Reims based tour

[Swann RAnger]

Hi All

 

I would like to visit the Reims area with my Wife, to keep a equilibrium the visit would be a mix of battlefields & champagne.

are there recommendations of local battlefield tours preferably over a couple of days ( particularly like to visit Mount Cornillet) The booze side I’m able to organise. All reasonable suggestions welcome.

 

thank you in advance

Paul

 

[Hedley Malloch]

I don't know of any organised tours, but you could hire a car and do Chemin des Dames and Cavern du Dragon in the am; in the pm drop down to the Champagne vineyards just to the south. Battlefields and champagne on the same day is not either/or - you can do both. Think big.

Just outside Reims is the Fort Pompelle, now a very impressive museum. From there take the D931 all the way to Verdun, through the French sector; lots of cemeteries and memorials, especially to the failed 1917 offensives. You could overnight in Verdun and do a tour of the battlefield. While you are in the area, visit the Butte de Vauquois, a site where the Germans and French undermined each other - very impressive, and you can visit the underground galleries. There is a great deal of US interest in the area, too.

The area is not as geared up for battlefield tourism as the Somme or Ypres; there are no pick-up tours from the centre of Reims and few tour operators go there, so you will have to organise yourselves. But that is no bad thing. If you are coming all the way from Australia I would give serious thought to a couple of nights in Verdun.

The nearest Australian interest would be Saint-Quentin and Riqueval. They are about 50 minutes up the A26 from Reims. It was there that the 4th Australian Division participated in the battles of September 1918. The memorial to the 4th Australian Division is located there, too. W. Mitchinson's book, 'Riqueval: Hindenburg Line', published in the Pen & Sword Battleground Europe Series (1998) gives more details and some walks.

Edited 15 July , 2020 by Hedley Malloch
Additional information.

[tomisitt]

I’m pretty sure Mont Cornillet is in the Moronvilliers military zone and is out of bounds to visitors. But there is the Navarin Farm memorial nearby, you should also visit Fort Pompelle, Le Main de Massiges, the Butte de Vauqois, Kronprinz Abri, Montfaucon, Morte Homme and Verdun if you have time.

Edited 14 July , 2020 by tomisitt

[SteveMarsdin]

Hi,

 

You could always combine the two: a lot of the cellars in Reims itself were used as shelters e.g Taittinger

 

[Marilyne]

Of course Belleau wood is not far either..

[Swann RAnger]

Hello Marilyn, Hadley, Tom & Steve,

 

Thank you very much for your input, it’s appreciated, I’ll certainly include these suggestions in my itinerary.

 

Paul.

Tom, have you climbed in the area?

 

Paul.

[tomisitt]

Paul, not much climbing to be done in this area, but a lot of tunnels to explore!

[Swann RAnger]

Hi Tom,

 

whereabouts are they apart from the one in Cornillet?

 

thanks

Paul.

[Marilyne]

17 hours ago, tomisitt said:

Paul, not much climbing to be done in this area, but a lot of tunnels to explore!

 

very special tunnels, one might add…

 

M.

[tomisitt]

3 hours ago, Swann RAnger said:

Hi Tom,

 

whereabouts are they apart from the one in Cornillet?

 

thanks

Paul.

 

Well, there's the Kaisertunnel on the Haute-Chevauchée in the Argonne Forest near Varennes-en-Argonne (open for visits occasionally), there are/were miles of tunnels under the Butte de Vauquois in the Argonne (not sure if any can be visited any more), and the Caverne du Dragon on the Chemin des Dames is an entire underground complex.

[Sly]

Hi,

Yes, tours from Reims are possible to the Argonne, Verdun, Marne (Chateau-Thierry and Belleau Wood), etc...

PM me for details

Regards,

Sly

 

 

[Swann RAnger]

Hi Tom, 

 

thanks for the update

 

Hi Sly,

 

do you have any links to share regarding tours from Reims please?

 

appreciated

Paul

[Marilyne]

15 hours ago, tomisitt said:

 

Well, there's the Kaisertunnel on the Haute-Chevauchée in the Argonne Forest near Varennes-en-Argonne (open for visits occasionally), there are/were miles of tunnels under the Butte de Vauquois in the Argonne (not sure if any can be visited any more), and the Caverne du Dragon on the Chemin des Dames is an entire underground complex.

