76 miles
With the sun doing its best to burn through the mist and the temperature up, we made our way over the River Somme and climbed up onto the plain through peaceful villages, and from now on the roads would be mostly long and straight. We made our way to the Great War memorial at Thiepval.
The gates opened specially for us all as the memorial was closed for refurbishment at the time of our visit. We all made our way up to this most commanding of memorials. Designed by Lutyens and dedicated to the missing, some 70,000 names are inscribed on the arches. The Royal Signals squadron supporting the ride with communications led an especially moving ceremony with four riders officiating. This was one of the highlights of the ride and a first visit for many riders.
Lunch was in the small village of Ransart, where we stopped at a school. The local press came out to see us in the form of an avuncular old boy who insisted on taking many formal photographs just as we wanted to get some food inside us. The legs were noticeably tired today and matters were made worse in that not only did I neglect to find a suitable afternoon chocolat stop, but I also took a wrong turning and went a mile out of the way. The only excuse I had was that I was nattering away to another rider at the time!
The hotel in Bethune we were in was not up to much and when we discovered that the evening meal was chicken, we decided we had earned a decent meal out. So we got into a taxi, had a drink in the square of Bethune and met up with some of the other riders. We charged into the nearest café and all ordered steak. Not a great success, unfortunately – do they still serve horse in France?