Map of Western Front
Rolling green hills Northern France with small wooded areas
Manicured cemeteries
Wheat fields and poppies abound
Almost 100 years ago, from 1915 to 1918, the Western Front of World War 1 was the battle line in northern France, variously drawn from about Paris in the South to Ypres, Belgium in the north. It stretched for almost 700k from the Belgian coast line to the French-Swiss border. The main battle fields stretched from the Somme River just north of Paris to the French/Belgian border, taking in the main towns of Amiens, Peronne, Albert. Lens, Armentieres and Ypres. Other villages of note are Le Hamel, Villers Bretonneux, Pozieres, Thiepval, Beaumont-Hamel, Vimy Ridge, Fromelles, Hill 60, Polygon Wood and Passchendaele, to name just a few of the prominent places where Australians fought during World War 1. And despite constant fighting over three years and the loss of more than 1 million men from both sides, the line barely moved more than a few feet in either direction until the last days of the war in 1918.
The area around the Somme River was the scene of some of the bloodiest battles. On the first day of the Battle of the Somme, the British Army suffered 60,000 casualties - 20,000 died with a further 40,000 wounded, the greatest number of casualties any army ever suffered in a single day.
I had hitch hiked through this area in 1971, the year after finishing Uni, but at that time, although aware of WW1 and the significance of the area, was not particularly interested enough to absorb the history. Now seemed like a good time to return and cycling seemed like the best way to appreciate the area.
Today, the north of France is an area of rolling green hills of wheat and poppies, small wooded areas and scattered villages, thousands of cemeteries with white crosses, and good food and wine.