Author Archives: Tom and Julie

We said our goodbyes to Claire, Marc and their lovely dog Jaeger and headed for the Sucrerie Cemetery. What kind people and such comfortable lodgings. The Sucrerie contains the remains of 221 British and 163 Canadian men who fell during trench warfare following the capture of the Vimy Ridge by Canadian forces in April 1917. […]

An attempt to call a taxi to get back to the centre of Bruay to start the day’s walk completely failed. Apparently taxis don’t operate in Bruay on Sundays, and neither does anything else. There was even little sign of church activity. Strange place, Bruay. The hotel manager took pity on us and offered to […]

Our overnight lodgings at Amettes were warm and comfortable. Our hosts Collette and Jean Batiste were most kind and helpful. Collette’s parents used to run a dairy herd here, but when they took over they diversified. Amongst other things they bred rabbits for the table. Julie’s mother also tried rabbits on their farm in Devon, […]

Well, it wasn’t really Delettes, but Upen d’Aval which is several kilometres north of Delettes, but we only realised this once we’d got to Delettes and had to tramp back up the hill into the face of a wet and bitterly cold northeaster. Nevertheless our chambre d’hote was very comfortable and our hosts most welcoming. […]

Today was one of four seasons in one. We woke to a cold northerly wind and snow showers. What a contrast with the July like weather we’d been experiencing since Canterbury. All good things must, of course, come to an end, but there’ll always be something around the corner. Matt from Brussels who was to […]

The Hotellerie Saint Charles, a former hunting lodge in the grounds of the Abbaye de Notre Dame on top of the hill, is perfect for our planned rest day (we promised ourselves no more than five days marching without a day’s rest). Its faded grandeur belies its level of comfort, with large rooms and tall […]

Having been forecast for rain most of the day, we awoke to a cloudy morning, distinctly cooler, but thankfully no rain as yet. We scurried around the village trying to find the Tabac with the church pilgrim stamp, but had to make do with the Cafe de la Maisie’s own. However, whilst scurrying we were […]

Having diverted by taxi to Ardres for our overnight billet, the first task of the day was to find a taxi for the return to Licques. This was where our kind hotelier stepped in and called no less than five taxi companies before finding one that was available. Most of the taxi companies seemed to […]

Again the day started foggy, but this time it was really quite thick and took most of the morning to clear. Even then it was only partial with occasional glimpses of sunshine. As we left Guines it was sad to see so many fields which had been treated with Glyphosate (Roundup) and were consequently without […]

Our overnight lodging was a typical old fashioned French family-run establishment, of the type where you’d expect to find a bidet in your room. Actually we didn’t, but there was one of those squat little baths which demands olympic gymnastic flexibility to get in and out of. Fortunately it had a shower over, which made […]