair few books over the years but I still can’t begin to imagine how traumatised the men were by the time they reached Dunkirk, let alone what they experienced on the beaches and in the water. The little I know makes me wish I had a better understanding of the sacrifices made by my grandparents whilst they were alive.

In reality no film could match up to horrors so great that men could not bring themselves to speak of for the rest of their lives. The same holds true of the 1958 film. My grandfather, Alf, was worried that the 1958 film would show the terrible sights that he had seen and would not let anyone see it until he had been to the cinema to check it out. In the end he was quite relieved that it didn’t come anywhere close.

It’s definitely worth catching at the cinema as it won’t be anywhere near as effective on the small screen. If you can find it at an IMAX screen so much the better.

Dunkirk 75: Pete’s road to Dunkirk

Today marks the 75th anniversary of my grandfather Pete’s return to the UK after the Dunkirk evacuation.

My grandfather, Pete, enlisted with the army at Canterbury on 3rd May 1928 at the age of 18 and was serving with the Royal Artillery when war broke out.

Pete had originally intended to join up with a mate from home (Folkestone) but things didn’t go entirely to plan. His mate was turned away and Pete said “I suppose we’ll go home now” at which point the recruiting officer said “No, you’re in now!” Pete initially signed for 12 years but later re-engaged for 21 years on 16th February 1939.

Pete (second from left)

Initially Pete was appointed as a driver, working as part of a team riding horses to haul the 20 pound guns of the field artillery. However, the process of mechanisation saw Pete move from horses to motorised vehicles in Summer 1939. On 26th September 1939 he was posted to France with the 22nd Field Regiment Royal Artillery.

The regiment marched to Belgium on 9th May 1940 and were soon involved in the battles around the Escaut and areas that are today better remembered as the terrain of the First World War. Orders to withdraw and go in to action at Oost Dunkerque were received on 29th May and the regiment remained until 31st May before a further withdrawal to La Panne and the gradual destruction of the guns.

The war diary records that the regiment took refuge in the sand dunes as dawn broke on 1st June 1940, owing to the continuing danger of dive bombers. In later years Pete made brief reference to the safety of the sand dunes and talked about spending time on the beach, possibly in the company of an RAF man, and wading through the water (even though he couldn’t swim).

Some of the men made it off the beaches in small boats later that morning, between intermittent dive bombing, but the main body of the regiment marched on to Dunkirk and embarked from the pier with the last party going on board at 18:30 hours. Pete’s service record shows that he was home on 1st June 1940.

On their return to England the men were put on a train but Pete didn’t know where he was until he saw Warren Halt (Folkestone Warren). Everyone was throwing cards out and he took a field service card and wrote out a quick message to his father in Folkestone telling him that he was home safe, and threw the card out of the window, hoping that it would be delivered. It was and we still have the card today.

Pete went back to Dunkirk on a coach tour with my grandmother many years later. She recalled that the bloke opposite was telling his wife ‘All the trees were burning [to] ash’. On asking him about this my grandfather replied ‘Of course I saw it’ but that was it – he just didn’t like to talk about it.

Dunkirk 75: Alf’s road to Dunkirk

Today marks the 75th anniversary of my grandfather Alf’s return to the UK after the Dunkirk evacuation.

My grandfather, Alf, enlisted with the army at Canterbury on 12th June 1925 at the age of 19 and was serving with the 2nd Battalion Buffs at Pembroke Dock when war was declared. By this time Alf had already seen service overseas once, having spent three months in Palestine in 1936.

Alf (standing)

The battalion headed by train to Southampton where they embarked on the ‘Maid of Orleans’, setting sail in the early hours of 17th September 1939. After a smooth crossing in a convoy of five ships, escorted by two destroyers, they arrived in Cherbourg later that morning.

Once they had landed in France the battalion made their way south east, rather than towards the Belgian border. Their destination, Blain, was a small town in the Loire-Atlantique department, just half an hour’s drive from Nantes. Amongst my late grandfather’s possessions is a small photograph of a French family of whom we know nothing, but perhaps that was taken here.

At dawn on 10th May 1940 Germany invaded the low countries, moving forward with frightening speed. The 2nd Battalion Buffs had reached Menin in Belgium by 6pm the same day and engaged the enemy in battle at Petegem ten days later. After three days the men were hungry, tired and weak. The order to withdraw was received on the evening of 21st May.

On the way to Dunkirk the men suffered terribly, particularly in the intense bombing of Mont des Cats. By 11am on 29th May 1940 all of the battalion had set out for the beaches of Dunkirk, from where the men were rescued. My grandfather couldn’t swim, but we know that he spent time wading through the water and seeing those incredible photographs of men queuing into the waters makes me wonder what he went through.

