Ok, so I’m vaguely getting ready, research wise, for the cycling week on The Somme in August. I say vaguely and I mean it, probably be last minute stuff, as usual! But actually, none the worse for it in the end!

This is my new vehicle – cost £60 bargain, considering I got £55 for my old Dawes road bike which was competent but completely dull.

Since then I have added end bars and a drink holder – all the mod cons!

Also going to use  this Garmin GPS for a bit of fun.

This is my wife’s new bike – got it on ebay – another bargain though not quite as cheap as mine!

On this day, 1990, alongside EPKH and JCL, supported by ASC and CGJO, sustained by a long and eventful night in Albert, three of us ran the length of the front line. We started from Serre at 7.30pm. It was wet, windy and sunny. Afterwards, we dined at the memorable Hotel De La Paix in Albert, before a strike had us held up in the ferry terminal car park while England defeated Cameroon in the World Cup and we emptied the boot of stubbies!

Starting off at Serre.

Newfoundland Park. I would like it on record that EPKH cheated at Beaumont-Hamel!

Fin!

I am indebted (belatedly as I went  a few weeks ago) to Bill Ashby for giving me a guided tour round the Coleshill House and Estate, where my grandfather, Malcolm, was Deputy Assistant Quarter Master General.

		Coleshill VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

I have made some significant updates to Malcolm Hancock’s profile.

He talks of his time with the Holding Battalion and Auxiliary Units.

My next task is to research his time as Welfare officer in Berlin.

All in all, four fairly extraordinary jobs in WW2 – what a life!

http://greatwarphotos.com/

Recently arrived home from 6 days on the Somme. This year we cycled and it added a whole new dimension. It is, as ever, a timeless, moving environment. A page on the trip will follow at some point

Have just returned from a short but successful trip to Ypres. The main reason for the trip was to follow the last days of my cousin, Spencer Parkes. This worked well and I was happy to walk the area of his final three days pretty accurately. More on this in Spencer’s pages on this blog. Alongside that we took in some traditional areas, notably Hooge Crater and Messines Ridge (below), the latter was particularly appealing because it was rural, accessible and reminiscent of the area I am much more used to surveying, The Somme.