After a wonderfully peaceful night on our own alongside the Canal du Nord, with barges passing regularly, today has been a very quiet day.

2C outside this morning, but lovely sunshine, and very cosy indoors, resulted in a rather late start, but no plans today. I had my work-related conference call late morning, then we had a simple lunch of curried baked beans and fried onions.

We were thinking about another night in this great spot, but after checking the weather forecast and that snow was a likelihood tonight, we thought it best to head for Marcoing, near Cambrai.

En route to the Park4night we stocked up at Lidl, topped up our LPG at Cora as well as filling up with fresh water at the Marcoing aire, including an extra “bladder” just in case we get snowed in.

As we settled down to mulled wine, chestnuts, & Belgian chocolates last night we were treated to a light flurry of snow outside our windows, and by bed time it was coming down a bit thicker. It did look very lovely, but no more than about an inch fell, and by morning the thaw had begun. Occasionally through the night we’d hear the snow sliding off the trees, as well as some branches snapping, but all was well, and by the time we were ready for the off, the roads were very passable, and temperature has not gone below about 1C.

From Marcoing we were ideally placed to hunt down Sophie’s great uncle Edward de Faye’s possible final resting place near Villers Guislain. He died commanding his tank on 1st December 1917, so we’ve been aiming to visit today, the 100th anniversary.

We visited a few poignant spots in the area relevant to him. We firstly visited the British War Cemetery at Gouzeaucourt, where it is thought by some that he may be buried. We actually bumped into a friendly English couple there who were visiting a great uncle’s grave, and coincidentally he too had died on 1st December 1917.