world war 1 tour from cherbourg

[Spade]

Hi all.
I'm thinking of visiting some of the WW1 sites next march for approx 8 days.
The thing is that I would be starting from cherbourg port so am looking for suggestions or a tour route coming from that side
I have solar and batteries so probably only one campsite night needed.

 

[Lenny HB]

Are you sure, I think you mean WW2

 

[Hettie's Crew]

You’ve got 250 miles to travel before you even get there from Cherbourg.

 

[Stealaway]

Do you mean WW2 site's?
The major WW1 site's are a long way over to the east around Belgium.
All the D Day landing beaches are close by Cherburg and well worth seeing

 

[Riverbankannie]

I gleaned a lot of information from this website

Where our First World War WW1 Self-Drive tours will take you to

Where our Self-Drive tours to the Somme and Ypres battlefields of the First World War 1914-1918 Great War 1914-1918 will take you to

www.battlefield-tours.com

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[Stealaway]

I can see now you are coming from Ireland so Cherburg is a good place to start for you
But all the famous sites are in and around Belgium.
Ypres is the must see place.

 

[Spade]

My ferry options are cherbourg or roscoff unless I go through the uk landbridge.
Although as I type this ,I hear of a new route to dunkirk on the radio.

 

[David and Sally]

My ferry options are cherbourg or roscoff unless I go through the uk landbridge.
Although as I type this ,I hear of a new route to dunkirk on the radio.

Is that from Ireland? If so, what a great route. Wonder what that will cost?

 

[Spade]

Ferry rosslare to cherbourg €490

Sorry, I thought you were asking about the price of the rosslare cherbourg route.
Rosslare -dunkirk route for next year, just on the radio

 

[Hettie's Crew]

Definitely Ypres in the north using Camping Jeugdstadion, a five minute walk into town.
In the south, the Albert, Bapaume, Peronne area, though Peronne‘s gone down hill a bit apart from the WW1 museum.
Albert has good sites but just outside at Authuille, Camping Bellevue is within sight of the Thiepval memorial and gives access to the fields if you want pick up WW1 debris.
Further ‘along the line‘,Verdun is brilliant at Les Breuils Camping.
8 days isn’t long enough though.

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[Bognor Saint]

Don't miss the 20:00 ceremony at the Menin Gate.

 

[David and Sally]

Further ‘along the line‘,Verdun is brilliant at Les Breuils Camping.

+1 on that .

 

[joe and sue]

Done the WW2 "Overlord" tour starting at Caen, Pegasus Bridge, very well signposted and very worthwhile doing

 

[ontheroadagain]

We visited some of the WW1 sites during Sept 2018.
From Northern Ireland our route was Dublin - Holyhead - Folkstone - Calais (via Eurotunnel)
We stayed on two sites -
Camping Jeugdstadion in Ypres and Camping Le Velodrome in Albert.
(The site in Ypres is walking distance from the Menin Gate and the site in Albert is only a 15 minute drive from the Somme).

 

[The Coops]

See if you can get hold of a book called * Before Endeavours Fade* by Rosie Coombs MBE it will give you guided tours of the battlefields and POI its about 40 years old now so might need a bit of searching out,, I lent mine out to a *friend* and am still waiting for its return!

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[Bailey58]

Vicarious Media are still selling The Great War and More guide to the most important sites of the wars, heavily discounted atm.

 

[David and Sally]

Ypres. Menin Gate. Sanctuary Wood. Tyne Cott. WW1 museum in Ypres.

 

[orridge]

Vicarious Media are still selling The Great War and More guide to the most important sites of the wars, heavily discounted atm.

Highly recommended we have done both of these trips in the book along with the Go Dutch one.

 

[PhilandMena]

We have done both WW1 & WW" sites and museums. France has done a fantastic job of preserving much of this history.

 

[cyberyacht]

Camperplaats Zillebeke Vijver is a nice aire, walking distance into Ypres, about 1Km SE of Camping Jeugdstadion. Pleasant lake next door for a walk.

