L'Hermitage Gantois - Jill & Phil

A day of preparation for Phil to complete his inventory of military records of those who served in WWI in the Somme area from our respective families - my grandfather David Samuel Webster; Phil's step-Grandpa Bill Hodge; his Uncle Samuel Cowan and his Great Uncle Arthur Harold Ellens who died in Hargcourt on the way to St Quentin in the vicinity of Villiers Bretteneux on 29 th September, 1918.

Also we have changed our plans in order for my wish to stay in France longer to be granted. We will stay another two nights in Lille amd from there go to Colmar for three nights. Then we will head off to Lake Como and perhaps skip Zurich altogether this trip. The changes meant a lot of re-booking etc and working out routes. Lucky Phil is so good at that.

So the day was spent at the luxurious hotel of L'Hermitage Gantois - remember it used to be a hospice and they used the existing building for a hotel now. So the rooms are very different from what is the norm

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Starting with breakfast

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Then sitting in the lounge area

Visiting the garden with a wisteria arch purported to be 500 years old

The chapel with its beautiful stained glass window

The list of foundation members who had been housed here since 1462 and an early x-ray machine
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The corridors and an early x-ray machine

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And a little bit more of this....

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At 7.00pm in the bar, we met the group we will be travelling with for the next 5 days. 16 Australians generally about our age with our leader Francis, an Englishman. The group blended immediately over dinner and we had very pleasant company of Denise and Michael from Adelaide. Michael had just spent 5 days cycling in the Swiss Alps. Needless to say he and Phil had a lot in common and to talk about. A very nice evening.

So off tomorrow on our tour of The Somme.