WORLD WAR I BATTLEFIELDS and MEMORIALS

Dieppe - unfortunately the War Museum was closed on Mondays!
Amiens - had a great look around this beautiful city.

Still having troubles with the truck. The right hand axle came loose again today. May have to try it without a gasket to try and clamp it up tight.

Mick and Graham also did a starter in their jeep. This one sheered a bendix bolt. Hitting the starter while it's in gear doesn't help especially with a 12 v battery and a 6 v starter, as can happen to anyone. Mick borrowed a spare starter from Tony Comber.

Wednesday 10th June 2009

WESTERN FRONT MEMORIALS

The past couple of days have been sunny, but showery and windy, not the best for sight seeing, but not too cold.

Travelling from grave site to grave site is a sobering experience but one you should undertake in your life time if you can. Of course the Western Front is where my Grandfather Frederick William Perkins was awarded his "Military Medal" so I keep this in mind as we drive along.

Starting at the Australian War Memorial at Le Hamel, then on to Villers Brettoneux and then stopping at the underground tunnels of the Somme War Museum at Albert. Next was the memorial at Pozzieres and the Windmill.

We raced on to Ypres to hear the playing of the Last Post at the Menin Gate, arriving at 4.30 for 5.00 pm, but it turned out to the 8.00 pm; entering the very busy motorway at Bapaume and exiting it at the Belgium border to find Ypres. Lieutenant Feney explained that there were 100 soldiers from the Yorkshire Regiment attending the service. The buglars were joined by 3 young army cadets from Cornwall aged, 13, 14 and 15. This daily service has been held since 1928, only stopping for the war years. The Menin Gate Memorial honours 58,000 soldiers for whom there are "no graves, no bodies" from WW1, and is treated with absolute dignity.

I drove most of the day today, you know why, Dale reckons they've gone square now.

LOCKED OUT OF THE CAMPING GROUND!

Another muck up with the GPS (Dave), due this time to the confusion over which country we were in, led to our arrival at the Le Mont Noir camp site at 10.30 pm. The farewell party was nearly over. Sam Cutejar won the crazy hat competion with his "halo" which he'd fashioned from a coat hanger. We thought his wife Lorraine should've won it, as "Mrs Bucket" in her WW2 canvas water bucket. Mick and Graham's matching peasant's hats appeared to be the Romanian equivalent to our Akubra. Fiona Hedges was also a close contender in her Greek Fez. The difficult job of judging was given to Rick Cove.

Thursday 11th June 2009

LOADING THE CONTAINER IN ANTWERP

Today was the first day of the trip that I woke early at 5.00 am. We were outside the camping park due to our getting lost and getting back after "lock out" the night before. Perched on the side of the road and on a steep hill, I was worried we were going to 'take off' down the hill.

So we left at 7.45 am and made a bee line for Antwerp on the busy A17 making only one orientation error and luckily being directed straight back by the GPS (Dave). The foggy conditions lifted to cold driving winds. It was through blinding rain in extremely heavy traffic of mostly semi-trailers that we drove around the Antwerp ring road to the St Job In't Goor camp site. This was the first time we'd seen arrow markers in the truck lane with road signs instructing trucks how many arrows were needed between them to allow a safe driving distance at varying speeds.

JEAN BAPTISTE MALFAISON

After breaking the back of the cleaning of the truck at a car wash, we commuted by bus and then by tram into Antwerp to the City Hall to look up Dale's birth father in the register. Nothing was conclusive, but it looks as if his full name was Jean Baptiste Florimond Malfaison, born on 25th May 1921 in Bressoux. In 1948 he married Delphina Spenders and died in 1983. If we apply for his birth certificate in Liege and find that his father's name was Georges Marie Malfaison then we would be certain and could seek out either Delphina or see if they had any children.

The thought of having to ship out the next day with wet tarps was depressing; we were assured that the next day would be fine for loading. Just as we were thinking how lucky we were to have everything dry, suddenly, without warning we had a hail storm followed by a massive rain storm with deafening thunder. Fortunately the next day was glorious sunshine, perfect for drying and sorting everything out.

Friday 12th June 2009

STUDEBAKER SALE

Shipping out had been arranged for eight of us by Hans Sprangers and we started rolling up for final jet washing and loading in at a nearby holding yard at 8.30 am. Sam and Lorraine Cutejar chose the same depot to hand over their Studebaker. Hans and Marcel De Vrij were two extremely happy men with their purchase for 12,000 euro of such an original rare beast. We didn't see another at Normandy. It was a magic moment for Marcel as he drove away.

JOURNEY'S END

Then the first group was ready for departure. They all set off together dragging their possessions behind them as they walked to the bus stop to go to Antwerp and then on to Brussells. Someone reckoned they looked like a gaggle of geese going along! Lorraine Cutejar said, "I feel homeless, for the first time in my life, I feel like a homeless person!"

The Kiwis completed loading their container and were picked up by Jim and Sandy Sewell to return to the campsite.

Dale and I unceremoniously set off for the one km trudge to the bus stop. Within one hour we had boarded a second train to Brussels, before boarding the Euro Star for the "two hour" journey to London to stay with Dale's sister Lynne in Stowmarket.

The consensus seemed to be that we were all "over it" by the past few days. The return to colder clime and the on and off again rain hadn't helped and we were all looking forward to going home for a few creature comforts.