Alf’s service records show that he served with the 2nd Battalion Buffs (BEF) until 29th May 1940 and was ‘Home’ on 30th May 1940. I don’t know whether that is an accurate reflection of the date he came back or just a generalized date for the battalion.

It is hard for anyone of my generation to imagine the horrors of war from this distance in time, but they were all too real enough for my grandfather and clearly never forgotten. Alf was worried that the film ‘Dunkirk’ (1958) would show the terrible sights that he had seen and would not let anyone see the film until he had been to the cinema to check it out. In the end he was quite relieved that it didn’t come anywhere close.

Boulogne-sur-Mer

After arriving in Boulogne-sur-Mer last night we took ourselves out for a walk through the old town to find a restaurant, but were somewhat surprised to find most places closed up. In many respects that was fortuitous, as it made us walk a bit further and delivered us to the doorstep of the Brasserie de la Mer Aux Pêcheurs d’Etaples, the restaurant of a fishing co-operative, which unexpectedly served up one of the most enjoyable meals that I have eaten in many years.

Today, we followed that up with a lengthier wander around the ramparts and into the Basilica of Notre Dame de Boulogne, a beautiful building but certainly suffering in places. In the small square outside the Mairie there was a garden display which seemed to be celebrating regional specialities with amusing displays of giant sweets and tins of herrings apparently growing in a small field!

After grabbing some delicious pastries from the nearby boulangerie we drove out of Boulogne to the Colonne de la Grande Armée à Wimille, a column built in honour of Napoleon I and in commemoration of the issue of the first Légion d’honneur at the camp de Boulogne. The museum was unexpectedly closed but we still enjoyed a wander around the outside of the statue and could just about make out a distant view of Folkestone.

Display of regional produce outside the Mairie in Boulogne

The Basilica of Notre-Dame de Boulogne in the early morning light

Monument to egyptologist Auguste Mariette

Who knew that tins of herrings grew in fields!?

The interior of the dome at the Basilica of Notre-Dame de Boulogne

Colonne de la Grande Armée à Wimille

After leaving Wimille behind we took a steady drive through Wimereux and back onto the motorway, making sufficiently good time to take an early Eurotunnel crossing. Although we might only have been gone a few days we seemed to have seen an awful lot in that time so a quiet afternoon back in London was much appreciated!

Agincourt

An inland diversion after leaving St Valery sur Somme took us through Crecy and on to Azincourt (more familiar to us as Agincourt). The Centre Historique Médiéval d’Azincourt in the village provides a thorough, if a little quirky, explanation of the battle. If you make it through all the displays, interactive exhibits and the film you will have covered the battle three times so you are unlikely to forget in a hurry!

For all of that, it did do a good job of explaining a complex battle and provided some nice touches. One example of this was an exhibit that encouraged you to poke your head into the inside of a helmet to see how much of a view this gave you. After being bludgeoned by the final interactive exhibit (which repeated the words Agincourt 1415 repeatedly as if desperately trying to finish the job of ramming the battle history into your brain) we headed back onto the roads.

The website provides a helpful drive to see the battlefield as it stands today. Amusingly the route is marked by a succession of archers and knights on horseback. Finally, the circular route takes you to a viewing platform (it must get a bit of traffic as they have put a ‘zebra crossing’ in the middle of the country side to serve it!). As with the museum you soon realise that the English and French descriptions on the display boards are not exact translations – most noticeable when the French text refers to “un horrible massacre” whilst the English text is glorying in “a tremendous slaughter”!

Roadside archers at Agincourt!

St Valery sur Somme

Our stop in St Valery sur Somme gave us the chance to wander along the quayside up to the medieval old town, taking in the view across the fast moving waters of the bay to Le Crotoy. Although intended as more of a short break from our journey rather than as a destination to linger we found ourselves entirely won over by the charms of the place and spent much longer here than originally planned.

The walk we took was broken up every now and again as we took a moment to read the display boards dotted around – amongst the most informative I’ve seen on my travels. They really make a huge difference to a wander through the town, which is delightful enough as it stands but so much better armed with a little information. The boards highlight the towns connections with various artists, literary giants and historical figures (such as Joan of Arc) as well as the various buildings around the town, including the curious church of St Martin which has two naves.

Abandoned boats

La porte de Nevers

Sinking ship

Le Crotoy (as seen from St-Valery-sur-Somme)

Les Tours Guillaume

Black clouds over St-Valery-sur-Somme

Chemin de Fer de la Baie de Somme

A cross-country drive westwards towards the coast took us first to Noyelles-sur-Mer on the Chemin de Fer de la Baie de Somme, a preserved railway which runs across a beautiful coastal landscape. Today it was only operating between Le Crotoy and St-Valery-sur-Somme – with three trains in each direction over the course of the day.