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[Spriddler]

It's mostly WW2 stuff but you will certainly be around Albert (a superb WW1 museum) and if you are interested in old stuff have a wander around this huge private eclectic and very informal museum. I chatted with the eccentric owner who owns a manufacturing company on the same industrial estate and has been collecting the exhibits for 40 years. It is only open on a Saturday and closes just for lunch at noon. Two large hangars crammed with planes and cars, several exhibits outside, and a third hangar with aviation memorabilia (Concorde pinball!). Aircraft exhibited included several Noratlas, Hunter, Ouragan, Vautour,Two Flamants, MIG25, Caravelle, Exocet missile...... You are able to look inside many of the aircraft, mostly accessed by rickety ladders but some you can walk around inside. There are a number of cars mainly French, some restored , some part restored and some beyond restoration. In addition there was a huge area containing the ticket desk , posters of aircraft, thousands of model aircraft ( some unique) also sewing machines, radios , adding machines, antique washing-machines. and ancient tills. I think it was 7 euros entry as the owner runs it just as his passion/hobby. A really fascinating afternoon.
Their new website isn't very detailed as it's being being revamped but there are pics of the masses of stuff on their old website if you Google it.
Here's a very tempting taste of the place:


Musée de l’Épopée de l'Industrie et de l'Aéronautique
Broken Link Removed: 17 Rue de l'Industrie, 80300 Albert, France
Broken Link Removed:
Closed ⋅ Opens 9AM Sat
Broken Link Removed: Broken Link Removed

 

[ChrisSue]

Most of the Munster battalions missed the first day of the Somme but worthwhile taking in the Ulster Tower if you are going to the Thiepval memorial.

The Munster battalions spent a long time on the Ypres Salient so go to the Gate not only for the ceremony but go during the day to check out the Regimental panels.

If you want to personalise your trip then Alan Drumms book "Kerry and the Royal Munster Fusilers" available on Amazon would be worth a read.

Enjoy your trip

 

[Spade]

Thanks for all the great information.
Last question....
Do I need to prebook places or is there an extensive aire network
in the ypres area

 

[ChrisSue]

I've only used the aire but we did also have a guided minibus tour round the Salient which meant we could stay put. Many of them stop at Hooge Crater and it's worth going into the trenches there. Don't forget the Flanders Fields Museum and, of course, the Poppy shop
On the Somme go to the catacombs in Albert.

 

[ChrisL]

Thanks for all the great information.
Last question....
Do I need to prebook places or is there an extensive aire network
in the ypres area

I would prebook the municipal campsite at Ypres "jeugdsation" (spelling?) It's very well located and pretty well kept, you can book it online, the museum is in the cloth hall in the square a short walk from the menin gate. Also the bar next to the gate used to be run by Beatrix and her son Leroy, very nice people and a good place to meet other people before the last post ceremony.

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[Hettie's Crew]

Thanks for all the great information.
Last question....
Do I need to prebook places or is there an extensive aire network
in the ypres area

Definitely need to book Camping Jeugdstadion, it’s very popular because of its location.

Jeugdstadion Ieper - Welcome to the website of campsite Jeugdstadion in Ypres

Jeugdstadion Ieper

www.jeugdstadion.be

 

[orridge]

I've only used the aire but we did also have a guided minibus tour round the Salient which meant we could stay put. Many of them stop at Hooge Crater and it's worth going into the trenches there. Don't forget the Flanders Fields Museum and, of course, the Poppy shop
On the Somme go to the catacombs in Albert.

There is a newish private Aire now at the Hooge Crater Museum

Camperpunt Hooge Crater

Camperplaats Hooge Crater voor 8 campers met een uniek uitzicht op Ieper

www.camperpunthoogecrater.be

 

[Chris Laing]

While we're on the subject of war history a lot of people will not be aware that General George Patton is buried amongst his men at the American Cemetery in Luxembourg. Well worth a visit next time you are transiting to fill up on fuel.
There is also a German war cemetery a mile along the road its a very dark place, it's also worth a visit.

 

[Spade]

Hi.
I didn't want to start a new thread
The thread was about visiting the WW1 sites from Cherbourg.
It now looks like I will be going on my own as my wife cant get off work.
BUT, I'm thinking that maybe they could fly to brussels for the weekend and i could meet them in the camper.
I'll do the WWW1 sites on my own during the week.
SO, I'm looking for recommendations for the weekend part of the trip.
My wife and teenage daughter would come over so shopping on the saturday and culture on the sunday.
So stay in brussels, or any other suggestions.
Thanks

 

[Spriddler]

This vast private museum at Albert, 4 acre site and two really enormous hangers with loads of aircraft inside and out. It is a collection of one enthusiast and is a great visit if you're interested in military vehicles, aircraft, weapons, general equipment and memorabilia.
Totally unsupervised; you can walk inside the very many aircraft, sit in the vehicles etc.
Only opens Sat afternoons. Entry 5 Euros.
It's on an fairly large industrial estate with easy access and deserted on a Sat night and Sunday so probably O.K. for a stop-over.

Epopée de l'industrie aéronautique. 17 rue Industrie. Albert 80300 (Somme, Picardie, France)

Musée de l'Epopée et de l'Industrie Aéronautique

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