Honouring the Unknown Warrior
On 7th November 1920, the bodies of four British soldiers from battlefields at Aisne, Arras, Somme and Ypres were brought to the chapel at St Pol sur Ternoise. The soldiers were deliberately unidentifiable in that they had no details of name, regiment or other means of being identified. One of these was selected to represent the Unknown Warrior and the body was taken to Westminster Abbey where it was interred on 11th November 1920.
Several cyclists from the RBL Cyclists Branch had wanted to commemorate this historic event in its centenary year but were prevented from doing so by the coronavirus pandemic. In 2022 the ride finally took place and eight cyclists ably supported by one ‘broom wagon’ and one luggage/catering van spent a week in Belgium and Northern France laying wreathes at various memorials and battle sites.
Cyclists: Tim Lonsdale, Robert Dennis, Richard Barsley, Darren Nicholls, Carl Wilson, Stuart Withington, Chris Bird and Martin Pearce
Support Drivers: Geoff Patterson, Simon Bedding
Day 1 Marden to Dover (approx. 50 miles)
The first leg of our ride took us through the rolling lanes of Kent as we made our way to Dover for the 2pm ferry (hah!) Some of the scenery was really spectacular particularly the old oast houses and the temperature was just right. Bit of a hiccup when we reached Hythe, as there was a charity half-marathon being run along the sea front which gummed us up a bit but we got to Dover for about 11.30am. Then the long wait began….
Somehow we’d managed to choose the day before all the tourists from France, Germany and the Netherlands had to return for the first day of the new school term. That combined with reduced Border Force staff and a huge switch from P & O Ferries meant incredibly long queues. It took an hour just to get around one corner at a traffic-light controlled junction. Eventually after five hours of inching forwards, we managed to get ourselves on the ferry and en route to Dunkirk. A consensus vote decided that because of the huge delay we wouldn’t do any more cycling that day and just went straight to the hotel.
Day 2 Dunkirk to Ypres (approx. 50 miles)
Technically speaking the Dunkirk cemetery is more of a WW2 memorial honouring in particular those soldiers who had to fight a rearguard action to allow those waiting on the beaches to get away safely. Nevertheless we paid our respects there with our ex-RN man (Geoff) laying the first of our wreathes to the memory of those killed in the Falklands conflict 40 years previously.
We then set off for Belgium. It has always amazed me that there is no frontier between Belgium and France so that one minute you can be in one country and the next you are in the other. The standard of roads generally in both Belgium and France was much better than in the UK. We had a slight deviation on this route to St Bernardus Abbey Brewery, which is well worth a visit - here we are (right).
Then it was on to Ypres. If you go there, visit the "In Flanders Fields" museum to see the ‘before’ and ‘after’ views of the town.
We visited Tyne Cot cemetery, which was the site of the second of our wreathes. Darren laid this one and very kindly dedicated it to Joseph Millioni, who was killed there. Joseph was the great grandfather of Martin’s neighbour in Oxfordshire.
Martin (the author), Richard, Tim, Rob, Simon (support crew), Stuart, Carl and Chris at Tyne Cot
On the outskirts of Ypres (Zonnebeke) a new memorial has been set up which is also well worth a visit. It’s called the Brothers in Arms memorial and is dedicated to two Australian brothers, only one of whom survived the battle of Polygon Wood. A full report on this memorial can be found here.
An obelisk there has part of the lyrics of the Dire Straits song (below) all very moving.
ANZACS ARTWORK, POLYGON WOOD
So that was the cycling for that day but it wasn’t quite finished as we had managed to obtain a slot to place a wreath at the Menin Gate during the 8pm ceremony. This was laid jointly by Chris Bird, Rob Dennis and one of Rob’s friends who lives in Ypres. Rob delivered The Exhortation. Following this we went to a nearby restaurant which was great fun.
Day 3 Ypres to Albert (approx. 70 miles)
The day started with a nice (largely downhill) ride to Ploegstreet Memorial, or as the Tommies used to call it Plug Street. This is a beautiful memorial which has an open space in the roof which allows the sunlight (and rain of course) through. Rob laid a wreath on behalf of the Scots Guards.
We then moved on to the Vimy Ridge Memorial. This commemorates the heroic actions of the Canadian forces in taking this strategic high point; you get a fantastic view over the French countryside but you can see why it would have been so murderously difficult for attacking forces. Carl laid a wreath and we stopped for lunch, provided by Geoff, which was consistently excellent.
I had been struggling with some of the urban riding, particularly through Lens, and the final hill up to the ridge finished me off so I decided to opt out of the afternoon ride especially as I hadn’t fully recovered from the effects of covid a month earlier.
