Finally making some miles. So many military cemeteries and monuments.
View from our dorm room.This was such a strange place. We had to go down to the basement for the restaurant…there were 4 prepared meals for dinner and then again for breakfast in the morning. Meaning only 4 people stayed here. Supper was very good…big chunks of beef in gravy with potato rosettes, lots of cheeses…not what we were expecting.We never did meet the mysterious 4th person but we had happy conversation and supper and breakfast with Pilgrim Pippa from New Zealand. She had started walking from Canterbury but took the train from Calais to Arras as there were no accommodations. And she hadn’t met any other walkers. The VF, especially in France, is not like the Camino where 350000 people a year walk it. I would be surprised if more than 100 people start out from Canterbury, most seem to start from Great St Bernard pass or a little further down in Italy, which is much better set up for pilgrims. We hope PIppa decides to continue her journey!I could have stayed here for hours, surrounded by colour and floral scents.The site was used by the medical units. Graves to right were all from May 1917. Those on the left all died between September 12, 1918 and early October 1918. Average age…22?Thank you, Albert Alexander.Germans are buried here as well; it is unusual for them to be in a Commonwealth cemetery…but I suppose they were being treated at the hospital. I feel for all of the mommas.Small roadside chapel on the VF. I am only concentrating on the “look how far we’ve come” aspects and not at how far is left to go. There is a registry book so you can see the pilgrims who have passed before you.A random fruit and vegetable vending machine. The cherries looked so good but no way to carry them. I am fairly certain the pineapple wasn’t local though 🍍A pizza vending machine! Who woulda thunk? It was pretty good…several choices…ours was creme freche, onions, potatoes and loads of cheese…and no yucky tomato sauce for Ken. And ready in 3 minutes!Lunchtime.1870 to 1871…commemorating the Prussian war.Met another pilgrim! Josie from England, walking solo. We won’t mention that she walked the 26 km to Bapaume in the same time we rode it! But she said she went head down just walking, and of course left waaaaaaaay earlier than us! Please ignore the fact that Ken is drinking a beer in the street.Remember the Somme from history classes?Newfoundland was not part of Canada during the world wars and so their gravestones show a caribou instead of the maple leaf.French cemetery. 8500 soldiers buried and 3400 in ossuaries. The numbers are staggering…a generation decimated.Ken looking pretty smug at making it up this huge hill.Valley??? You lie!Ken was not looking so smug after this one!Enough photos! Where is the hotel, woman?!Ken discovers a new cooler blanket. Even with the heat wave every single place has had heavy comforters with no sheets.
Song of the day…this is a song from the 1960s that laments the lost generation of young English men after the great War but could apply to all the countries. Dancing at Whitson by Tim Hart and Maddy Prior.
TerryandKenViaFrancigena2022 
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