Planning a Tour

[Ken Lees]

I have been asked (or did I offer?) to arrange a battlefield trip to the Somme for a group of my colleagues. I intend to arrange it for the autumn for a small group.

Having never done this before I would appreciate any advice from more experienced Pals.

This won't be a commercial venture. They won't be paying me, we will share all costs equally between us.

Any experiences to pass on that I might find useful?

Any Dos & Don'ts?

All advice gratefully received.

Regards,

Ken

[paul guthrie]

My advice unless you have lots of experience is hire a qualified battle field guide. Paul Reed is on the forum as is his friend Clive Harris, eminently qualified men who know others if unable to accomodate.

Plan B is get Paul's Walking the Somme. You can get good advice on hotel's, B & Bs, restaurants here.

My own tip is take your folks to Tommy's in Pozieres, do not tell 1st timers what's in back, tell them to go out & take a look!

[Ken Lees]

Thanks for the reply, Paul. The thing is, I don't have experience as a guide, but I want to gain it. I have walked many of the areas Paul writes about, often with his book in hand. I enjoy researching the areas I am going to walk and the Battleground Europe series are ideal for this (although they aren't all up to the standard of Paul's contributions).

I know where I will be staying, and how I will get around. I've been dragging my family around the Western Front two or three times a year for the last few years so I think i know enough to give an overview to beginners. Hopefully, they get a 'free' guide and I gain experience, so everyone wins (hopefully). My colleagues know that they won't be getting an expensive tour, but they will get enthusiasm and effort.

I think a two day format will be my best option, with a day either side for travelling. What I could do with is practical tips and maybe ideas of what works and what doesn't on this kind of trip.

Regards,

Ken

[Paul Reed]

Ken - thanks for the kind comments.

I am happy to have a chat with you about this in Le Tommy, when I am over next week - if you are still going to be there on the Thursday?

[Ken Lees]

Paul,

Thursday at Le Tommy is the only decision we've made so far! The rest is still in the planning stages.

Looking forward to it.

Ken

[Chris_Baker]

Terry Reeves, Brian Morris and have been running an annual tour for the Heart of England WFA for almost ten years now. This is our routine, which works well.

Choose an area and plan to study it in detail, at leisure.

Book a minibus well in advance. It is not easy to get a company that will rent one for a trip to France.

Book a hotel well in advance too. [Our favourites are the Palace in Poperinghe, de la Paix in Albert; Beatus in Cambrai. All big enough to take a minibus, small enough to be friendly and welcoming. Arrange to eat together in the evenings.].

A couple of you go on a planning recce a few months before, with a draft plan of your itinerary. Work out the routes. See where a bus can go and where it cannot. Work out roughly how long you'll need at each stop. If you're planning walks, figure out how to move the bus from start to finish.

Prepare well in advance, with maps, routes, storyboards etc for the information you will need to give when you are there.

Get as many of your party as possible to do or say something as part of your tour.

Pray it doesn't rain too much, or freeze your wotsits off. If it does, go to a cafe together and order brandies!

Make sure you visit the old dear in the cafe in Havrincourt if you're anywhere near. Mind, the shock of another group of English (she gets about 1 every 3 years and its always us) might finish her off ... just mention Monsieur Morris (pronounced as in Maurice Chevalier) and you might get a discount...

[Ken Lees]

Thanks Chris,

That's great advice and it will be heeded. I'm sure there are some horror stories that could be told, I just hope I don't add to them

Ken

[burlington]

Having done this once before, and doing 'it' again in September next, I wonder if 2 days is enough.

OK if you want a quickie but for anything else I would have thought a min. of 3 days is needed.

We all know how big an area the Somme is. For those with special interests, time will be of the essense.

By the way, when will you be going in the Autumn?

Good luck

Martin

[Mark Hone]

If your mates aren't World War One 'headbangers' be careful of overwhelming them with too much detail or trying to cram everything in. For my school trips I try to select a few key sites which I put into context with first hand accounts etc read by members of the party (fully agree with Chris Baker on that one). If you're not careful tours can turn into '..and here's another cemetery'. Get 'Walking the Somme' as recommended elsewhere and try to walk part of the battlefield preferably with copies of suitable trench maps from e.g. Chris McCarthy 'The Somme Day by Day' which shows the position of units superimposed on the original map.

[Tom Morgan]

Wow - you've had some excellent advice here, Ken. Organising and running tours is great fun. You get lots of praise when things go well but you also get the blame if things go wrong. A one-off tour will (statistically) probably go off without any hitches but just in case your tour is the one-in-a-hundred where there is a problem, it also pays to prepare for the things which you DON'T expect to have to do:

Make sure that your minibus-hire insurance includes a replacement vehicle in the event of a breakdown and that you know - in advance - exactly what you have to do to get one.

Make sure you know the numbers you will have to ring in the event of an emergency. The Single European Emergency Call Number is 112 so this is the equivalent of our "999" number in France and Belgium. It should work from your GSM900 mobile phone whether or not it has been set up to make/accept foreign calls and even if there is no SIM card in the phone. In addition you have

France

Fire brigade ( pompiers ) tel 18

Medical emergencies tel 15

Police tel 17

Belgium

Ambulance and firefighters tel 100

Police (Rijkswacht) tel 101

Tom

[Terry Carter]

I always stay at Avrilvillers, opps sorry Auchonvillers. I have just had a weekend, but have another two in the pipeline for Sept. and Oct. And if we get a freebie crossing for the 10 hour delay we experienced at Calais on our last trip, then perhaps an early summer weekend aswell.

