Day 20 Friday 30/08 Somme 24 deg Sunny -

Enid here...after a long restful night of much needed sleep, I was able to appreciate all the character of our accommodation and the surrounds of the village.

Some of the books at our accommodation led us to Arras which was about 50km away, where the information suggested the museum at Albert would be a very good overall of the sites of World War One battlefields of the Somme region this was through a 250 metre long tunnel 10 metres deep the actual tunnel dated back to the 13th century and inside they recreated trenches and have artefacts from the allies and the Germans very shocking conditions and makes the effects of the war very real being here and seeing villages that were completely levelled from bombing made us very sad. We then went to Villers-Bretonneux where we visited the Australian national memorial we climbed to the top and could view the Somme countryside. The names of the 11,000 missing Australian soldiers are on the walls and graves of known and unknown soldiers are on the lawns in front. A French couple put their hand on their and heart and said thank you when they realised we were from Australia. We have certainly learnt a lot today and can appreciate the loss of life and futility of war.

Home along the back streets of the countryside then to a Michelin star restaurant Le Jeroboam in the village, we all enjoyed our delicious meals. Au revoir