Normandy 2014

we have advanced plans to do a similar trip to Normandy in 2014.

For that purpose we will set up a new blog

"Sydney-Normandy 2014

See you there

LIBERATION PARADE Apeldoorn 9 May 2010

We are taking advantage of my storage in Holland to participate in the Grand Liberators parade.
Several hundred mostly Canadian liberators of Holland will participate in a Grand Parade through Apeldoorn (our home town) in The Netherlands.

A few hundred thousand spectators are expected for this Last ? parade. As most are in their 80's or older.

Willy will be proud to carry two canadian veterans.
The boss and Marielle will host the Canadians and they will put in a grand effort to make me look as good as possible.

See you soon on TV.

LOADING AT BRECHT

On all good things come an end.

After a few days of rain driving from Ypres to the proximity of the port of Antwerp we had a sunny day for preparing the vehicles for shipping.

So may more places and events had been visited than reported on this site. Everyday had its highlight and my body is still buzzing with impressions.

After helping the Aussies and NZérs load their vehicles,

The boss drove me on to Apeldoorn in Holland.

We could not believe that after 5000 miles we arrived 100m from our final destination to see the veterans day celebrations on the Market place.

Willy just joined in for the fun and phoned a few friends to welcome us back in our new home.

The trip has been very succesfull and the impressions need many more months to sink in.

Many thanks for all who looked after us in the last weeks.

But for now I leave it and I am looking foward to short trips during my retirement

It has been a pleasure informing you about our progress in the last six weeks.

To all, the very best and hope to see you soon,

Willy, 12 June 2009

Many thanks to all in the group who cared for me. In the end a flat tyre and a starting motoe was all that failed. And that a t my age of 67 !!

ST QUENTIN CABARET

After Dieppe , Amiens we left for St Quentin Cabaret, where Graham has an uncle buried who was killed in May 1917.

It is believed that he was the first relative to visit this grave site.

We planted a hortensia which should last the summer.

It made for a very special stop on our trip to honour a distant relative whose live was cut short at the tender age of 21..

We also helped along an englishman who was looking for the proverbial needle in the haystack...

But our map with approximately 100 cemetries around Ypres helped him locate the one he was looking for..

Willy 8 June 2009

40th Wedding Anniversary

The co-pilot had his 40th wedding anniversay in Normandy.

Just the occasion for a big celebration with his family.

The tent was exchanged for a suitable villa and the off spring

with partners were all there.

A suitable speech was given by the pilot .

(The 40th couple are to the left on the foto)

We all enjoyed a great dinner party at the local golf club.

Willy, 7th June 2009

D-DAY 2009

What a day it has been.


In convoy with the poms to a beach East of Arromanche. Then we had to wait for low tide for a few hours.



The gendarmerie had blocked many roads for festivities and we had to use a few back roads and a distant beach to get a back door on to Arromanche beach.














The intention was to join a massive gathering of vehicles and craft on the beach at Allamanche.






Willy did not wait for low tide and waded through the sea wet sand to join the family, who were already waiting for a few hours. That gave us a prime spot on the beach, next to a landing craft.



There were still many real veterans and we paid our respect to them in style.






Wonderfull to see quite a few still in good health.

Old soldiers never die










Willy", 6 June 2009

FAMILY Gathering

The families of the pilot and co-pilot arrived in Port a Boissin early in the week and they joined them in some very comfortable accomodation.

I was unloaded to carry more passengers and all slept in grande style.

The co-pilot and his wife celebrated their 40th anniversary on the 7th, and the pilot has withnessed all 40 years.

We were joined by the children of both pilot and co-pilot which amde for a happening of 11 people.

What a unique happening. They took turns to make trip with Willy and waving to the other WWII vehicle drivers.

Willy, 7 june 2009

Congratulations Rene and Carla, many happy returns

Well done.

Will

NORMANDY COAST

I have a bit of catch up to do.

We arrived on the Normandy North coast last Monday and we have been really busy with visiting sites and getting the reception for President Obama and Sarcosy ready.

Visiting many hostoric battle sites and taking it all in.

One of the famous sites is St Marie Eglise , were one poor paratrooper got stuck on the church steeple. The poor bugger is still there.

WE also took advantage of the low tide and fine weather to drive on a number of beaches. Omaha beach here we come. A fantastic experience to be here and commemorate the landings .

Not good for Willy's under belly all that salt sand. But coming all the way one might as well.

Here is Willy with in the background some very smart looking Italians.

They brought a salut to us in respect of the distance travelled. They had heard from their friends in Sarponia about our trip .

News travels fast.

