Another sunny and warm morning. Had breakfast and then took a walk along the river. Plenty of people were taking the opportunity of the fine weather to run, cycle or walk the path.
Spent some time taking care of the services provided at this aire de camping. French do this well, actually providing the necessities for motorhomers and this providing visitors to their village. There were seven vans here last night- all would have spent money in the village - multiply the 7 by 150 ( number of days over the spring/summer) then you start to get significant numbers here that may not have been here otherwise. And it is a delightful setting.
We called in to Bethume to buy some more supplies before driving in to Pozieres.
Pozieres is the name of the village we all grew up hearing about. It was said by the WWI war historian, Charles Bean, that "the Pozieres ridge is more deadly sown with Australian sacrifice than any other place on earth." Interestingly, because the Aussie soldiers could see the "the lack of thought" given to this battle by the High Command, they went against the appeal by their own commander,General Birdwood, and voted against the conscription referendum being held back in Australia.
An interesting visit, with contrasting picture we see today as to how it would look in 1916.
We left Pozieres just as an almighty thunderstorm hit the area. The wipers struggled to keep the water off the windscreen. Some of the lower points in the road struggled to cope with the heavy downpour - flooding parts of the busy highway to Amiens.
Rain ...
The rain had cleared by the time we reached Amiens where we parked up to spend the rest of the afternoon and evening.
Early evening we took a walk around the town, along the Somme River and to the eateries along the promenade. Lots of people enjoying the Summer evening.
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