Brugges and Beaumont-Hamel

We awoke (a bit late) to sun today and enjoyed a few hours of sunshine in Brugges. We wandered about the streets and then took a boat trip on the canals around Brugges. It was a wonderful way to see the town. Really photos don't do it justice (and we can't upload them anyway so you will have to take our word for it). We are having troubles uploading pix as we go. They seem to take about 10 minutes each which, at the end of a long day, is too long.

After we left Brugge we headed south west into France and towards Amiens, where we are based for two nights. We had a picnic in Arras en route then decided to head south and leave Vimy for tomorrow. This turned out to be a great idea as the Memorial at Beaumont-Hamel is about 45 minutes south of Arras and would have been a long haul had we tried to do it tomorrow.

After a somewhat lengthier-than-expected drive we came upon the Canadian Memorial at Beaumont-Hamel. By far the most impressive site we have seen so far. This is the site that was purchased by the Newfoundlanders after the war to commemorate the Royal Newfoundland Regiment's heroic efforts in the Somme. Canadian students lead you around the battlefield which remains very much in tact and gives you a real sense of the difficulties that these men faced. We lost close to 800 men in 30 minutes and in one day the British forces lost a total of 60,000 troops. Quite amazing.

Canada (and the Newfoundlanders) have made a beautiful memorial to the Royal Newfoundland Regiment here and this was a wonderful place to visit.

We travelled a further 1/2 hour or so to Amiens where we are now based for 2 nights in a lovely hotel with an amazing view of the 12th Century Cathedral literally across the street. The hotel is quite modern and the service is french....we are not impressed. Iain's meal in the restaurant took 3 tries to get it right (and one hour)... it was unbelievable and Miles would have been in his element ridiculing the French service... We got the meal for free in the end but a sad way to end a great day.

We are well based to head back north to see Vimy tomorrow and then take in the inside of the Cathedral across the street. We will not be visiting the restaurant again and have cursed but a few french people today :)