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We set off early by train from Ieper to Lille, a trip of an hour and 10 minutes with one station change (we've now developed a strategy for loading/unloading our bags from the ridiculously high trains - or is it the ridiculously low platforms).
There are two train stations at Lille, France - one the local station called Lille Flandres and the other is the Lille Eurostar Terminal. We traversed from one to the other with no problems and found our Back Roads tour at the designated meeting point. These tours are as the name suggests, a tour which caters for small groups (max 16 and we had 12) and as such goes along back rather than main roads. We chose this tour specifically to learn more about WW1 but also as we were able to visit the grave of Bill's great uncle, Albert Horne who was killed in the first World War. We left a small floral memento and we found it very emotional as this had been the first time (that we are aware) anyone from Bill's family had been able to visit. Once again we found the cemetery to be impeccably maintained as all the Commonwealth War Cemeteries are.
Tony, our tour driver and guide was incredibly knowledgeable and we learnt that 1 July 1917 was the worst (bar one day in Boadacea's time) SINGLE day in British military history with a staggering 60,000 soldiers killed. And also the sacrifice made by Australian soldiers at Pozieres and other locations. These areas look so benign now. We were quite surprised at how close some of these battle locations were - Pozieres, Bapaume, Amiens, in some cases only a few hundred metres apart.
We travelled in comfort in a new air conditioned Mercedes and stopped for lunch in a small French country cafe.
This was a long day which we ended on our return to Lille where we had a bite to eat and crashed reasonably early.
This tourist-ing sure is tiring!
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