The best cycling routes around Pargnan

Today, this necropolis contains 7,526 bodies: 3,533 (46 of whom could not be identified) resting in individual and collective graves, and 3,993 (3,080 of whom could not be identified) in the ossuary. The first work carried out by the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge (German War Graves Commission) was completed in 1928, and the old wooden crosses were replaced with stone crosses in 1972. The German soldiers buried in this necropolis were killed on the Chemin des Dames, primarily during the fighting in the autumn of 1914, the spring of 1915, and the battles of 1917 and 1918.

At the center of the Chemin des Dames, the reconstructed village of Cerny-en-Laonnois is a major memorial center: the French cemetery is complemented by a huge German cemetery, two ossuaries, a memorial chapel, and a British monument. It was here that military and political authorities most often visited the Chemin des Dames after the war. A completely reconstructed site, it appears modest in comparison to the many events that made it one of the most disputed points of the Great War from 1914 to 1918. The memorial chapel, erected in 1951 and dedicated to reconciliation, is part of a complex that has included a lantern of the dead since 1960, intended to illuminate the "field of the dead" with a blue light.

on side of a local bar

on the side of the local bar

This is where you drive in and out of the tunnel. The fan is necessary to ventilate the approximately 2.3 km long tunnel. I looked into the tunnel from the other side – it was warm and stuffy.

Villers-en-Prayères - the lettering on the building shows the town hall and school in a beautiful building.

At lunchtime, we never encountered anyone in the villages on our journey through Champagne. It was deserted and quiet. Only occasionally did we catch the smell of food.

On the eastern edge of the Chemin des Dames plateau lies the Ferme d’Hurtebise, a place that played a crucial role during both the Napoleonic Wars and the First World War. In 1814, it was the scene of the Battle of Craonne, and exactly a century later it again became a strategic junction in the struggle between French and German troops. From September 1914 onwards, fierce fighting took place here. The farm overlooked the Ailette and Aisne valleys, making it a fiercely contested observation post. French units, including Zouaves and the 12th and 49th Infantry Regiments, tried to hold or retake the farm, often with heavy losses. The family that owned the farm sheltered in the cellar for days while the building was under fire. After months of fighting and bombardment, the farm was reduced to ruins, crisscrossed by trenches. Today the site is a symbol of resistance and sacrifice, and is part of the Chemin des Dames memorial landscape.