So, 14 days until I set off.......ahead lay 247 miles of walking, 12 nights sleeping in a hammock and visits to over 411,000 cemeteries and memorials. All on my own, carrying a weeks worth of supplies with me.
When I started planning this adventure back in November 2017, I wanted to do something that would be a true challenge of myself and would raise lots of money to help the Royal British Legion continue the great work they do with and for veterans and their families. My research into the last few hours of the Great War have convinced me that nothing I am going to face will come remotely close to the horrors the men witnessed 100 years ago, but I hope you'll agree that I'm not having an easy time of it!
Starting at the Vale of Armistice in Compiegne, I'll walk up through the battlefields of the Somme and on to Vimy ridge. Over the first six days of the walk I'll visit a German cemetery that contains over 22,000 graves, another with over 17,000 and another containing over 44,000, a French cemetery that contains over 17,000 graves and 36 cemeteries and memorials to nearly 100,000 British, over 12,000 Canadian and nearly 2,000 men from South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and India.
I'll also visit the Lochnagar crater, created on the first day of the Somme offensive when British tunnelers dug under the German line and detonated a huge mine (60,000lbs of explosives) which could be heard detonating in London, leaving a crater 100m wide and 30m deep and throwing debris 1,219m into the air (For comparison London's tallest building, the Shard, is 306m high). No one knows how many Germans were killed in the blast, nor does anyone know how many men then drowned in the crater during the ensuing battle, falling wounded into the crater and being unable to climb out or drowning in the thick mud and sludge.
Day seven see's me visit the Loos Memorial, where my Great Uncle (Cpl. Frank Hallam) is commemorated (his body was never found, having been a casualty at Vimy Ridge when the Germans detonated mines of their own) and the memorial to Pte. Thomas Hedley Hatch (who is mentioned on my villages war memorial).
On Day eight, I will be walking from Mons in Belgium to st. Symphorien Military Cemetery where I'll visit the graves of John Parr and George Ellison (the first and last British casualties of the war) as well as George Lawrence Price (last Canadian casualty) and Peter Bender (believed to be the last German casualty) although his headstone states he died on the 10th November 1918 (Like the French, the German army was ashamed of sending men into battle even though they knew the war was over and marked headstones the 10th rather than the 11th.
From St Symphorien, the next seven days see me walking back into France and across the Ardennes region until I reach Vrigne-Meuse churchyard, where Augustin Trebuchon is laid to rest (along with 17 brothers in arms). Killed just ten minutes before the ceasefire came into effect, he was shot whilst delivering a message to his colleagues about where to obtain food after the Armistice came into effect.
The final seven days of my walk will see me visit the largest American forces cemetery in Europe (over 14,000 graves) and, on Armistice day, I will be at the memorial to the last casualty of the Great War (an American named Henry Gunter, who died at 11:00hrs on 11th November 1918).
I will complete my walk by visiting the French memorial to the battle of Verdun, the longest and bloodiest battle of the Great War. Lasting 303 days, it is estimated that casualties were between 700,000 and 1.2 million. The memorial contains over 16,000 identified graves and 130,000 unidentified.
In undertaking my challenge, I hope to raise awareness of the work the Royal British Legion does and, honour and remember all those that gave their lives fighting.
I plan to update this Blog regularly during the walk so that my supporters can join me in remembering those that never went home.
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