M’off…… Pas de Calais

[Wapping]

Whilst many here claim that it’s crap, I quite like riding around in the top north east corner of France, not least as it’s not the A406 North Circular.

I have a free weekend, so I might as well make use of being decently close to the Chunnel and some (hopefully) reasonable weather.

Friday

32 miles plus 70 odd here in the UK between home and the Chunnel.

A mid-sfternoon train and then to St Omer, via a non-motorway route, staying in the Ibis Budget for three nights. The town is convenient, as is the basic hotel.

Saturday

190 miles in a figure-of-eight, taking in some sometimes pretty small roads.

Sunday

115 miles

Out to Dunkirk, to see the memorial and cemetery. Then to Calais, to see the massive structures that once housed a railway gun. From there, to Cap Gris Nez, for a snack. After that, to the V3 ‘super gun’ site.

Monday

30 miles and the 70 back to London

Home, via a mid-morning train, hoping on the motorway from St Omer to the Chunnel

=============

Pictures and whatever to follow, as and when.

 

[Doc]

Sounds good Richard.
Have a good un.

 

[Monsieur]

A very nice part of France!

 

[crumbles]

You ppl up that way have it good.
Down in Deben tiz a longway up there...
Too get across...

 

[Wapping]

You ppl up that way have it good.
Down in Deben tiz a longway up there...
Too get across...

You are much closer to a very fine cream tea though.

 

[FERRET]

Ime in and around Arras for the next 3 days, doing g a bit of military history research, just arrived today from Ypres, stopping in campervan but am riding around on a vespa 300gts. Might bump into you, enjoy.

 

[SBD]

Railway gun and V3 sites are excellent. Enjoy.

 

[Wapping]

A very nice part of France!

Indeed, so.

Avoid the heavily congested area around Lille / Tournai and accept that the whole area from Calais to say, Brugge is predominantly flat. But then pick out the small farm roads, often not much wider than a car. Yup, they’ll probably be concrete and possibly bumpy (but much less so than the cobbles to Roubaix) but very different to the A1 and, different again, to hooning in the Alps or moaning about tourists in motorhomes ruining Scotland.

I have all day on Saturday to do the nearly 200 miles, which I’ll start early for. I’ll be in no great rush, so will be able to stop and see what’s what as I go along. Sunday is near enough half the distance, but then I’m going to see specific things along the way, which will each take time. I have even put in a stretch of motorway between Dunkirk and Calais, thereby breaking bikermates’ cardinal rule #1. Hey ho, it’s my day, not theirs….. and the motorway’s toll free, so I won’t be ripped-off, mate (cardinal rule #7).

 

[Wapping]

Railway gun and V3 sites are excellent. Enjoy.

Thank you.

 

[Doc]

Which bike Richard ?

 

[Wapping]

Whilst the beaches of Normandy and the wooded hills of the Ardennes, hold an understandable draw for ‘doing war stuff’, Dunkirk and its miracle, are all but ignored. Lots have sat in Cassel for a coffee, without realising that the very small town (perched on a strategically important hill) was the scene of a bloody and very brave rearguard action, fought by British troops, to block the German advance towards the coast and Dunkirk. I’ll be back in Cassel for a coffee and a bun on Sunday morning.

This piece (lots of us will have been through the places it mentions) is perhaps interesting:

Cassel 27th May 1940 – 140th (5th London) Army Field Regiment, Royal Artillery

140th-field-regiment-ra-1940.co.uk

The breakout from Cassel:

The Breakout from Cassel – 140th (5th London) Army Field Regiment, Royal Artillery

140th-field-regiment-ra-1940.co.uk

All of those named in the stories and reports will now of course be dead.

 

[Wapping]

Which bike Richard ?

My 1600 needs an MOT and is currently SORN, so it’ll the mighty Himalayan. I really don’t mind taking the 1600 down small roads; its sheer weight often makes the rough surfaces irrelevant.

 

[FERRET]

Which bike Richard ?

Whilst the beaches of Normandy and the wooded hills of the Ardennes, hold an understandable draw for ‘doing war stuff’, Dunkirk and its miracle, are all but ignored. Lots have sat in Cassel for a coffee, without realising that the very small town (perched on a strategically important hill) was the scene of a bloody and very brave rearguard action, fought by British troops, to block the German advance towards the coast and Dunkirk. I’ll be back in Cassel for a coffee and a bun on Sunday morning.

This piece (lots of us will have been through the places it mentions) is perhaps interesting:

Cassel 27th May 1940 – 140th (5th London) Army Field Regiment, Royal Artillery

140th-field-regiment-ra-1940.co.uk

The breakout from Cassel:

The Breakout from Cassel – 140th (5th London) Army Field Regiment, Royal Artillery

140th-field-regiment-ra-1940.co.uk

All of those named in the stories and reports will now of course be dead.

I visited a grave of a soldier killed at the battle of cassell on Tuesday, he is named on my village war memorial, there are 17 names on the war memorial, I am visiting the graves and memorials to 15 of them this week, the last two are in Malta and Greece so a couple more holidays to go yet.

 

[Monsieur]

Ime in and around Arras for the next 3 days, doing g a bit of military history research, just arrived today from Ypres, stopping in campervan but am riding around on a vespa 300gts. Might bump into you, enjoy.

Spent a few days in Arras last month, lovely town and so much military history to see

 

[Wapping]

I visited a grave of a soldier killed at the battle of cassell on Tuesday, he is named on my village war memorial, there are 17 names on the war memorial, I am visiting the graves and memorials to 15 of them this week, the last two are in Malta and Greece so a couple more holidays to go yet.

That’s an interesting way to travel about and see things.