 

oh those tunnels…

I was thinking of the 250km of champagne tunnels that the area has to offer!!!

 

LOL

 

M.

[healdav]

http://www.luxembourg-battles.lu/

On 14/07/2020 at 21:57, Hedley Malloch said:

I don't know of any organised tours, but you could hire a car and do Chemin des Dames and Cavern du Dragon in the am; in the pm drop down to the Champagne vineyards just to the south. Battlefields and champagne on the same day is not either/or - you can do both. Think big.

Just outside Reims is the Fort Pompelle, now a very impressive museum. From there take the D931 all the way to Verdun, through the French sector; lots of cemeteries and memorials, especially to the failed 1917 offensives. You could overnight in Verdun and do a tour of the battlefield. While you are in the area, visit the Butte de Vauquois, a site where the Germans and French undermined each other - very impressive, and you can visit the underground galleries. There is a great deal of US interest in the area, too.

The area is not as geared up for battlefield tourism as the Somme or Ypres; there are no pick-up tours from the centre of Reims and few tour operators go there, so you will have to organise yourselves. But that is no bad thing. If you are coming all the way from Australia I would give serious thought to a couple of nights in Verdun.

The nearest Australian interest would be Saint-Quentin and Riqueval. They are about 50 minutes up the A26 from Reims. It was there that the 4th Australian Division participated in the battles of September 1918. The memorial to the 4th Australian Division is located there, too. W. Mitchinson's book, 'Riqueval: Hindenburg Line', published in the Pen & Sword Battleground Europe Series (1998) gives more details and some walks.

You can't just 'visit' the underground tunnels at Vauquois. They are in theory open on Sunday morning once a month or for groups by appointment.

If you like to go to my website - Luxembourg-battles.lu, I can offer to meet you at Verdun and take you around that area. I don't do Rheims, however. There is so  much to see at Verdun that you could spend a lifetime.

When are you coming? I shall be away for the whole of September, but after that, COVID permitting, I am available pretty much any time.

[Tom Kilkenny]

On the recommendation of Tom Isitt above, I visited Fort de la Pompelle a couple of weeks back. 

 

It's very well presented and, after many visits to the Somme and the Salient over the years, it's left me wanting to see much more of the French sector of the battlefield.  

 

Many thanks Mr Isitt and can I add how much I used to enjoy Motorcycle International back in the day?  I remember wearing to destruction the T-shirt I got for subscribing.  I don't think it took awfully long!  

[Swann RAnger]

Cheers Tom & Tom

[tomisitt]

On 17/08/2020 at 01:02, Tom Kilkenny said:

On the recommendation of Tom Isitt above, I visited Fort de la Pompelle a couple of weeks back. 

 

It's very well presented and, after many visits to the Somme and the Salient over the years, it's left me wanting to see much more of the French sector of the battlefield.  

 

Many thanks Mr Isitt and can I add how much I used to enjoy Motorcycle International back in the day?  I remember wearing to destruction the T-shirt I got for subscribing.  I don't think it took awfully long!  

Excellent, an MCI subscriber! Glad you liked the mag, it was a fun thing to work on (sorry about the cheap t-shirt, I blame Mark Williams). I’d definitely recommend revisiting the French sectors, which I find more evocative than the British ones, particularly Verdun which I find absolutely fascinating.

[Guest]

On 15/07/2020 at 11:25, SteveMarsdin said:

Hi,

 

You could always combine the two: a lot of the cellars in Reims itself were used as shelters e.g Taittinger

 

 

    As my ex-wife's family live at the southern end of the champagne region- Troyes, department 08, Aube, then very used to Reims.

As a Devonian, I would always go for the Bois des Buttes, where the 2nd Devons made a last stand in 1918- and for which the Devonshire/Devon and Dorset Regiment,etc used to wear the ribbon of the Croix de Guerre(?) on their sleeves. The place,with memorials,etc is half way between Reims and Laon.

 

2)  Always good to remember that champagne is a regional wine- thus, although visiting the cellars of the"grands marques" in and around Reims, there are plenty of small producers and the odd Cave Cooperative. Some really good stuff-and it works out roughly half the price of the posh stuff. My favourite for this is Avize,to the south of Reims.  To be honest, I find Reims a bit of a scruffy city (Laon isnt much better) but some of the smaller places are a delight.

 

If in doubt, prioritise the booze.