France Part 6 - The Cost of War

Saturday and it was time to hitch up the old girl again - and in case you’ve come to the blog late I aint talking about the mother-in-law but our caravan - as we continued our trip around France.

We were heading south and east - so away from the coast - and into what we know as the Dordogne region and roughly equivalent to the what the French call Perigord. They should know I suppose. Anyway, to ensure there were no nasty surprises I checked the route suggested by the sat-nav app step by step with the road map prior and all looked good.

And indeed it was. Soon the landscape was changing from the flatlands we had become used to. The road started to undulate gently and there was a noticeable change in the crops too. The sunflowers and maize was slowly being replaced by grapevines. Lovely, grapes are a fruit I guess so count towards your five a day don’t they?

They’d soon disappeared though, to be replaced by trees as we entered the Dordogne - sorry, Perigord region. The sat-nav took us as far as the village of Augignac, then we followed the instructions from the site for the last few miles, the road which seemed to on for ages but was in fact only a couple of miles and we were soon turning into the site - called Manzac Ferme. The journey of 146 miles took around 4 hours, with Rosie returning a credible 28mpg and bringing our total mileage covered since leaving Dieppe to 1380, although Patsy has only covered 546.

Well, firstly it was one of the friendliest welcomes we’ve received - both from the site owners Georges & Margaret and fellow caravanners. Georges help us position the van on the pitch - It would have gone in easy long ways but made far more sense to go side on - as everyone else had - to make the most of the lovely view. We were extremely grateful - as ever for the motor mover. We got the legs down, the mains hooked up then were given a tour of the site and facilities.

I said firstly earlier. Secondly, this site is a VERY pretty site, possibly one of the prettiest we’ve been on and certainly our favourite in France so far. As you will see from the photo’s caravans sit on the hard standing area, almost like a terrace, and down the slope amongst the trees is the tent area. There are just six pitches for caravans and a similar number for tents. It’s a very friendly, cosy site and very peaceful. Moreover, the facilities look immaculate. And the sun was out!

Our neighbours introduced themselves - Peter & Robert - a lovely couple who have been together for over fifty years and are on their eighth visit to Manzac Ferme and clearly love it.

There was a quick foray to the Supermarket in Nontron about 10 minutes away to get our fix - bread that is. Oh and some wine too. Got to keep the fruit intake up. Dinner was BBQ’d - and cremated - and we spent a pleasant evening under the canopy chatting to our neighbours.

Well, it couldn’t last could it? Cloudy and and at times wet for most of the Sunday meant I had little excuse not to catch up with the blog. WiFi is provided - free once again - and much better than at the last site meaning no trip out in search of a signal. We did little in the afternoon except laze around and discover that the facilities ARE immaculate - and the showers just divine.

As usual we’d done very little research on the area - so was grateful for the information provided by Margaret & Georges on things to see and do. We decided to start with the furthest away and that was the village of Oradour-sur-Glane some forty or so miles north east. World War Two historians may already have heard of it but for the rest it has a very grim past. Briefly, on 10th June 1944 the Waffen SS  surrounded the village and rounded up everyone - the men into various buildings around the village and the women and children into the church. Machine guns were already in place. The men were shot, doused in accelerant and the buildings set on fire. A smoke bomb was let off in the church and the woman and children were slaughtered as they tried to escape. Corpses were burnt so they couldn't be identified and the whole village was set alight. In all 642 were massacred on that day. Very few survived. It seems that the atrocity was carried out just to ‘make a point’. The invasion at Normandy happened just four days earlier and Hitler's grip on France was clearly weakening.

It was decided that the village should remain just as it was left after that night - and indeed it does. A new village was built along side to the same layout in the fifties.

The above is a very brief explanation of what happened, but the visitors centre gives you much much more, including the rise of Nazism, the occupation of France and attempts to find reasons behind the actions that day, as well as the events following. The displays have English translations and an audio guide is available to rent for just a couple Euro’s. While you don’t have to do the exhibition and can walk straight through to the village, unless you are fully conversant with it’s history, it’s well worth it.

The village itself? Well, peaceful although the mind wanders and tries to imagine what it was like that day. Everyone was respectful and spoke quietly and softly as they walked around, trying to take it all in.

The new village adjacent was the obvious place to go for lunch and we had a quick look around before the drive back to the site.

If you find yourself in this neck of the woods I can’t recommend this highly enough. It will fascinate you, shock you, and make you sad and angry too.