In 2018, the Lloyd’s Motor Club did a similar thing, finding the graves (or where there is no known grave, the name on the walls of ‘missing’ soldiers) of all those who worked in Lloyd’s. We found them all and photographed them. Some were buried overseas, including one in Iraq. Via the Lloyd’s agents, it was arranged for the local War Graves people to visit the grave sites and, if possible, photograph them. The gentleman in Iraq, who (through the thick and thin of war and God knows what else) tends the graves there, did exactly what he was asked to do. Lloyd’s Motor Club made a special donation to him.

The photographs and, where possible, a potted history of the person, Lloyd’s Motor Club had published into quite a nice book. Interestingly, Lloyd’s of London was itself very uninterested in the effort made, not least as it was deep into its much more ‘useful’ Diversity and Inclusion project. Make what you will of that. Hey-ho, the modern world!



PS If I remember correctly, the person who kicked off the Lloyd’s Motor Club initiative (himself an amateur historian) discovered that:

A. Lloyd’s of London has no archivist. If true, that alone is a crime, given that Lloyd’s has been linked with just about every social, political and economic event, since its first coming into existence.

B. Had all but dumped the book recording the names of the fallen into a dusty locker in the basement. It would have been lost forever. It was found by the amateur historian after a search and then only because a Lloyd’s employee (known as, a ‘waiter’) remembered it. The waiter was about to retire and there are now none as such. Progress? I think not.

 

[ChasMill]

That’s an interesting way to travel about and see things.

In 2018, the Lloyd’s Motor Club did a similar thing, finding the graves (or where there is no known grave, the name on the walls of ‘missing’ soldiers) of all those who worked in Lloyd’s. We found them all and photographed them. Some were buried overseas, including one in Iraq. Via the Lloyd’s agents, it was arranged for the local War Graves people to visit the grave sites and, if possible, photograph them. The gentleman in Iraq, who (through the thick and thin of war and God knows what else) tends the graves there, did exactly what he was asked to do. Lloyd’s Motor Club made a special donation to him.

The photographs and, where possible, a potted history of the person, Lloyd’s Motor Club had published into quite a nice book. Interestingly, Lloyd’s of London was itself very uninterested in the effort made, not least as it was deep into its much more ‘useful’ Diversity and Inclusion project. Make what you will of that. Hey-ho, the modern world!

View attachment 428085

PS If I remember correctly, the person who kicked off the Lloyd’s Motor Club initiative (himself an amateur historian) discovered that:

A. Lloyd’s of London has no archivist. If true, that alone is a crime, given that Lloyd’s has been linked with just about every social, political and economic event, since its first coming into existence.

B. Had all but dumped the book recording the names of the fallen into a dusty locker in the basement. It would have been lost forever. It was found by the amateur historian after a search and then only because a Lloyd’s employee (known as, a ‘waiter’) remembered it. The waiter was about to retire and there are now none as such. Progress? I think not.

A big regret of mine is not attending that tour. The photos of LMC attending the Menin Gate ceremony and laying a wreath are particularly impressive.
Lloyd’s ties itself in knots around DEI - Employee A (a mate of mine) was recently exonerated of all charges after appeal, his employers having been fined £1.2m by Lloyd’s for his alleged (now proven to be false) “crimes”. He was sacked. His female accuser is still employed, her name has not been dragged through the mire for being a liar. Lloyd’s has not (as far as I know), repaid the fine to the Syndicate, having spent the cash on portraits of the first black broker and the first transgender member of the market but not the first woman allowed in to the market. Equality eh?

 

[FERRET]

That’s an interesting way to travel about and see things.

In 2018, the Lloyd’s Motor Club did a similar thing, finding the graves (or where there is no known grave, the name on the walls of ‘missing’ soldiers) of all those who worked in Lloyd’s. We found them all and photographed them. Some were buried overseas, including one in Iraq. Via the Lloyd’s agents, it was arranged for the local War Graves people to visit the grave sites and, if possible, photograph them. The gentleman in Iraq, who (through the thick and thin of war and God knows what else) tends the graves there, did exactly what he was asked to do. Lloyd’s Motor Club made a special donation to him.

The photographs and, where possible, a potted history of the person, Lloyd’s Motor Club had published into quite a nice book. Interestingly, Lloyd’s of London was itself very uninterested in the effort made, not least as it was deep into its much more ‘useful’ Diversity and Inclusion project. Make what you will of that. Hey-ho, the modern world!

View attachment 428085

PS If I remember correctly, the person who kicked off the Lloyd’s Motor Club initiative (himself an amateur historian) discovered that:

A. Lloyd’s of London has no archivist. If true, that alone is a crime, given that Lloyd’s has been linked with just about every social, political and economic event, since its first coming into existence.

B. Had all but dumped the book recording the names of the fallen into a dusty locker in the basement. It would have been lost forever. It was found by the amateur historian after a search and then only because a Lloyd’s employee (known as, a ‘waiter’) remembered it. The waiter was about to retire and there are now none as such. Progress? I think not.

Fantastic, I intend to do a booklet and place it in the village church, with photos and a brief history of each man named.

 

[Wapping]

Fantastic, I intend to do a booklet and place it in the village church, with photos and a brief history of each man named.

That is a splendid idea.

 

[Mzokk]

Have a great trip Richard I've often thought of taking the bike to that area of Northern France. My Grandfathers both lost brothers in WW1 (One on 1/07/1916 at Thiepval and One on the15/08/1918 at Arras). But its easier to fly to Beauvais and hire a car and stay in Amiens or Albert

 

[Wapping]

Have a great trip Richard…….. it’s easier to fly to Beauvais and hire a car

Thank you.

I can well imagine that it is, from your neck of the woods. There is a lot to be said for fly-drive.