Itinerary 2010

FINAL ITINERARY – 2010

The final itinerary is here and reads as follows:

Friday 19th March

Meet at Perth Academy car park on Murray Place at 8pm for an 8:30 departure.

Drive to Folkstone.

Saturday 20th March

We are booked on the EuroTunnel to Calais. On arriving, we drive to Notre Dame de Lorette (near Arras) and then to Vimy Ridge. I am delighted to let you know that we have been able to arrange a tour through the tunnels at Vimy. They are usually not open until Easter, and so this will be a first for me as well!

From there we travel to the Château and are expected at around 5pm.

The evening will be given over to settling in, eating, going over the safety procedures (fire drill and  assembly points) and relaxing.

Sunday 21st March

A very full day! After an early breakfast, we drive down to Albert which is our starting point for visiting some of the most important sites from the Battle of the Somme (1st July, 1916).

Our next stop is at Lochnagar Crater (La Boiselle), followed by Delville Wood where we will have our lunch.

After this, we proceed to Thiepval Memorial, and then onto Newfoundland Park, Beaumont Hamel. This is the site of the Highland Division Memorial, as well as one of the more unusual cemeteries on the Western Front (Hunter’s Cemetery).

After this, we will return to the Château for a debrief and some fun and games.

Monday 22nd March

A very early start today as we are going to the DisneyLand Park outside Paris. Please see the note on page 1 for more information about this!

Tuesday 23rd March

Another very busy day. After an early(ish) breakfast, we will drive north to Belgium and Ypres (Ieper).

We will visit the Menin Gate when we arrive, then will have our much anticipated visit to the chocolate shop before visiting the In Flanders Fields museum situated in the rebuilt Cloth Hall (we are booked in at 11:00am).

After lunch, we are going to visit Sanctuary Wood (Hill 62 Museum). This is the infamous wellies and mud part of the trip… see the separate entry on page 3!

From Sanctuary Wood, we travel to Tyne Cot Cemetery. This is the largest British Military Cemetery in the world with 11,956 burials. In addition, the panels at the rear of the cemetery hold the names of 34,888 of the missing.

After Tyne Cot, we drive to Langemark Cemetery via the Gas Memorial and – if time allows – Poelcapelle cemetery.

Langemark is one of the few German cemeteries on the Western Front and is worth visiting for a number of reasons.

We then return to Ypres for our evening meal at 6:00pm. From here, we return to the Menin Gate in time to participate in the Last Post Ceremony — we have asked to read the Exhortation as well as laying a wreath. In addition, Miss Henry will be playing a lament on the pipes as part of the service. In previous years, we have been able to confirm the reading of the Exhortation in advance, but this is no longer possible. We will need to take our chances on the night!

Wednesday 24th March

After an early start (yes… another one!) we leave the Château for the last time and drive to Cité Europe in Calais for some much requested retail therapy (or shopping for the older folks!) Suitably skint, we get the EuroTunnel back to Blighty and from there it’s heads down and head for home! We are hoping to make Perth Academy for about midnight.