A truly magical and special day!

August 2, 2016

When we were checking out this morning, Philippe the owner of the hotel was talking to Mary Ellen and he said that a friend of his would love to meet us as he was an expert in the Fort Garry Horse and the events that my grandfather was involved with during the Battle of Cambrai. Philippe phoned the man and he came right over. Jean-Marie was a retired history teacher who was an expert in the history of the calvary during W.W.1. Jean-Marie had written an article in a history magazine about the Fort Garry Horse being caught behind enemy lines and the events that transpired during the night. He was very excited to be able to talk to the grandson of one of the 46 survivors of that night almost 100 years ago.Jean-Marie kindly gave us the magazine that the article was in and also signed the magazine for us. Jean-Marie was greatly involved in the creation of the Fort Garry Horse monument that we had been searching for .

It was truly an amazing experience for Mary Ellen and I and what a wonderful coincident that we stayed at a hotel whose owner was so passionate and knowledgeable about the Battle of Cambrai.

We are grateful to Philippe for facilitating such a wonderful experience.

As a result of our exciting time at the hotel we did not get started riding until the afternoon. We battled a fierce head wind,heavy rain and a number of detours throughout our ride and found a very cheap motel to stay in for the night. What a magical and special day!

When we first rode up to the hotel, we had no idea what was in store for us. We were impressed by the lovely grounds and charming hotel, but we didn't realize that the choice of this hotel would continue to enrich our journey of discovery about Barry's grandfather's time here during the war. The owner of the hotel, Philippe, was surprised and excited to hear that we were in Cambrai because we had been on a quest to find the Fort Garry Horse monument in Mansieres.

We met this man as we were leaving Cambrai. Amine is doing a charity ride from Amsterdam to Morocco for "Cycling for Kidney Heroes"

We happened upon this Canadian war cemetary. The soldiers had died during a battle just weeks before the war ended.

Isabelle helped us find a hotel to stay in. She owned a lovely little fruit and vegetable store.

Jean-Marie gave us the magazine which contains the article he had written about the Fort Garry Horse and the battle during WWI which included Barry's grandfather. His research had included conferring with Fort Garry Horse Museum in Winnipeg and the family of another Fort Garry Horse survivor of the battle. We were eager to learn from him and hewas anxious to hear what we knew as well.

Philippe-W.W.1 -tank expert and Jean-Marie- calvary expert

Philippe is extremely passionate about the history of tanks during the battle of Cambrai. He has co-authored a book about the tanks at the Battle of Cambrai.

Jean-Marie and Philippe in the lounge at the hotel

Jean-Marie kindly signing the magazine for us

We met this wonderful cat at Isabelle's fruit and vegetable store.

Today's ride: 45 km (28 miles)
Total: 1,776 km (1,103 miles)

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