Usually there are five of us, but if more, we get a mini-bus (9 max or the vehicle needs to have a tacho). We usually leave Birmingham around 3:30 am and get an early crossing, usually by ferry so we have a good breakfast in us to last the day.

We always leave, for home, after breakfast on Sunday morning. This fits in with everyone's work patterns. (also means plenty of time for the debrief at the pub on Sunday evening)

Luckily, one of my mate's has a diesel powered company estate and we use that for the five of us. An even luckier, if there is more, another mate who is a Traffic Manager at a Logistics Company, gets 12 seater mini-bus for us for about 100 quid and a discount ferry booking to boot!

I would like to stay for longer on my visits. But have to keep 'her indoors' who has no interest at all in WW1, happy.

Terry

[Jonathan Saunders]

Ken,

If you post what cemeteries you intend visiting and they are the burial location of any men I have researched, I would be happy to provide a brief synopsis of the personal and military details I have of that fatality so that you can, if you want, give an identity to the man buried in that grave to your group.

[paul guthrie]

Ken tho I could not tell from 1st post sounds like you have the knowledge to do this well and you are getting good tips here but I agree 2 days just is inadequate, very much so if it includes travel but not enough even w/o.

[burlington]

Ken

Any idea of dates?

Martin

[Somme1916]

Relax, have fun and tell the best story you can. Not story as in a lie but tell them the real story about what happened at the areas you'll visit. I keep a few note cards and a book or two handy so I can refer to them if the need arises. Also don't be afraid to say "I don't know" if someone asks a question and you don't know the answer. Personally I like to say "I don't know but let's see if we can find out" and then as the day goes own and you visit places like a museum or run into other travelers you can always strike up a conversation about the question. That's also why I bring along a book or two about the site we're visiting. You'll never be able to remember everything but don't let that intimidate you. I know Paul Reed will give you some great first hand advice when y’all meet at Le Tommie.

Have fun and good luck,

Jon

[Tim Birch]

Ken

I have been taking a coach load (average 25-30 people) of friends and fellow members of a local club annually for about 6 years now. You have been given some very good advice by others, in particular the advisability of doing a recce by car a month or so before. You will be surprised how much there is to see, and there is a danger of trying to squeeze in too much.

Do your homework well and read up on the history of the sectors you are vsiting, but as Mark says be careful not to overwhelm your guests with too much detail if they are not enthusiasts. Fitting in a walk or two also breaks the monotony of being on a coach too long. Two good walks are from Mametz via the Welsh Memorial to the Bazentin Ridge, and from Lochnagar Crater to Fricourt (lots to point out and talk about on the way, and the coach can drive round to meet you). Newfoundland Memorial Park is a must if you want to show them trenches (or stop off at Vimy Ridge en route)

Remember to ask people to bring a change of shoes or boots to walk in. It is also important to build in refreshment/comfort stops. There can be a lack of loos in some areas, and if people are having to cross their legs for too long they won't enjoy it!

A good diner in the evening is always very welcome - so be careful of Sunday and Monday evenings when some restaurants are either closed or have a restricted menu.

I also find it useful to photocopy trench maps showing the areas you are covering and pass these around so that people can follow what you are describing. Copies of photographs showing the devastation also astound people when they compare them with what they now see.

You can use the drive down from the chanel ports to set the scene by giving a brief overview of the Western Front, and trench warfare, so if using a coach, a PA system is useful.

Tim

[Ken Lees]

Thanks to all of you who have replied since I last logged on to the Forum. I'm sure I will be able to plan a successful trip based upon all of this sound advice.

I have suggested the last few days of September/ first weekend in October and I'm waiting for some feedback on that before I make provisional bookings. I take the point about two full days there being very little, but I will have to see what the feeling is about travelling a day earlier. At the moment my plan is to set off from Lancashire in time to catch an afternoon ferry/tunnel crossing on the Thursday, spending Friday and Saturday on the Somme then travelling home on Sunday. I have to balance the time against the needs of my colleagues who all have to fit this in around work commitments.

Since we are all from Lancashire I think that the Accrington Pals role at Serre will be a must. My own interest is the 55th Division, so I could plan a walk around Guillemont or Flers, where I have walked before, but since we are staying at Auchonvillers I might go for the Lancashire Fusiliers, 1st July at Beaumont Hamel instead.

Added in to that I think that places like Thiepval are essential, but I will have a few 'spare' plans that I can switch to in case the weather is unsuitable, or if there is a problem with any of us walking. I can always have a list of things to do and if they seem to want more depth from fewer locations I will be prepared for that.

Since I have plenty of time to prepare I will ask them if any of them know of any relatives who served, or even fell, on the Somme. Perhaps I could adapt the itinerary to visit family graves or to revisit the site of particualr actions if someone gives me a lead on who to research.

I have the IWM Trench Map CD so I am planning to print and laminate sections of the relevant ones and having them with us to pass around. I have done that for myself on the last few trips I have made and it makes a big difference when walking the area.

I don't want the group to be too big, so I will limit it to the size of a minibus. I take the point about tachograph legislation (thanks Terry) so maybe 9 (including the driver?) will be my maximum.

Thanks again for the input and I will ensure that I make this a trip that they will enjoy.

Regards to all,

Ken