Blockhaus d'Eperlecques & Other WW2 Sites in Northern France

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Wegby

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Afternoon all

Each year I normally organise a day trip to France for a few bikermates who live near me, where we tend to visit a WW2 site in the Pas de Calais area, then head down to Le Touquet for a bite to eat before the ride back to the Eurotunnel terminal. While many of the well-travelled will already be aware of many, or all of our recent destinations, I thought I'd share some of these, which I found were a worthwhile use of a couple of hours and would recommend to call in at if any of you happen to be in the area.

This year we went to the Blockhaus d'Eperlecques (just off the D207 or D300), which was a V1 / V2 launch site, and in previous years, we've also been to:

Museum of the Atlantic Wall (Audinghen off the D940)
Fortress de Mimoyecques (V3 launch site nr. Landrethun le Nord off the D249)
La Coupole (another V2 launch site off the D210 near St Omer)
Musee 39-45 (in Ambleteuse off the D940)
Azingcourt (ok, this pre-dates WW2 by a bit, but it's off the D928 just north of Hesdin)

Attached are a few shots from Saturday's trip at the Blockhaus.

Anyone got any suggestions for any other WW2 sites in the region that could become the focus of next year's trip?
 

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Dunkirk graveyard

A bit further westwards, Chinese WW1 graveyard

A bit further southwards, the WW1 museum at Peronne

The other mass of WW1 stuff, too numerous to list
 
La coupole is another site ww2 high Tec museum was going to stop last Friday on way back but weather took a turn so rode on through. What is it with me and photos being wonky.
 

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Great stuff, if I was closer to the tunnel I would do lots of little day trips, but at 300+ miles to Folkestone and back I have to make it a longer weekend which means time of work (Self employed = no pay) and at least 3 nights Hotel bills, but might try and bundle a load of these into a longer weekend at some point.

La Coupole is very good, and I like the WW1 stuff around Somme and Verdun battlegrounds, really must visit Dunkirk, although my grandad found it most horrible when he was there in 1940, but I ought to go to pay my respects to the friends he must of lost (He was one of the first out in the expeditionary force and later rescued from Dunkirk before being bombed every night for the next 5 years on Malta)
 
Also found the blockhaus fascinating, and equally impressive/scary/intimidating:eek: For anyone visiting there is a great campsite down the road (with pool and bar) in the grounds of an old manor house...
https://www.chateau-gandspette.com/campsite-france-pas-de-calais.html

Was going to recommend la coupole but see you were there already.. have you visited any of the Maginot line fortifications?
 
Thanks Wapping; there's a couple of decent routes down to Peronne, so I'll add that to the list as a few of the guys are also interested in the WWI sites. Dunkirk is also one I'd like to go to.

Dubster - The Maginot Line; haven't been there yet, but that's definitely one I'll be going to, so thanks for the suggestion. Have you been to any of them?

I also visited the Museum of the Atlantic wall by Ostend earlier in the year; that's worth a look too, and on our side of the Channel, I'll probably be having a little ride out to these places too, that I've not been to before:

http://www.kbobm.org (near Folkestone - although it's a little unfortunate that they don't allow any photographs)
https://www.tangmere-museum.org.uk

If / when I'm heading to Folkestone or Tangmere, I'll update this post in case anyone's interested in joining us.
 
When you go to Peronne you can maybe take in the WW1 South African memorial at Delville Wood and the 'Football Battalion' memorial close by, both not far away.

https://www.ntfc.co.uk/news/2018/march/tull100_day2/

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/f...ttalions-remembered-on-Somme-battlefield.html

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/43504448

As you say, there are several ways to Peronne from Calais. On this file, you’ll find one I used to come back from the Ardennes, via St Quentin and Peronne.



In the NE corner of France, you will run out of WW2 things to see fairly quickly but you’ll be awash with WW1 stuff, right down to the Swiss border. You could though visit the large Canadian WW2 cemetery, from memory as you approach Cambrai after leaving the motorway at J8.
 
[QUOTE
Dubster - The Maginot Line; haven't been there yet, but that's definitely one I'll be going to, so thanks for the suggestion. Have you been to any of them?

.[/QUOTE]

Try the Ouvrage du Hackenberg https://www.maginot-hackenberg.com/index.php?page=home&lang=en


Fascinating but you have to join the regular tours; you can't just wander around as you get transported on the underground train as part of the tour.
 
Dubster - The Maginot Line; haven't been there yet, but that's definitely one I'll be going to, so thanks for the suggestion. Have you been to any of them?

Yes but afraid I can't remember the name of the particular fort - it may have been Hackenberg as suggested above by Istanbulian - quite a few are open if you follow 'the line'. I was lucky enough to be given an improvised tour of one complex by a resident volunteer in exchange for a beer and a donation :thumb2
 
The big question for me is: how do you pronounce Eperlecques. There's a few places places in Northern France that end "....ecques". Is it ESK or ECK?
 
As Churchill said, “It’s an Englishman’s right to pronounce foreign words much as he pleases”
 
The big question for me is: how do you pronounce Eperlecques. There's a few places places in Northern France that end "....ecques". Is it ESK or ECK?

EperLECK.

There's fuckoff big signs for the blockhouse on the N road from Calais to St. Omer.
It's quite a long way off the main road, through some villages into the forest, but signed all the way.
 
The big question for me is: how do you pronounce Eperlecques. There's a few places places in Northern France that end "....ecques". Is it ESK or ECK?

The answer is out there:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/royiQl0dsRY" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

But Churchill was still right.
 
Afternoon all

Each year I normally organise a day trip to France for a few bikermates who live near me, where we tend to visit a WW2 site in the Pas de Calais area, then head down to Le Touquet for a bite to eat before the ride back to the Eurotunnel terminal. While many of the well-travelled will already be aware of many, or all of our recent destinations, I thought I'd share some of these, which I found were a worthwhile use of a couple of hours and would recommend to call in at if any of you happen to be in the area.

This year we went to the Blockhaus d'Eperlecques (just off the D207 or D300), which was a V1 / V2 launch site, and in previous years, we've also been to:

Museum of the Atlantic Wall (Audinghen off the D940)
Fortress de Mimoyecques (V3 launch site nr. Landrethun le Nord off the D249)
La Coupole (another V2 launch site off the D210 near St Omer)
Musee 39-45 (in Ambleteuse off the D940)
Azingcourt (ok, this pre-dates WW2 by a bit, but it's off the D928 just north of Hesdin)

Attached are a few shots from Saturday's trip at the Blockhaus.

Anyone got any suggestions for any other WW2 sites in the region that could become the focus of next year's trip?

Nice. Thank you for ideas for next year. I have visited the Blockhaus twice, once a sunny day and enjoyed it. The second time it was cold and pissing down and it completely changed the visit. It was much more intimidating and the change in atmospherics meant we actually enjoyed that more!
 
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