Page 14 - Walking Back Through Time

Soon only shell holes remain along a battered frontline,
Where soldiers knee-deep in mud bide their time.
They crouch nervously for battle in torrential rain,
In this grim place called no man's land - The Reaper's Domain.'
This poem highlights the misery of 1917 and in particular Passchendae- le when trench warfare reached the depths of despair.
THE JOURNEY CONTINUES
On completion of my tour of this now affluent city I experience the usu- al confusion of finding an exit and I do not join my planned route, though a cycle trail proves invaluable allowing me safe passage away from heavy traffic. After leaving the trail I endure a short blast along the main carriageway before turning off to follow another country route to Pas-en-Artois where I am fortunate enough to find a campsite at Warlin- court-Les-Pas. It is the end of the summer season though I am allowed to stay and later obtain a meal with a beer at the on-site restaurant.
Day 5 Warlincourt-Les-Pas to Amiens - 40km
The weather remains pleasantly warm for camping and in the day reach- ing a top temp of about 17c. I had washed some gear at the campsite the previous evening and the items are drying out nicely on the back of my rucksack as I near Pas-en-Artois. After a coffee at the town, I begin my trek through the Somme Region which was another pivotal battlefront during the Great War; those that fought here as with Ypres and Verdun knew suffering beyond belief. During the initial offensive in 1916, 20,000 men fell in the first hour of battle which by the end of the cam- paign had accounted for more than 600,000 casualties.
Amiens is my proposed destination for today and significant because throughout the war it remained the Military H.Q. for the British Army who had travelled there from Le Havre between 12th-17th August 1914. Under the command of General John French the BEF began to plan a battle Strategy for Flanders initially; then later the Somme under Gener- als Haig and Rawlinson.