WW1 battlefields

tomisitt

I recently stumbled across a long-forgotten bicycle race — the Circuit des Champs de Bataille — which was held in 1919 and raced across the battlefields of the Western Front only five months after the end of the war. I wrote a short piece about this extraordinary race here, which some of you might find interesting (there was a longer piece in Rouleur 44):

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/ ... -race-ever

I am now embarking on a four-week tour, following the route of the race on my bike for a book I am writing about the 1919 race and the battlefields, and I will be visiting Ypres, Lille, Cambrai, the Somme, St Quentin, Chemin des Dames, the Marne, Champagne, Argonne, Verdun and St Mihiel in a 2000km ride round France and Belgium. And I'll be doing it with lightweight Apidura kit to keep luggage weight down to <7kg.

If you're interested, you can follow my progress here:

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dov2711

Best of luck with your travels it sounds a really interesting route choice and I will certainly look into the detail you have provided when time allows.

I plan to ride from East Coast of Scotland to Contalmaison in France in 6 weeks to raise funds for McCraes Battalion arriving on the centenary of the Battle of the Somme so your tip is of great interest.

Bon Courage

tomisitt

Good luck with your trip (FYI, the Somme is very badly served for hotels and restaurants, and is likely to be very busy come June/July).

Best of luck!