Visiting Picardy in April

[Miniliz]

By chance, I will be in this area with a group of friends in April. It's not the time to do a full battlefield tour, but I wonder if there is anything that you would recommend for a day visit. I will reorganise to go back simply to do a proper tour in the future!

We will be staying along the coast not far from Dieppe, so if there is anything that you think I should see while I am there I will be very grateful to hear about it!

Thanks for any help in advance.

[JPAE]

If I had a day to spend with friends then I'd get them all walking on the battlefields following a guided route. Paul Reed[GWF member], has written just such a guide, and you could procure a copy and plan the ramble now, solving any difficulties using this site. Failing that, there is a Nature and Bird festival starting on the 12th.

Phil.

[Dragon]

Do you want to do actual battlefields? Or will a war connection be interesting?

I enjoy walking over the cliffs from Mesnil-Val (itself delightful) to le Tréport for a lingering meal of fish or seafood. As you reach the cliff top above le Tréport, you can see the remains of the old hospital there and reflect on the hospital tents where lay the men who were so close to home. I find it very oppressive. I am often weighed down there with a profound feeling of claustrophobia and tension. It is charged and chilling. Lovely view, though.

You can visit Mont-Huon cemetery. Something I wrote ages ago was that - As the main military cemetery rapidly filled up, a new burial place at Mont-Huon was selected. It is just over the fields from the hospital site where you can feel the ghosts among the ruins, hear them cry. You can stand on the cliff top above le Tréport and look across at the original cemetery: row on precise row of perfect white teeth among the chaotic jumble of the darkly ornate French cemetery which seems to be sliding and tumbling down the hillside, threatening to engulf the careful rows of British soldiers.

You can turn away from the buzz of the town going about its daily seaside life in the seafood restaurants and the fishing harbour and look out at the timeless changing sea in the wafting breeze and try to think the thoughts of the men who painfully knew that these cliffs were their last stop before the boat to Britain.

If I were in Dieppe, I would also visit the WW2 cemetery for the disastrous raid.

St-Valery s/Somme is also a very pleasant place for a walk along the Somme estuary marshes, some seafood and history of a different era.

Gwyn

[John_Hartley]

Gwyn

Was that the piece you wrote for the family of Charlie Wrench? I no longer have a copy but I remember it well.

John

[Miniliz]

Thank you!

I was thinking about Great War connections / sights, as this would be more likely to be me and my other half taking a day out, not sure the others would be too interested. But all suggestions will be taken into account once we're there!

Not sure about seafood though as we're vegetarian

The hospital sounds interesting - I know my Grandad was very lucky as he surivived the war but he was seriously injured and so would have spent at least some time in a hospital setting.

Thanks again for your input. I will look into the books suggested here and on other threads - Dad is visiting the Somme later in the year so anything I buy he will also find interesting.

[Dragon]

John, yes, part of that piece. I didn't have the time to start trying to write something new about Mont-Huon.

The problem about making a day visit from the Dieppe area to the battlefields region is that it can take a couple of hours to get where you want to go. I have done it, but the day is somewhat compressed. Rose Coombs' 'Before Endeavours Fade' was the first battlefield guide I bought in about 1988 and it's still considered by many to be at the forefront of such guides. It will provide a wide range of suggestions and good commentary. For example, you could fit in lunch in Arras (lots of WW1 activity there), followed by a quick whizz south through Thiepval and the Somme area round Beaumont Hamel for a walk and a few cemeteries. This would give you a flavour of what there is. A guide book like 'BEF' will help you to plan such a day rewardingly. You'll also need a good map; the IGN ones are suitable.

That's why I suggested war connections closer to Dieppe. There are stacks of photos of military activity in le Tréport itself and the hospital.

I wish you luck in trying to find vegetarian food in Normandy, unless you're self-catering. I don't eat meat, but I eat fish, which makes it easier. Dieppe is full of indifferent restaurants which rip off British tourists, staff who think their mediocre English is better than your French and cafes which offer a naff French experience straight out of 80s-style visitor guides, so we tend to seek out other places. There's a Canadian monument on the sea front.

Gwyn

[Miniliz]

I think I will see what I can find close to where we are and then plan another trip specifically to view war locations. From what you have said this might be the best plan!

We are self catering - with the exchange rate as it is I think we may be taking most of our food with us! Except for the bread and cheese of course!

Thanks again