Steam locomotive no 1 'Aisne' approaches Noyelles-sur-Mer

Steam locomotive no 1 'Aisne' takes on water at Noyelles-sur-Mer

One side of the railway station at Noyelles-sur-Mer faces onto the SNCF mainline whilst the other looks out over the small metal turntable of the preserved railway. We were lucky enough to be able to watch the arrival of veteran steam locomotive no 1 ‘Aisne’ (a 2-6-0T from 1906) from Le Crotoy. At this location the locomotive is turned (a matter of physical exertion – the crew literally push the locomotive round) ready for the run into St Valery sur Somme.

Steam locomotive no 1 'Aisne' is turned at Noyelles-sur-Mer

A steady drive into St-Valery-sur-Somme allowed us to leapfrog the train and watch it cross the Somme canal before making its way up to St-Valery Port where a much larger crowd was awaiting its arrival.

Steam locomotive no 1 'Aisne' crosses the Somme

The passengers today have it much easier than their predecessors a century earlier. The line originally crossed the bay by means of a long wooden trestle bridge which at some stage in its history could no longer support the weight of the train and its passengers. The passengers were required to disembark on one side of the bay and make their way across to the other side, following the train under the bridge, before re-boarding on the other side. The walk was apparently usually more of a wade, leaving the passengers with wet feet! I’m glad that isn’t a feature of my commute, even if sometimes it might appear that I have been wading through the Thames after a particularly wet British Summer’s day…

Steam locomotive no 1 'Aisne' at St Valery Port

At St-Valery Port there is a small electric turntable which spares the crew from the need to manhandle the locomotive so soon after Noyelles. Once again we watched the locomotive being turned before continuing to walk along the canal towards the sea. As we strode away the steam locomotive departed for Le Crotoy.

Our stop at the Baie de Somme was not really intended as a photographic expedition, so I only grabbed a few shots in the obvious places. However, having seen the beautiful landscape that the train crosses I am sure I will come back some day to explore the line in its entirety.

24 hours in Amiens

Our itinerary allowed us a full day in Amiens, as a break from our cross-country expeditions, and it served up a wonderful mixture of attractions to us – including a walk around the canal district of Saint-Leu, a visit to the Maison Jules Verne, a walk around Amiens ‘in the footsteps of Jules Verne’, a visit to Amiens Cathedral and a boat trip to see the hortillonages (floating gardens).

Amiens Cathedral

Lion in Amiens Cathedral

The hortillonages cover 300 hectares criss-crossed by 65km of small canals, which you can experience on a 45 minute tour by boat. It was a suitably relaxing way to start the afternoon with some charming views – you just had to remember to duck every now and again as a low hanging branch or two came into view!

The hortillonages and the Perret Tower

The towers of Amiens Cathedral were open between 3pm and 4.30pm on the day of our visit so we returned to the cathedral to take in the view from the top. You ascend one tower, cross the west facade in front of the rose window and then ascend the taller tower for a view across the city. It’s not for the faint hearted but it was well worth the view.

Spire of Amiens Cathedral

Amiens Cathedral is one of the largest gothic cathedrals of the 13th century and impresses in every way – both inside and outside. In recent years restorers discovered that the western facade of the cathedral was originally painted rather than plain, as we see it today. This spectacular sight is cleverly brought back to life each night between June and September by projecting colours onto the facade. The times vary according to the month but tonight it began at 10pm and even knowing what I was about to see, it was still quite amazing to watch the transformation.

Figures in daylight

Figures illuminated

A landscape of cemeteries

Anyone who has driven through the countryside of northern France or Belgium will recognise the dark green road signs that indicate a Commonwealth War Grave Cemetery is approaching. The sight of the beautifully maintained roadside cemeteries, large and small, soon becomes a familiar part of the landscape. Our drive from Ypres to Amiens presented many such moments of recognition.

Ypres at sunrise

Our drive took us out of Ypres, south to Messines Ridge British Cemetery, and then on to the Indian War Memorial at Neuve Chapelle. The memorial is located at a busy roundabout where the D947 crossses the D171 and it is rather remarkable that the moment you walk through the gate this world slips away. The beautiful space inside exudes calm and peace.

The Indian War Memorial at Neuve Chapelle

Detail from the Indian War Memorial

Our third stop was Arras, where we re-visited the Arras Memorial, having once again discovered that a distant member of the family was listed on the panels here. It seemed like a bad day to be crossing Arras as half the town seemed to be dug up for roadworks and it was the day of a marathon so many roads were closed or reduced to single lanes. Nevertheless, we eventually made it through to the memorial where we paid our respects to Frederick Henry Kent.