Our stop for the evening was in Albert and it wasn’t particularly pleasant. The toilets had macerators instead of proper flushes, there was no lift and the proprietor was quite surly. It wouldn’t be top of my recommendation list that’s for sure.
Day 4 Albert to Arras (approx. 30 miles)
Today was a short cycling day and so it allowed plenty of time to take in more detail at the memorial sights. First on the list was the Lonsdale Cemetery, a small but very peaceful location. It was a really nice downhill ride there but of course that meant an uphill to get back, which was a little annoying as we could see our next destination but could only get there via the road we had already taken. The next destination was the Thiepval Memorial, designed by Sir Edward Lutyens. Reportedly the largest British War Memorial in the world, this commemorates the 72,000 officers and men who have no known grave. Unfortunately there was still some scaffolding on it as it is being renovated but these works are soon scheduled to be finished. Stuart laid a wreath.
From there we went on to the Newfoundland Memorial. Again this commemorates the bravery of the Canadian soldiers who answered the call and paid the ultimate price. It was Geoff’s birthday today and we sang Happy Birthday to him and presented him with a cake.
Festivities over, we headed for Arras. By now the temperature was climbing rapidly so liberal applications of factor 50 were the order of the day. We reached Arras mid-afternoon. Richard laid the wreath to commemorate one of his relatives in the West Kents/Buffs who was killed there. The hotel rooms were interesting in that each had a different movie-themed picture in the room. Richard and I had a James Bond theme while Tim and Chris had the A Team. No comment.
Day 5 Arras to Boulogne (approx. 60 miles)
We had a deadline to hit today as we were due in St Pol for 10.30am for a civic reception. Initially the roads were tricky as some were autoroutes so clearly no cyclists allowed and the ones that weren’t just seemed extremely busy with fast heavy traffic but we made it to St Pol just on time. A delegation from the local mairie had turned out for us and managed to play the French and English National Anthems through some speakers set up there. St Pol has three commemorative sites but we were at the one by the railway station from which the Unknown Warrior started his final journey back to the UK. Martin laid the wreath here, a fabulous knitted affair made by Nunthorpe and Marston knitting group.
We were treated to a civic reception in St Pol which included fizz, beer, wine and soft drinks as well as lots of very tasty nibbles. All too soon it was time to bid adieu to our fabulous hospitable hosts and to proceed onwards towards Boulogne.
Stopped for a short while at an incredibly interesting cemetery discovered by our other support driver, Simon. This was a tiny cemetery dedicated to the workers from China and India who had been brought over to carry out all sorts of menial but necessary tasks. Again, a very moving experience.
The route to Boulogne included many miles of upsy-downies except usually it was the other way around; a fabulous downhill followed by a steep steep climb afterwards. One of the most notable was the climb near Desvres. Many P2P riders will know this as one of the rest stops on Day 2 where you have a fantastic downhill to get to the sports centre. Regrettably today was the opposite and it was an incredibly steep climb!
All in all it was a pretty exhausting afternoon’s riding topped off by a wonderful evening at a restaurant on the seafront
Day 6 Boulogne to Calais (approx. 58 miles)
Getting out of Boulogne was not easy and there were some short sharp hills en route. Once out we headed for Etaples Cemetery. This had been a field dressing station during WW1 and contains the remains of about 10,000 soldiers. Although it was only 10.30am, it was already baking hot and we had to be careful to keep both shaded and hydrated. Simon laid a wreath on behalf of the RBL Cyclists Branch.
From there we made our way to Calais. I had been in the sweeper car most of the afternoon as I was holding the others back too much but I hopped back on my bike for the final piece, a downhill ride from the water tower at Calais. That’s one to cross off the bucket list. Again P2P riders will know (and curse) this as it’s one of the first big obstacles on Day 2 and just seems to go forever upwards. It’s almost worse than Capel-le-Ferne on the Dover side. [editor's note; P2P route 2021 didn't go that way...]
The descent was a bit disappointing though as a strong headwind took away most of your momentum but still it’s great to be able to say “I’ve done that!” From there it was a short hop alongside the canal to discover our hotel.
CALAIS
Day 7 Calais to Bodium (approx. 42 miles)
All went smoothly regarding boarding the ferry at the French end which was good because I don’t think any of us could have put up with another 5 hour wait. We had planned to go to Westminster Abbey to lay our final wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior but London was a no-go area due to the celebrations for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
Instead we drove to Bodium where there is a replica of the coffin inside a railway carriage where Tim, who had organised this ride, had the honour of laying the final wreath.
For a much more detailed account of the origins and significance of the Unknown Warrior, please visit the CWGC website here.
