richard
Cool as a Cucumber
Well what a holiday left good ole Peterborough at 2 in the morning for the 7am ferry to Calais, we stopped off at stansted for a splash and dash and then off to Dover got their at 6am so they let us on the earlier ferry as they do.55mis later we arrive in Calais (reet ya basteed keep left keep ummm right) lol, on to Thillos just outside Remis Found the local Etap hotel and crashed out for an hour b4 whacking on loadz sun stuff and going to find some dinner, next day on to Epenay and Moet Shandon and the avenue de Champaign getting bloody hot mind you we took the tour around the caves at Moet lovely and cool, On the way out, Holy shit Big sign deviation road closed and it took us right through the middle of a farmers field not phookin funny on a fully loaded Bird and lindz on the back made her walk a bit as it was just to ruts down the middle and did not want to end up using the get home free card , Heat I?ve never felt any thing like it Bike between 95deg and 110deg at 85mph 145ish k on to Beaune just outside Dijon (the mustard place ) this was just a quick stop over. Next day on to Montpellier and it starts to get really stupid Bike at a constant 100 to 115 by now on the move, we had to stop at a peage en route Bird goes ruddy ballistic 129 by now light flashing like a good un me getting very worried about head gaskets etc and looking to shut her off in the middle of a bloody Autorought. Anyway I decided to go with it and made it to our hotel, checked the engine temp to see if she was cool enough to put cool water in, 4 hours later she is still at 80deg decided to wait until the morning. She took a full bottle of bacardi breezer of water to bring her back up to the line in the expansion tank, Montpellier what a place got lost in the city centre during rush hour not happy so the next day I stamped my feed and left the Bike at the hotel and used the local tram system sorted, love trams?Got loads a pics and walked miles. I hate walking with a passion. Anyway next day on to The Grand Motte on the bike for a look around and dinner on the med wow now that was some thing else sun lit beach the whole works?. Only thing was could not drink as I was riding back to the hotel to Montpellier. Next on to Carcassonne through Sete it was brill riding through the middle of the med on a sand bank stunning views pulled over to abuse the camera?Arrived in Carcassonne took a while to find our hotel Logis got this one from the recommended list on the site, well posh, swimming pool the lot but a bit off the beaten track but Carcassonne was just as ore as inspiring as I remember it b4. Funny bit was parking the bike up the place was rammed so what do you do park it right outside the gendarmerie on the foot path that is closed off they could not give a monkeys parked their for the next couple of days, and started a trend funny thing was I said to lindz watch this reversed the Bird in and bugger me came back later to find every one had done the same LOL Next on to FUKs route to Toulouse via Sissac and some tight twisties to Revel and Carmen cheers m8 stunning views something different round every bend, and the Hotel at Labege found the estate the hotel was on but could we find the hotel could we F@&K took about another hour and a lot of French practice by Lindz with the locals, and we found it tucked away in the corner in the end At this time we had lost what the time and day was and ened up at the europian space centre lodsa stuff to do very interesting then to next 200miles to Oradour sur glane over to Lindz for this one heavy very heavy even for me???????? LI have never been to such a place. It was truly melancholy and moving, and one I shall never forget.
On the 10th June 1944, a German SS division systematically rounded up the population of a sleepy little village in Limousine, France. Having done so, men were separated from women and children and then marched off to enclosed areas around the village. At 4pm precisely, on bright, spring day, machine guns rattled across the village, as the 200 men were mown down. The SS then covered their bodies with straw and set fire to them, many dying from the flames rather than their wounds. From one barn, 5 men escaped to tell the tale.
The women and children had been marched down to the church, where they had been held. All would have heard the screams, gunfire and the crackling of flames as their men folk were murdered. As the guns stopped, the doors of the church opened, as timid faces of children and women squinted in the sudden light. Rather than release as they expected, a box was brought in, fuses lit, and the SS locked the doors to contain the explosion that followed. Panic in sued as machine gunfire was poured into the church from the narrow windows. Fire took hold, and all but one woman perished. Nearly 500 souls lost their lives in that church.
After drinking the cellars of several big houses in the village dry, the SS set fire to everything. Of the 328 building in Oradour, nothing remained untouched.
In 1945, following liberation, General De Gaulle declared that the village should remain as the Germans left it. As a reminder of man?s inhumanity and brutality, and the folly of war
On the 10th June 2004, 627 men, women and children were killed in Oradour
This is the village we visited in August 2004
http://www.oradour.org/cadres.asp?nav=m&moz=60
[/b]
The ?Centre de la Memoir?, and the ruins of the Martyr Village dominate the new village of Oradour as you approach from Limoges. The very glimpse of the old village on the approach made one apprehensive, and I personally was pleased to enter the cheerful town square on which or hotel was situated. We spent a couple of hours settling in to our room, and decided to go into the ruins that afternoon.
The centre is buried underground, and is represented on the surface by geometric, rusting metal shapes. Having gone down stairs, and into the centre, you can then go into the village. The approach is unremarkable, with a few wrecked buildings on the right. A small area on the right beckons you in, and at that point, even a sigh that indicated that a ?bodies was found here? doesn?t sink in. At the end of the street, you walk into the main street, and it hits you. I have never felt so stunned, and your heart takes an awful tumble. It reminded me of a scene from ?Saving Private Ryan?.
