Back from Europe

During the second half of September the Command Bus was again deployed to Europe.  

Our route is approximated on the maps below and took in Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany - so in the spirit of daft acronyms my posts concerning this trip will be labelled 'BELUGE19'

Photos of our various stops will follow in future posts but I know you'll want to be reassured about my shopping...

...just the four crates of Belgium's finest - along with more modest quantities of the inevitable cheese and chocolate.  Not a sniff of a toy soldier though.

How could I afford such luxuries?  Not least because the van burned less diesel then I expected.  This average covers 700 miles in a 3-ton, 3 metre high van with a 2.3 litre engine and an automated gearbox.  Not so long ago 27.6mpg would have been a respectable number for a medium sized car.  Oh, and I topped it up in Luxembourg where diesel costs about £1 a litre - considerably less than here in the UK.

Dun sur Meuse

On the nights either side of our Verdun visit we parked up at a nice little aire at the side of the Meuse.  You're never far away from that river in this part of France.

This time we were the second of eventually eight motorhomes to arrive and having drained and replenished the water tanks we had no trouble finding a nice spot and getting plugged in to the mains electricity supply.  Not bad for €8 a night.

And then there was the view.  In the early evenings boats chugged past at the rate of one every couple of hours.

 Sara spottted a heron on the far bank...

 ...and with the camera at maximum zoom I bagged these photos of 'Ron' as we shall always think of him.

Le Mur des Fusillés - European Road Trip Day One, part 2

Still in Arras, and indeed still in the citadel, is Le Mur des Fusillés  where resistance fighters and the like were executed during WW2.  A strange place to visit on such a pleasant sunny day.

The plaques commemorating the dead cover a large area of the fort's original walls.  Here are but a random few:

   The site of the execution post.

To lift the mood a little I had a look round some of the citadel walls...

...and the nicely (rebuilt after WW1) squares in the town centre.

10 May 1940

I am currently away in Europe with only sporadic internet access.  

Lest it be thought, however, that I had forgotten that 10 May was the anniversary of the German assault on the west, I can now reveal that I spent most of yesterday in Bastogne. 

While there I was privileged to witness a ceremony commemorating the death on 10 May 1940 of Chasseur Ardennais Caporal Emile Cady during the German invasion of Belgium. 

There is much more to report this trip which so far has taken in Arras, Cambrai, Sedan, Verdun and Bastogne. But tonight let's raise a glass for Emile.

Edited 15/05/2017 - for some reason I couldn't get the photos to load up 'in the field' so here they are at last!