Fair Stands the Wind for France

I am one of the most fortunate of individuals, I don't have lots of friends, but those I do, I tend to keep, the man in this case is Dave..I've known him for well over 50 years, and I believe the first time we met was at a Scout Camp in Ayr, where as callow youths we delighted in raiding each others tents, and rubbing boot polish into unsuspecting sleeping youths...So much so that Dave, had to leave camp early and ended up with a nasty case of impetigo... Ahh such are the rocks on which friendship is built.. well early this year the Serene Lady Margaret and I met Dave & his wife Jan, in Edinburgh, a chance to go visit our home capital, but without the siren call of family and elderly relatives, which had for years meant any visit was limited and the chance to explore was limited in the extreme. So a weekend away, Trains and Hotels, Restaurants and "Culcher"..It was great, but an unexpected side turn happened on our visit to Embra Castle.. specifically to the War Memorial, a fabulous building, serene, austere and quite moving. Jan mentioned her Great Uncle had died in France during the Great War, so we suggested she ask someone... Well the effect was magical, the person she asked took all teh information she had, and within a few minutes they had a graveyard and a precise position, Te guys at Commonwealth War Graves Commission were wonderful, courteous and helpful... It was wonderfully moving and poignant for us too

So it will come as NO surprise that we got a phone call this week, from Jam asking if we wanted to join them on a trip to Northern France, to visit said graveyard, and the other fabulous memorial's to mans nobility, bravery and utter stupidity, followed by a leisurely drive across the North of France to Normandy, to gorge on Cheese & Calvados.. Also , perhaps a visit to the D-Day beaches.

We're booked into a nice hotel in Arras for a couple of days to visit the Great War sites, and then a couple of hundred miles across to Bayeux in Normandy to visit the D Day sites. I suspect we will be imbibing our own body weight in red wind & Camembert, but, to my chagrin I find the french have sent their famous tapestry in entirely the opposite directions (The swine). we'll be staying in an Air BnB and I will add to this stub as the trip develops