Wednesday 17 September 2014

A View from the Bridge


 Two events collided today. Small beer in the general travails of this world, but notable. For me.
Firstly, someone that toured with me last year sent me a lovely message expressing a wish to do another bespoke trip. Not battlefields this time - perhaps Wales.
I zipped off a reply, saying I'd love to do it (of course), and readied myself for the day's BIG event - driving our youngest daughter up to start university at Cardiff.
As I said, small beer.
We drove along the M4, and then across the Severn Bridge, with the morning mist adding to the sense of occasion. A thought struck me, as the talking heads gabbled on about events in Scotland. How would I feel, as a dyed in the wool (but expatriate) Welshman, if I had to produce a passport at this point in our journey?
It seems to me that as a nation, as a so called United Kingdom, that our horizons are shrinking. Just when we should be showing the world what a liberal, open community looks like, we are allowing our ancient boundaries to be resurrected. Drawbridges are being pulled up.
Don't get me wrong - I can't blame the Scots for wanting to strike out alone, and if they vote Yes tomorrow I will wish them well. I have always admired them as people, and will continue to do so. What's left of our United (?) Kingdom will be all the poorer for their exit. Indeed, if I was in their shoes tomorrow, I'd be sorely tempted to vote for independence too. The negative line taken by so many politicians has been a disastrous indicator of just how out of touch this government is with anyone who doesn't read the Daily Mail. In many ways, Cameron is reaping what he has sown. He has allowed the nation's politics to be hijacked by the right wing agenda, oblivious to the fact that the left leaning Scots were going to, in effect, have an earlier referendum on his government.
More fundamentally, we are, as a nation, less tolerant. Immigrants, the EU, benefit "scroungers" - it has become mainstream politics to attack them, to blame them for our perceived ills.
Little wonder that the Scots have picked up the tune, and decided that they too, could do better by themselves. Only in recent days have we started to hear the positive message about the UK, but it will be ironic in the extreme to hear Tories and UKIP talk about the virtues of splendid isolation when membership of the EU is on the table. Duplicitously, they will focus on the dangers of foreigners running their country, when they have been espousing exactly the opposite in the past few weeks.
I know a few Scots, and many of them are bemused to find themselves in this position. And I know they are partial to a beer or two. So let's postpone the vote and sort the whole thing out over a drink at my favourite pub - the Ty Coch in Nefyn, North Wales. Neutral ground, Place is run by English folk, but, you know, they're alright...


Sunday 14 September 2014

Too late for daffodils, but...

 

The rock stars of the early 19th century, the Romantic poets, made this neck of the woods THE place to be. The grandfather of them all, William Wordsworth, was a local boy, and he did a fine job of selling his home patch. Tourists have been flocking to Dove Cottage in Grasmere ever since.
For anyone studying the Romantics, a trip here is a must. Don't forget your copy of Lyrical Ballads...
Off season, there is a range of accommodation on offer. From the stylish Wordsworth Hotel in Grasmere to the more earthy delights of The Old Post Office campsite in Santon Bridge - http://theoldpostofficecampsite.co.uk/find.php - if you want to take a calculated risk on the weather and spend some time under canvas.

Keswick, by Derwent Water
 

Thursday 4 September 2014

Looking for a different destination for a bespoke WW1 battlefield tour?

The CHEMIN DES DAMES (the ladies' path) runs west to east from Soissons, and is marked as the D18 on maps. About 30km long, it was an established as the Ladies' path back in the 18th century, when the daughters of Louis XV used to ride along the ridge as it was their favoured route from Paris to the Chateau de Boves.
In later years, Napoleon fought a battle there in 1814, but it was le Grande Guerre that made it infamous. The German army, forced back at the Marne in the autumn of 1914, decided to dig in at this strategic spot. A drive along the route will explain why. As you can see from the picture below, the German trenches were in dominant positions. For much of the rest of the war, the French forces hurled enormous numbers of men at these German strongpoints, and successive defeats drove les poilu to a state of open revolt. The Chemin des Dames, like the fortress town of Verdun some two hours to the east, became synonymous with sacrifice, and the numerous memorials along the route serve witness to these terrible losses.