Yaaay!! It’s 9 April 2025 and we’re on the road again. That’s Vanya, Nala, Beanie and myself. After a quick breakfast in Brighton we finished loading the Van and set off via the A27 for the P&O Ferry at Dover. It was an event free journey (I’m not complaining) with surprisingly quiet roads and we arrived in good time for the 11.30 ferry to Calais.
The channel crossing itself was also uneventful (and very smooth) and within two hours we were on the road towards the tiny village (just 400 inhabitants) of Feuilleres.
Feuilleres is located on the Somme River some 30 kilometres east of Amiens in the Somme Department of Hauts de France. Vanya chose the place solely for it’s campsite (Camping du Chateau et de l’Oseraie); it being about as far south as I wanted to drive the first day out and with options to travel in all directions thereafter.
I have always found the first day of a tour very tiring and while I took time during the afternoon to explore Feuilleres and the nearby town of Peronne, I was happiest when settled down in Feuilleres with a glass of wine and some of the local bread and cheese (and not forgetting a half kilo of large, very delicious prawns which Vanya acquired during our drive south).
There is very little to Feuilleres – a small church, a restaurant-bar (closed) and the River Somme with plenty of fishing ponds – but, it served us well for the first night.
There is a considerably more to Peronne although, I wouldn’t go too far out of my way to visit the town. It was captured by German troops early in WWI and the town and surrounding area was the scene of several very bloody battles (including the three battles of the Somme) before being liberated by Australian soldiers in 1918. More than 90% of the town was destroyed during the war, including the 13th century Chateau de Peronne. The Chateau was restored in the 1970’s, renamed the ‘Historial’ and now serves as a Museum to the Great War.
I’m keeping this blog brief. On to Soissons in the morning.