For further information:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oradour-sur-Glane

http://www.oradour.org/en

http://www.oradour.info/

Another couple of videos for you:

Manzac Ferme Campsite

Oradour-sur-Glane

An Easter(n) Escape part 6 - More North Yorkshire

After throwing ourselves on the mercy of public transport on Tuesday, Wednesday saw us back on the road in Rosie, our bright red Honda for day inland that took us first to Pickering at the southern edge of the North Yorkshire Moors. Pickering is popular with tourists not least because it is also home to the NYM heritage railway which runs 18 miles to Whitby. We visited Pickering some seven years ago catching one of the lovely old steam trains from further up the line in Grosmont during a stay in Robin Hoods Bay with HRH, A.K.A Trev’s Mum. It’s a delightful trip through the moors stopping at a number of stations but perhaps most notably Goathland, famous for being used as fictional Aidensfield in the TV series Heartbeat.

The trains only run at weekends in the quiet months but a full daily service resumes this weekend. Not cheap but well worth it.

Next up was Malton, or more precisely Eden Camp just outside Malton. Eden Camp is, essentially a war museum but with a unique twist. It’s actually housed in an old prisoner of war camp  that housed both German and Italian POW’s during its life. There are different scenes and features in each hut that focus on different facets of the war and tell the story of what life was like for people affected by it.

The first hut explains how the Second World War began with the rise of the Nazi party in Germany and the first exhibit that greets you is a large flag with a swastika - universally recognised and regarded as a symbol of hatred and evil. The flag is protected by a glass fronted frame and I could see my reflection in the glass wearing - as usual - my black leather trench coat. Oops! It’s a garment seemingly forever demonised by Hitler and his mob - something confirmed later on when I heard a youngster in a visiting school party up ahead of us spot me and  shout “Oi look there’s ‘itler”. Not the look I had in mind.

Anyway, back to the museum. It also looks at the first world war and other conflicts since. The number of artefacts is mighty impressive and the reconstructions are excellent with sights, sounds and smells adding to the experience.

There is a cafe/canteen and a bar that doubles as a cinema for special screenings. We stuck to the soft stuff and prices were very reasonable.Tasty mugs of tea for just a quid. Large mess rooms allow individuals or groups to bring their own food. We spent way longer here than we’d anticipated but for history buffs you’ll need much longer than a day. Trev spotted the listing for this in one of those ‘things to do whilst in…’ leaflets and I’m so glad he did. At just twelve quid for the two of us it was good value too.

Last stop of the day was the market town of Helmsley again at the edge of the NYM National Park although part of the town is actually in it. It’s clearly aiming itself fairly and squarely at the tourist market - it even has it’s own leaflet which I spotted - but there’s nowt wrong with that. It’s a very pretty place and you know what they say - if you’ve got it……

It presented a little bit of a challenge to get more than a few photo’s without a car in the frame - it’s a popular place and one can only imagine the hoards of tourists during the busier summer months - but Helmsley is hardly unique in that. Nevertheless it didn’t spoil the enjoyment of the place and there were some very inviting looking pubs too but we resisted. Some how.

Returning to Whitby traffic was light enough to allow us to slow and get some photo’s of the fantastic landscape that is the North Yorkshire Moors. The only blot on the landscape was an odd shaped building that sat in a large parcel of land belonging - according to the warning signs - the Ministry of Defence. Typical!

Thursday and our last full day in North Yorkshire. We’d promised ourselves an easy day and a lie in, not least because the weather forecast promised rain until nearly lunchtime - and it was right too. First stop - when we did eventually emerge from Patsy’s comforting bosom (?) was Robin Hoods Bay, four or so miles from Whitby on the road to Scarborough. It’s another picture postcard village with a narrow road winding steeply down to the sea mush like Staithes. As I mentioned earlier we stayed here some seven years ago in a lovely little B & B at the top of the village. In amongst the photo’s below is one of a pub - the Victoria Hotel just a short walk from said B & B. I mention this because it was here that I had my first pint of bitter virtually since I started drinking. My first ever beer was Whitbread ‘Best’ - which goes a long way to explaining why I drank lager for the next 20 years or so. Anyway, I remember the beer that made me see the light - Cameron’s Castle Eden - and I’ve hardly touched a lager since.

Last but not least was dear old Whitby, with a pause at the Abbey for the necessary lens clicking before crossing the bridge and heading in to town.

Having parked up on the east side we headed for the old town only for it start raining. Immediate plans were hatched to dive in to the nearest cafe, but somehow we ended up in a pub. Just while the rain cleared though. Honest! With a few more images committed to digital memory it was time to head back to the site.

Our last night was of course in our ‘local’ - The Stiddy - just around the corner from the campsite. An extremely friendly pub that made us feel very welcome.

So, by the time you get this we will have moved on. Our time in North Yorkshire has again been very fulfilling and the camp site played a  part in that. Not too big, Lythe Caravan & Camping Park offers great facilities and cracking views across farmland and out to sea. There are wooden camping pods too should you have friends that don’t caravan or motorhome.  A volunteer run shop a short walk up the road stocks all the essentials and is good place for a cuppa and a chinwag too.

Right, that’s it from the North Yorkshire Coast. Lincolnshire coming soon!