A quick stop in Albert for photos of the city centre and then onto Dernancourt Cemetery.

Last site to visit that relates to the initial Somme battles was Lochnagar crater, which is from one of the mines detonated prior to the first attacks. Unlike those at Messines this one does not hold water and you can see how huge it really is. Would like to fall in it let alone be above it when it went off. You can see the Airbus airport outside of Albert (this is where all their planes are put together after being built all over Europe) from here and we watched...

Our lunch stop today was Theipval. Whilst we had visited these sites last time we were here I felt the visitor centre shops were somewhat more commercial nowadays. Back in 2006 you would only find things like books on the Western Front and trench maps for the serious historian. Now however whilst there were still some books there didn't seem to be the other resources available. That said the cemeteries were as immaculate as ever. Theipval is the main British memo...

A little further on from Pozieres and close to Theipval is Mouquet Farm, another objective to cost the lives of the Australians. The cellars etc of the original farm are still there but the farm house has been rebuilt a few hundred metres away. I think the Farm and Pozieres would be one sites likely to have ghosts.

Next stop was one of the most significant sites for Australians on the Western Front - Pozieres. Whilst the legends of the ANZACs might have been formed at Galipolli, the sacrifices on the Western Front were far greater and their impact on the course of the war immensely important. The main sites here are the Windmill, the town itself and Gibraltar which is where the memorial for the First Division is situated. From here you can see the memorials at Thiepval and ...