After the initial shock, you notice the silence, punctuated only by the occasional cry of a young child. Anyone who is capable of understanding maintains a silence. Conversations are carried only in whisper. Standing in the centre of this once thriving community, one cannot even hear a bird sing.
As we went into the cemetery, it was horribly unnatural to see so many obituaries stating 10th June 1044 as the final day. As is the practice on the continent, little pictures adorn the graves, and many of them were children. When a friend first told us about Oradour, he said that it ?weeps?, and as we left the cemetery, a drizzle stared, and it rained lightly until we left the martyr village.
The next day we returned. Richard wanted to see it again, and I agreed to go to. After reading the night before about the events in the church especially, I didn?t want to go into the church again, but it did give a greater understanding, and consequently I was pleased I did return.
It has had a profound effect on me, and I would strongly suggest that you go. I will not return again, but I am very pleased that I did visit Oradour Sur Glane After this off to Courdermanche and my sister for 4 Days of doing not a lot at all apart from helping them settle in and a quick blat into le man and tours for an afternoon from their onto Rouen for a quick stop on the way to Calais But what a night this was to be 3 Thunderstorms converge into one over our hotel roof shat myself even said to Lindz this is at 1am think we better get dressed coz any minuet now Bang but all we to be ok in the end and in all this time and all the mils we put in not once did we get wet when on the way home we got into our flat and 5mins later boom another kin thunder storm.
On the 10th June 1944, a German SS division systematically rounded up the population of a sleepy little village in Limousine, France. Having done so, men were separated from women and children and then marched off to enclosed areas around the village. At 4pm precisely, on bright, spring day, machine guns rattled across the village, as the 200 men were mown down. The SS then covered their bodies with straw and set fire to them, many dying from the flames rather than their wounds. From one barn, 5 men escaped to tell the tale.
The women and children had been marched down to the church, where they had been held. All would have heard the screams, gunfire and the crackling of flames as their men folk were murdered. As the guns stopped, the doors of the church opened, as timid faces of children and women squinted in the sudden light. Rather than release as they expected, a box was brought in, fuses lit, and the SS locked the doors to contain the explosion that followed. Panic in sued as machine gunfire was poured into the church from the narrow windows. Fire took hold, and all but one woman perished. Nearly 500 souls lost their lives in that church.
After drinking the cellars of several big houses in the village dry, the SS set fire to everything. Of the 328 building in Oradour, nothing remained untouched.
In 1945, following liberation, General De Gaulle declared that the village should remain as the Germans left it. As a reminder of man?s inhumanity and brutality, and the folly of war
On the 10th June 2004, 627 men, women and children were killed in Oradour
This is the village we visited in August 2004
http://www.oradour.org/cadres.asp?nav=m&moz=60
[/b]
The ?Centre de la Memoir?, and the ruins of the Martyr Village dominate the new village of Oradour as you approach from Limoges. The very glimpse of the old village on the approach made one apprehensive, and I personally was pleased to enter the cheerful town square on which or hotel was situated. We spent a couple of hours settling in to our room, and decided to go into the ruins that afternoon.
The centre is buried underground, and is represented on the surface by geometric, rusting metal shapes. Having gone down stairs, and into the centre, you can then go into the village. The approach is unremarkable, with a few wrecked buildings on the right. A small area on the right beckons you in, and at that point, even a sigh that indicated that a ?bodies was found here? doesn?t sink in. At the end of the street, you walk into the main street, and it hits you. I have never felt so stunned, and your heart takes an awful tumble. It reminded me of a scene from ?Saving Private Ryan?.
After the initial shock, you notice the silence, punctuated only by the occasional cry of a young child. Anyone who is capable of understanding maintains a silence. Conversations are carried only in whisper. Standing in the centre of this once thriving community, one cannot even hear a bird sing.
As we went into the cemetery, it was horribly unnatural to see so many obituaries stating 10th June 1044 as the final day. As is the practice on the continent, little pictures adorn the graves, and many of them were children. When a friend first told us about Oradour, he said that it ?weeps?, and as we left the cemetery, a drizzle stared, and it rained lightly until we left the martyr village.
The next day we returned. Richard wanted to see it again, and I agreed to go to. After reading the night before about the events in the church especially, I didn?t want to go into the church again, but it did give a greater understanding, and consequently I was pleased I did return.
It has had a profound effect on me, and I would strongly suggest that you go. I will not return again, but I am very pleased that I did visit Oradour Sur Glane After this off to Courdermanche and my sister for 4 Days of doing not a lot at all apart from helping them settle in and a quick blat into le man and tours for an afternoon from their onto Rouen for a quick stop on the way to Calais But what a night this was to be 3 Thunderstorms converge into one over our hotel roof shat myself even said to Lindz this is at 1am think we better get dressed coz any minuet now Bang but all we to be ok in the end and in all this time and all the mils we put in not once did we get wet when on the way home we got into our flat and 5mins later boom another kin thunder storm.
flicked through and picked out the "best bits" :blush: :}