Exterior of the Arras Memorial

Interior of the Arras Memorial

The next stop was one of the smaller cemeteries, Grove Town Cemetery at Méaulte. After a number of frustrating drives in the past trying to locate small cemeteries we had taken the precaution of doing our homework this time and came armed with printouts showing the location of the cemetery on satellite images of the area. This proved very necessary as many of the printed and online maps that we consulted showed roads that seem no longer to exist following the construction and subsequent extension of Albert-Picardie Airport.

Grove Town was the name given to a casualty clearing station at Méaulte which dealt with the casualties from the Somme battlefields from September 1916 to April 1917. After the war the cemetery must have resumed a more peaceful aspect at the end of a dirt track amongst the fields, but these days it is just a short walk away from the perimeter fence of the airport (which apparently sees regular use in the transportation of aircraft parts from the nearby Airbus factory). Nevertheless, at the time of our visit all was quiet.

A quick check of the cemetery plan showed us where to find Thomas William Bailey and we paid our respects. I wonder what he would think, as a worker in the GWR factory at Swindon, of the modern day engineering taking place at the nearby Airbus factory and flying out above him.

Grove Town Cemetery from the roadside

Cross and graves at Grove Town Cemetery

Grove Town Cemetery

The penultimate stop on our journey was Delville Wood, Longueval, where my grandfather’s cousin, Cecil Henry Bushell, died on 3rd September 1916 just eight days short of his 18th birthday. The wood today is the location of the South African War Memorial and its tranquilty is as far removed from the horrors of the past as you can imagine.

Cecil Henry Bushell (1898-1916)

Our final stop of the day was the Australian War Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux, near Amiens. The memorial commemorates all Australian soldiers who fought in France and Belgium, with the panels listing those who died at the Somme, Arras and in the battles of 1918.

The Australian War Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux

Th steps up to the The Australian War Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux

A late spring break

A plan to go away with the family for a long weekend in April 2010 went somewhat awry due to family illness, so much so that we only managed to re-schedule it at the third attempt beginning with a channel crossing today. In that sense, this trip is a very very late spring break…

The plan for the trip was simple enough – to start at Calais and then take a circular route via Ypres, Amiens, the Baie de Somme and Boulogne before returning to Calais for the crossing back to England. We briefly thought it might all go wrong at the last minute with talk of industrial action at Eurotunnel but luckily everything seemed to be operating normally for our early morning crossing. Soon enough we were heading off the Autoroute des Anglais on our way to La Coupole, a facility intended to store and launch V2 rockets. Our previous travels to France have often taken us past signs for this place, but we have never contemplated a visit until now.

La Coupole

My initial reaction to the complex at La Coupole was one of astonishment at the immense scale of the unfinished complex, it impresses (if that is the right word) in a rather brutal way, from the long cold corridors to the massive concrete dome. At the same time you can’t help but be acutely conscious of the price paid by many to build the place. Today the site houses a museum about the German rocket programme and the occupation of Northern France in 1940-1944. It makes for quite an intense visit of two and a half hours, by which time you are likely to be reeling with information overload. As is often the way with such visits I learnt much that I didn’t know before, particularly aspects of the occupation such as the honouring of the graves of allied airmen as an act of defiance.

L'ascenseur à bateaux des Fontinettes

Our next stop, a short drive away, was the town of Arques where we visited L’Ascenseur des Fontinettes, a remarkable boat lift built in 1888 to transfer boats from the river Aa to the Neuffossée canal. It is a very peaceful place today so it is hard to imagine the busy waterway that necessitated this development (the M25 of its day by all accounts with barges queuing up to a week to traverse the staircase of five locks that existed previously). The boat lift was closed in 1967 and replaced by a new lock. Today the boat lift remains as a static museum. It doesn’t take long to wander round but it is rather delightful. You can also take a short walk to the new lock.

The giant 'new' lock at Fontinettes

The Chemin de Fer Touristique de la Vallée de l’Aa terminates at a station just above the lock, operating the strangely styled Picasso X3853 diesel railcars. We didn’t have the time to take a ride but marvelled at the design of the railcar, which curiously places the driver in a bubble atop the railcar. I’ve never seen anything quite like it!

Picasso railcar at Arques

Picasso railcar at Arques (les Fontinettes)

The drive from Arques to Ypres was interesting, with the local gendarmerie turning us round at one point due to a local half-marathon that had prompted the closure of the road through Cassel. Nevertheless, we made it to our destination without too much difficulty.