Awoken at 0400, I headed to Plymouth station (Accompanied by Mags and Lisa) to catch GWR's 0553 service to London.
The station booking hall and platform were decorated with three meter high 'Waterloo poppies' and RBL thank you bunting.
I was piped aboard by a lone piper through an honour guard of two BEL standard bearers. The railway chaplain read a blessing and presented me with a new testament (all British troops carried standard issue prayer books during the Great War)
After being filmed boarding the train from every angle, I was allowed to say my farewells to Mags and Lisa, but only after the camera had been set up to capture the emotional farewells!
My train journey consisted of Radio and TV interviews, whilst the team from GWR did a fantastic job of letting all the customers know what I was undertaking, doing poppy collections and placing luggage tags of 259 GWR employees that gave their lives (there were actually 2445 GWR casualties, but I'm going to visit the graves/ memorials of 259)
Eventually, after travelling on 3 different trains I arrived at Compiegne and made my way to the Glade of Armistice.....only to find it closed whilst they get it ready for the 100th anniversary services.
Luckily the museum that holds the Armistice Wagon was open and contains some really good exhibits.
By 1800 hrs, I was at my B&B and writing this BLOG.
17 and a half miles tomorrow!
The church in
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