Willy, 3 June 2009

PERIERS

Not far from the Normandy coast destination , we were guest of an english family. True military vehicle enthousiast. Their vehicles stay in a nice new barn. Willy was quite jealous on that luxury stuff. Plenty to aim for , for the boss. He wished that he had a barn like that. It would be instantly filled with goodies.

The Coombe's organised a very nice barbeque for all of us. Great hospitality !

Trusty Mick having a good look at the coffee we were drinking.

We convinced him to join in.

See you next time.

Willy, 31 May 2009

A SPOT OF BOTHER

Who reaches for high result can also come down to earth with a thump.



This happened to me yesterday on the way from Mont St Michel to Periers.



Willy had to pull over to to let some old men do their business on the side of the road.



When I tried to make some more space to let a few vehicles in , my front wheel fell down a hidden french ditch.



I heard the co-pilot scream in panic "are you going to fall over Willy".

Naeh , I am all-right it takes a fair bit for that to happen. But the co-pilot made a hasty retreat , with some marks in his pants....







Even for good ole Willy this was a big task to get out off.

Low range, 4-wheel drive and first gear did not do the job.

Rather than straining my essentials, we enlisted some help from NZ érs.

So with the help of good ole Dodge , I was back on track in a jiffy.

All of this took less time than to read this, but it is still creating exitement for many of the others and some embarrasment for thge pilot.

Willy is still unmarked, other than some grass around the propshaft.

Willy, 31 May 2009

MONT ST MICHEL

Mont St. Michel lies on the coast of Normandy/Bretannie.It is a small rock linked with a causeway to the mainland.





It used to flood at high tide , which can be several meters in this part of the world. But the road was increased in height and the island is now accessable all day.



This has caused the surrounding marshes to silt completely full. The Island is therefor not an island any longer .

It is the intention to replace the road with an elevated train track on pilons and remove the road.
This is supposed to make it an island again.

Anyway this is all too complicated for Willy.


Willy, 30 May, 2009

WILLY at the ARC de TRIUMPH

Before setting off to The coast, it was decided to honour the unknown soldier with a salute at The Arc and a run on the Champs Elyssees. So an early start and we were in the centre at about 07.30 am.





Then a run on the Champs Elysees towards the Place de la Concorde. The parisioners did not quite appreciate us slow coaches thundering down the main boulevard. But it made for an impressive sight.





Followed by a drop off of the photographers on the footpath and a salute at the Arc. Fancy standing in front of the famous Arc the Triumph !!!!


The police took an interest aswell and we had to make a retreat at last.

Were on earth would you be allowed to stand in front of such a monument with all traffic looking at you. (And the drivers shaking their heads)

It certainly was one of the highlights of the trip to provide this honour to the unkown soldier.

Willy, 29 May 2009

PARIS

It took a half day to get to Paris from Verdun.

The camp site was at Bois de Bologne and did create a bit of a problem to get there. As the grandslam tennis is on at Roland Garros which is at the Bois de Bologne.

The boss and the co-driver decided to go to the tennis and give me some well earned rest. But , unfortunately there were no tickets available at all. Only through some scalpers. They could see some of the warm up courts but they decided to watch it on the big screen in Paris .

At the Arc Le Triumph we ran into a group of veterans from Rouan providing honour to the unknown soldier. The traffic was suitably stopped and the old diggers marched to the Arc to lay a wreath. With a guard of honour of active soldiers and a band of the marines.

Then a quick tour of a few sites and a long day was closed of succesfully.

Willy, 27 May 2009

MULHOUSE - VERDUN

A pleasant drive through the beautiful Voges country side from Mulhouse to Verdun.

On the way we passed and stopped at the birth place of Jeanne dÁrc. Is the female hero of the french and shown on many of their coins.

A two day night at the camp in Verdun gives an opportunity for car maintenance and people maintenance. (washing and shower) I do not like dirty people on my seats.

Today a drive through the battlefields of Verdun. It is amazing what a stupid war the "Great war" was. All wars are stupid in my view , but this one saw a couple of million casualties. In Verdun alone it was 500,000.

It is amazing to see the landscape still pock marked with bomb craters. Even nearly a hundred years later.

Here I am in front of the memorial for the 120,000 unknown soldiers.

Unfortunately it started to rain quite heavily and we had to make our retreat later that afternoon.

Especially for the fans of the co-pilot, herewith proof that he is a real camper

.

It is true that two grown up men sleep in the smallest and oldest tent on camp Anzac.

I much rather sleep out in the open !

Willy, 25,26 May 2009.

LUZERN - MULHOUSE

Only a short drive to the french city of Mulhouse today.

