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• day 09
• Tuesday, 4 September 2018
• Rancourt to Peronne
• 176 km to yesterday
•   10 km today
• 186 km on Via Francigena to date

On waking I recall the problem I encountered after dinner last night.  My charger is still at the Ibis in Arras.  And any charger wont do.  I have a tablet with a 10 inch screen.  Not only a bit power hungry during the day, they need a charger with some oomph beyond those used by normal sized phones.  I call the Ibis in Arras and yes, they have the charger and await instructions.  

While the assistant manager at Hotel le Prieure, Rancourt has English, it is very clear we do not have the same vocabulary.  Eventually he arranges for an Arras based taxi to go to the Ibis, pick up the charger and bring it to Rancourt.  The driver is lovely and her charges are quite modest.

I get away quite late in the morning with a modest itinerary for the rest of the day, continuing on the D1017.  After a short while I pass over the Canal du Nord. European canals are wide with large barges being the beasts of burden.  I had first encountered their like at Moissac when walking from Le Puy-en-Velay in April 2016. And the Canal du Nord is no exception.  As I walked I recalled seeing images when the Kiwi soldiers, operating north-east of here, were part of the taking of this canal just on 100 years before.  

The approach to Peronne is not far on and I can see the tops of a memorial a few hundred metres ahead.  Having see many French memorials over the years, this one seems a little different. And it is.  

It is a memorial to the Australian 2nd Division battle of Mont Saint-Quentin.  There are fresh flowers and I can see the battle started on the night of 31 August 1918.  Just a few days (and 100 years) before.  The story board is fascinating and describes the flexibility of some small units in achieving their goals.  This memorial (and most of Peronne) is at 100 meters above sea level.  Mont-Saint-Quentin itself is just over 10 metres higher but gave a grand view of the surrounding countryside for enemy artillery.  The Somme River is about 1 km in the other direction at about 50 metres above sea level.  From reading that night I learn this was the last battle for this Australian division and one of the last battles the Australians too part in.  They had been heavily involved in pushing back the enemy offensive in March 1918 and now taking the fight forward and were exhausted.  I carry on to the museum title Historial de la Grande Guerre, pay the fee and walk around.  The museum is new and attached to a large ancient castle close by the River Somme.

In the town I do not see any accommodation so walk out of town and encounter a simple place.

And so to bed.