Battlefields By Bike!

Dear Member

This is a bike tour to visit the WW1 and WW2 battle fields in Northern France. On the first day alone, 1 July 1916, about 19,240 British soldiers were killed and by the end over 1 million deaths were recorded. Thousands of bodies were never found. It's a once in a lifetime tour to visit some incredible architecture and places of importance such as Tyn Cot, the largest war cemetery in the world, and a surviving section of the Atlantic Wall complete with all guns.

For accommodation I have booked a super Farmhouse on the French/Belgium borders for 3 nights or 4 days in June 2027. It's a lovely property with six bedrooms and can accommodate 8 people - 2 couples and 4 singles. The link to the property is below:

https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/1553679974406305679?adults=9&check_in=2027-06-11&check_out=2027-06-14&search_mode=regular_search&source_impression_id=p3_229b2b00-12b7-446d-9b44-2c277189696b_0c03463a-affe-4420-879b-a03392bb408c_0_1553679974406305679_14&previous_page_section_name=1000&federated_search_id=229b2b00-12b7-446d-9b44-2c277189696b

The idea of this long weekend break is to visit some key war related sights in the Pas de Calais. This includes the Blockhaus at Eperleques, the Atlantic Wall, Tyn Cot (the massive war cemetery, and the town of Ypres with its impressive Menin Gate - each evening at 8pm there is an incredibly moving Last Post ceremony which cannot be missed. There's lots to see and do in the area and we may also visit the lovely medieval town of Brugge with it's tall brick tower and canals.

Looking at commercial battlefield cycle tours, a 3 night stay in 3 star accommodation is around £1000-£1200 ex-ferry. So our trip offers excellent value for money. The 5 Star farmhouse with all mod-cons works out costing £160 or so for the 3 days based on 8 people - final cost split depends on the number of people signing up. In addition the return Dover/Calais ferry will cost around £80 per person. I intend to take my Range Rover and may be able to offer seats and bike places for those without access to cars. Once on the other side of the channel Steenvorde is around 40 miles from Calais, so not far. Most of the places we shall be visiting are around 20 miles from Steenvorde and are on easy flat cycle friendly routes.

The Farmhouse is booked so all I need now is some intrepid cyclists. I would appreciate it if you could put your name down ASAP if you are seriously interested in this excellent once in a lifetime trip as I need to have some idea of numbers by early November in order that bedrooms can be allocated. We shall be discussing possibilities at our next bike ride on Saturday 17 October.

I would urge you to put your name down soon as places are limited and we need to allocate bedrooms.

Richard