Amazingly there is no border control in Switzerland anymore. No asking for insurance certificate nor passports. We cheated in not buying a Swiss motorway pass of 60 SFR. But still ran a bit on the motorways. Swiss police do not hand out tickest on Sundays ...

In the city of Mulhouse we went to the Schlumpf museum. There is the biggest collection of Bugattis in the world. The boss tried to swap me for one of these french fancy cars but the offer was rejected. I would not have minded to be retired in a french museum.

A nice airconditioned stable and the admiration of men and woman alike.

Willy, 24 May 2009

SIMPLON PASS - FURKA PASS

From the Lago Maggiore it is a long 25km up to the SIMPLON PASS which is at 2000 m. The drivers were so lucky with the weather , being an unseasonably 30 degrees. But for us old vehicles it was a hell of a ride. There were casualties of the hot weather. Overheating , vopour lock and other misbehaving.

I did fine with only a bit of a temperature and left the peloton behind me and was first at the top. It had been snowing the week before so there was still lots of it at the top. The water running of in the rivers was wild as the temperatures had been so high in the last few days.

From the Simplon the route was to the Furka pass. This one is closed until mid June and the only way over is on the roll on , roll off train.

Beautiful scenery was enjoyed by all.

The Furka tunnel is 15km long . Drivers stay in the vehicles . The noise for Willy's drivers was deafening. It was also quite cold. Willy never went this fast as the top speed of the train was around 100km per hour. I have never moved this fast....

THen on to a small town near Luzern were we stayed on farm land near a Marahisja conference centre.

At night the pilots got an introduction of the science of enlightment. I was glad that I could go to bed early.

Willy, 23 May 2008

LAGO MAGGIORE

Today a relatively quiet day . We stayed two nights at the campground and wanted to drive around the lake today.

Too late we realised that the most northern part of the lake is in fact in Switzerland. To enter one needs the passport ,but those were kept as collateral at the campground office !

Therefore we only drove to the border and back. There are some very nice towns around the lake .

Some of the mansions are classic Lake design. Many Porsches and Maserati's were looking at our old bodies with envy....

None of the old fellows in those cars beeped or waved, Like many others do. They must have been jaleous.

The boss and co walked in the various towns and left us in a carpark. Sofar they have been lucky. The Italians here seem honest. Tomorrow a quick dash into Switzerland to keep this record clean.

Willy, 22 May 2009

TORINO - LAGO MAGGIORE

Last night we went down to the city, as the campground was on a hill just on the skirt of the city of Torino.

A nice city but we stayed too short to get a good impression.

The city is very much like many old european cities. Wide boulevards lined with covered shopping arcades. And then the various squares.

We went to the Piazza Castello and had a very generous buffet for the lowest price imaginable including a beer. The boss was very pleased and so were his mates.

Today a relatively short drive towards the southern tip of Lago Maggiore. To morrow we are going to drive around the lake and see what it really looks like.

Reports about that tomorrow.

Willy, 21 May 2009

PISA - GARLENDA- TORINO

After an early rise we took off to the famous leaning tower and had our pictures taken. Entry was made despite the closed road signs !
The Carabinieri were not impressed but did not interfere.
They let us have our day in front of the Leaning Tower.

We left the appropriate oil spils on the pavement and then left for Genua. (Garlenda)

I still did not like the new co-pilot and had him push start me a few times.
The boss then borrowed a new starter motor from Tony and we are flying again without getting Rene out of breath.

Along the coast on the Autostrada to Albenga and then the small town of Garlenda.
Here the FIAT 500 friends of Lang and Bev had put on some festivities.
We paraded behind the local brassband throught the town. All traffic was stopped for the occasion. We caused some exitement with the local traffic.

Then into the FIAT club museum and off to the tennis club for a giant italian meal. The food just kept coming.

Today a run through the hills up to Turin.

The weather is getting warmer and I am running quite a sweat. But a bit of extra water and oil and I am in bussiness. Until the next time.

Willy, 21 May 2009

Scarperia - Florence - Pisa

This morning a solo run with Marielle to Florence. The others took the train from Scarperia, but Marielle had to catch the plane back to Amsterdam.

We drove through the centre of Florence and then on to Pisa.

Had a good look around the sites and then to the airport to drop Marielle off and pick up a new co-pilot (Rene).


I did not like the looks of the extra weight , compared to Marielle. So I took revenge and refused to start at the airport.

So Rene had to push start me before he could even get in the first time.

We got that fixed when we got to the campground. The campground was very difficult to find. Some have not arrived as yet (it is now 11 PM)


Willy, 18 May 2009
welcome on board Rene (post photos tomorrow.)