In Verdun

River Meuse

When we reached Verdun we had moored up in the old commercial port because there was room there and we knew that the Port de Plaisance would probably be pretty full. We were helped by the owners of a lovely Dutch tjalk (Arum) already there – Jack and Marieke. Later we cycled down to the town moorings and Alex spotted on the opposite bank a narrow boat. “Look!” he said, “it’s Lady Camellia”, and the next minute nearly fell of his bike as an unnoticed step in the quay got under his wheels! Sure enough, on reaching the other quay, we discovered Peep (pronounced pape) and Yvon moored up and having early evening drinks. Well, drinks for all followed, and they said that they intended to leave the next day at around 11 o’clock and if we timed it right, we could move into their space. Alex paced it out and, yes, there was just enough room.

As it turned out the boat behind them left at about 10.30am so we hightailed it down to the space and just made it ahead of a very determined hire boat coming the other way.

Yvon and Peep came for morning coffee and decided that as the weather was a bit iffy they would wait till the next day to leave, and accepted our invitation to come for supper with us that night.

We spent the rest of the day at the Tourist Information Centre where there was free wi-fi access allowing us to post the latest blog, and later at the various supermarkets in the area to restock.

We had a lovely evening, eating outside in the balmy weather, and the following day we had morning coffee on Lady Camellia, then waved them off on their continuing cruise, and we headed for the Tourist Office to catch the hop-on, hop-off bus up to the battlefields of Verdun.

The first stop was at the Verdun Memorial, where, inside an enormous monolith of a building was housed a fascinating historical exhibition of the 1914-18 period, as well as details of the events leading up to the outbreak of war.

Next stop was the Douamont Fort, which was an enormous, largely underground structure. The fort proved to be an unbelievably large rabbit warren of damp and dripping corridors and rooms which at one time were home to upwards of 3000 soldiers. Conditions must have been terrible, even allowing for the deterioration of the structure in the intervening years. The fort was one of several which had been built for protection after the Franco Prussian War when France was feeling jumpy about her position in Europe. In the event the French powers-that-be decided that fixed forts were not the way to fight this new war, and abandoned it to a force of only 60 or so personnel. The Germans were astonished to be able to take it so easily, and the French (for some unaccountable reason) were equally astonished that it had been lost so quickly.

Many, many French lives were lost retaking what they realised too late was an important strategic position.

The whole area round Verdun was turned into a sort of lunar landscape of absolute destruction – with nine villages totally destroyed and never re-built – by the massive thrust of the German army and the determined defence by the French and eventually the Americans. The total death toll for all nations in the Battle of Verdun was 700,000. Many of those killed had no known grave of course, and shortly after the end of WWI the authorities decided that it was right that all the remains of the dead be collected and housed in an ossuary, which they built on the top of a hill, another massive structure.

All these visits were, of course, very sombre – not the usual happy touristy day out, but we felt it was right to pay our own respects and in all cases, the sites were very suitably run – no food, drink, music, camping etc allowed.

It happens that Alex has just read, and Louise has just re-read ‘Testament of Youth’ by Vera Brittain. Alex has also just finished Birds Without Wings by Louis de Bernière, both of which deal very much with this period of history and so the visit to the battlefield was even more poignant for us both.

The only amusing part of our visit to the museum, fort and ossuary was the hop-on-hop-off bus. The driver spoke no English at all and insisted on giving us and the only other two passengers a lengthy description of sights on the way up the hill, and when we would be able to ‘hop-on’ again. The first stop at the museum went OK and we did comprehend that he would be having his déjeuner and therefore would not be back for 2 hours. At the appointed time, we caught the bus up to the Fort. At this point we must have mis-understood because we emerged from the Fort to see the bus disappearing down the road!

It was only a 2km walk in the hot sun to the next stop and we made it OK to the little vastly over-priced bar/restaurant where we shared a ‘croque monsieur’ (ham and cheese toastie by any other name) choosing to visit the Ossuary next. As we set off we again saw the bus disappearing in that direction, but just beyond hailing distance and so had to walk the 1 km or so to it. After the Ossuary (complete with film and tower to climb) we walked the one and a half kilometres to the Trenchée des Bayonettes, (actually a bit of a disappointment as we had expected a real, if renovated trench, which this was not) and then, looking at our watch, realised that we were not absolutely sure if there was a last bus back to Verdun!

We took up position at a crossroads (another 1km walk in the evening heat of the sun) where the bus must pass if there was to be a bus, and sure enough, half an hour later and almost as we were giving up hope and making other plans to get back to Verdun (15 miles away) – hitch a lift, look for an English car in the car park, try to find a taxi phone number etc! – the bus hove into view. To ensure he didn’t just drive past, Louise got out our ticket and stood almost on the road waving it at the driver. Bus stopped! Driver and passengers laughed, Louise said “Halleluja, Halleluja” and spontaneously kissed the bus driver à la Francais, which caused great mirth both for him and the other two on board! We all laughed and agreed in our pigeon French that we were pretty exhausted and desperate not to miss our transport home.

Of course, we have also visited other places of interest in Verdun itself – a rather disappointing visit to the Citadel, which we expected to be another labyrinth of tunnels, but which turned out to be a rather tacky ghost-train-like ride on a guided carriage with pre-recorded scenes from the war excruciatingly acted or displayed at various intervals and utilising only a tiny part of what is a massive installation. Poor show Verdun. The Cathedral of Notre Dame, the War Memorials which are everywhere, the beautiful covered market and of course the various canals and rivers branching off the Meuse were also part of our itinerary. So all in all, we have fair done Verdun!