We are off to France to attend the ANZAC Day Dawn Service at Villers Bretonneux. This is expected to be a huge commemoration as 2018 is the 100th anniversary of the WW1 battle at Villers Bretonneux. We had to apply to The Department of Veteran Affairs in Australia to attend this Service months ago and our passes arrived in the mail a week before we left home for this trip.

After a great night's stay at The Holiday Inn Express at Folkestone we rode the 10 minutes to the entrance of The Chunnel. We had to wait another 20 minutes before we could board the train. We were the only motorbike on the crossing - never seen that before when we have used the Chunnel. The trip was uneventful until we tried to ride off the rain in France. A car about 6 vehicles in front of us would not start - a Mercedes with a flat battery! A message for help was dispatched and a tow vehicle with a jump start machine quickly arrived. After a couple of minutes all was good, the car started and we drove off the train to start our journey through France and Spain.

The GPS was set for Glisy, our destination for the next 2 nights, with the added setting of staying off the Toll Ways and Motorways. We rode through country villages where there seemed to be very little happening. We stopped when were got hungry somewhere in France - can't remember the name of the village! After withdrawing some Euros from the bank we found a cafe which turned out to be more of a Bar. We ordered what we thought was cappuccino and ended up with 2 black coffees - lost in translation as the lady didn't speak a word of English and Greg only speaks about 10 words in French.

After handing over what we thought was enough money to cover the bill - and receiving some change we went in search of something to eat as the Bar didn't sell food. A Patisserie was found and our first meal in France consisted of a sticky bun each.

After a while Greg set the GPS for a quicker route to Glisy. When we pulled in to the motel we discovered Chris Pearson waiting for us - he had only just arrived as well. We have travelled with Chris on several of our bike trips and will spend most of this trip with him as well.

We unpacked our gear, covered the bikes and set out to explore the area and double check transport arrangements for the Dawn Service as private vehicles were not allowed to drive out to the memorial site - just as well as we didn't fancy riding out to the Memorial at 3am! We discovered that there were many Australians staying at our motel and the 2 motels next door. When we walked over to the Park and Ride for the Service we found signs welcoming Australians to the area. We checked out the security screening area and then went shopping. We had decided on a "Greggy Dinner"! For those new to our blog, a Greggy Dinner occurs when we go to the local supermarket and purchase cheese, drinks, fruit, yoghurt, sandwiches and of course chocolate and lollies. We then go back to our motel and 'pig out'. We usually do this once a week or when there is no inviting restaurant near where we are staying or when we are sick of eating out! It was decided that we really should get a couple of hours rest after dinner as we had to catch the bus to the Australian Memorial at 11:30pm for the Dawn Service which was due to start at 5:30am - us oldies are not used to staying up all night!

Chris bashed on our door at the scheduled departure time only to discover that we were still asleep. We had set the alarm but had failed to take in to account the one hour time difference between the UK and France. We quickly put on many layers of clothes, topped off with our riding jackets as we were expecting it to be very chilly during the night.

A quick walk over to the Park and Ride, only about 500m, and we were soon lined up to go through the airport style security check point. Right on 11:30pm we started to go through security and were soon on the bus heading out to Villers Bretonneux, the site of the Australian Memorial. From security to the welcome tent at the Memorial took exactly 1 hour even though the bus trip was only 15 minutes. After collecting our welcome pack of a beanie, badge, rain poncho, bag, book and water we went to find a seat in the erected grandstands. It was now 1am and we only had 4 and a half hours to wait,

The crowds streamed in continuously, bus after bus. The grandstands started to fill us. Coffee, croissants and juice were available at no charge. At 2am the reflective entertainment program began. The program consisted of video clips of the history of battles in The Somme between 1916 and 1918, readings by local and Australian high school students, The Australian Army Band and vocalist and songs by the Biralee Voices - a choir from Brisbane. The reflective program continued until 5:30.

After the arrival of the official party of Prince Charles, Malcolm Turnbull and Edouard Philippe the Prime Minister of France the Service began just as it was becoming daylight. The Catafalque Party and Colour Party mounted the steps of the memorial and the Service began. It was a traditional program with speeches, readings, hymns, prayers, The Last Post and a minute's silence. The two National Anthems were sung with gusto even though most people had been sitting out in the cold night air since midnight. Just as the wreaths were being laid it started to rain. people rummaged in their bags for their rain ponchos and struggled to put them on. The rain didn't last long but it was enough to have people lining up to catch the buses back in to town. By 8am we were at Maccas having hot coffee and an Egg McMuffin for breakfast and we were warn again.

The Dawn Service at Villers Bretonneux has been on our TO DO list for several years now since we first visited the Somme in 2007. We are very honoured to have been able to participate and would recommend a visit to all. The Australian connections to this area of France is strong and we hope it will continue for many years to come.

We returned to our room for a few hour's sleep before spending the afternoon planning the next part of our journey. Tomorrow we head south, further in to France before arriving in Spain on Saturday.