European Waterways is offering a series of cruises next
April taking in the French and Belgium battlefields of the First World War.
Three 6-night fully inclusive cruises aboard the fully-crewed 12 passenger
hotel barge La Belle Epoque are available.
The departure on April 5 cruises through picturesque Picardy
along the Canal du Nord from Compiegne to Lille with visits to the Somme and
Flanders Fields memorial sites. The April 12 departure makes the return trip.
Highlights include passing through historic Lille, negotiating the 3-mile- long
Ruyalcourt Tunnel and exploring the peaceful Picardy countryside.
Excursions include tours in Ypres, Belgium, to the medieval
Cloth Hall housing the ‘In Flanders Fields’ museum, the Christmas Truce Cross
and site where Lt John McCrae wrote the moving poem ‘In Flanders Fields’, and
to the Ypres’ Menin Gate for the daily sounding of the Last Post at 8pm. The cruise will also include a visit to the
VC Corner cemetery at the Australian Memorial Park, where 400 unidentified
soldiers lie and time at the ANZAC memorial at Villers Bretonneux. Other
highlights include the famous Cobbers Statue and Pheasant Wood Cemetery, the
Thiepval Memorial, a monument to 75,000
“missing”from the Battle of the Somme in 1916 and some of the actual trenches,
plus the clearing in the Forest of Compiegne, site of the November 11th
Armistice signing.
Rates start from £3,150 per person, including all meals,
wines, an open bar, numerous other daily escorted excursions, local transfers
and admissions. Rates are based on double occupancy.
The April 26 departure cruises through Picardy along
the the Canal de la Somme and the Canal
du Nord from Corbie near Villers Bretonneux to Compiegne. It also visits the
Forest of Compiegne, as well as the
hamlet of Villers Bretonneux and the VB Australian WW1 museum and
school. Visits to Le Hamel hilltop, where General Monash and his troops won the
battle in 93 minutes, the Gibraltar Bunker and the famous Pozieres Windmill
Monument, which was finally captured on 4th August 1916 by Australian troops,
are also part of the itinerary.
Further highlights will include visits to the Hindenburg
Line, medieval Peronne and Mont St Quentin and exploring the tranquil
countryside of the Somme and Picardy regions.
Rates start from £3,590 per person,
including all meals, wines, an open bar, numerous other daily escorted
excursions, local transfers and admissions. Rates are based on double
occupancy.
UK Tel: +44 (0)1753
598555 www.gobarging.com
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