Visiting Etaples

[SMG65]

I am off on a family holiday in August which includes 3 nights in le Toquet.

Wife and Teenage kids have allowed me a day to visit the Etaples camp area.

Can anyone recommend a guided tour of the area.

 

Sean

[kenf48]

 

 

43 minutes ago, SMG65 said:

Can anyone recommend a guided tour of the area.

You may be able to find a guide but there is nothing left of the WW1 Camp.  I don't want to put you off as it does have an atmosphere. The local Tourist Office has a guide in English which you can download before your visit It includes a walk from the Town Hall and if you are on a bike there is a good cycle path

https://www.tourisme-etaples.com/en/path-of-the-great-war/

There is a small museum in the town, with rather odd opening hours and a pillbox on the beach at Camiers (I was looking to see if there was anything left of the MGC Base sadly not, and for all I know the pillbox is WW2).

The Cemetery is of course huge with some notable graves and you can spend a good couple of hours there. Parking is limited to a large lay-by with signs saying thieves operate in the area.

Suggest you have a look at Google street view to see what I mean.  Access beyond the cemetery is almost non existent.  The original Cemetery was in the North of the Camp so most of the original WW1 site is to the South and on the opposite side of the road (D490) to the Cemetery and that is almost impenetrable forest.  The brochure mentioned above has a plan of the camp during the war.

[WhiteStarLine]

If you end up self-guiding, The Western Front Association has recently added the Machine Gun Corps Camp at Camiers to its 3,000 georeferenced maps of Gallipoli and the Western Front.

The free version goes to zoom level 15 and is probably suitable for what you want to do.  You can use a broadband connection or GPS to check on some of the historic sites and the opacity slider will reveal the modern landscape.  Quickest way to access it is to visit TrenchMapper, right click on a map and select Jump to Map Id.  Paste in m_027884 and click OK.

Click to enlarge image:

[SMG65]

Could I thank both of you.

I have planned a little route that should take in what can still be seen.

the map in the guidebook is very helpful.

 

Sean