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| The first War Cemetery we have come across, very moving. |
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Just reading about the heat waves
in Europe, but thankfully up in the North of France our temperatures are
extremely pleasant. Pleased that we are not back “melting” again, did find that
quite unpleasant, and there was no hope of doing anything in the afternoon
except staying still in the shade somewhere and not using any energy.
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| The Church at Roye, reapaired after the war. |
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| Spotted! |
Have a quite a diverse day
really. Set off this morning to the town of Roye where there was a Friday
market, but unfortunately, we were not early enough and it was almost finished
when we got there although did find the stall selling olives and bought our
favourites which are stuffed with almonds. Read that the town was devastated
during the WW2 and not many buildings were left standing, part of the church
survived and it has been rebuilt around it, although it doesn’t look that
attractive.
Driving out of town we saw a war
cemetery beside the road, Ian managed to pull over and stop. Very moving seeing
this, our first. Rows of graves and all so neatly tendered with little gardens
and roses. Most were from WW1 but read that there were some graves from WW2
including two New Zealander’s. We soon found them, a 22 year old navigator with
the Air Force, H.R. Falloon and a 20 year old pilot, B F Wallis, both killed on
23 April, 1944. And reading so many of the other graves from UK, Canada and
South Africa, the age of these men were much the same. It really brings it
home. The cemetery was surrounded by farm land with a busy road running by, but
to see it so well looked after was very special.
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| Two NZ lads killed in WW2 |
I have gathered a number of Apps
where I can find camping spots and using one called park4night I found a real
gem. It really is just a parking space beside a canal and not officially
recognised. When we arrived, there were no other campers here so we parked and
had a look around. Such a delightful place with houses 20 metres away on the
other side of the canal and it is lined with canal boats, many of which are
lived in. This is a short branch of the main canal and we saw several boats
going through the lock on the main canal. Lots of activity. We were debating if
we should stay here but as we walked past a small cottage some dogs came out to
greet us. A gentleman came out and said Bon jour. He introduced himself as
Jean-Michel and he spoke quite good English and a really nice guy who had lived
beside the canal for the past 17 years. We asked about parking overnight and he
said that many do and it was no problem, and then another van pulled in so
neighbours for the night. Such a tranquil spot. Smiled when I saw some people
from one of the boats setting up a table on the road beside their boat and
entertaining. Guess this is what canal life is all about. Tomorrow a good ride along the canal is
planned.
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| Fishing on the canal. A national sport in France! |
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| How you entertain when you are on a canal boat. |
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| Very nice overnight spot. |
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