Oradour sur Glane

Friday August 22^nd

Still sunny in part, but a little overcast this morning. I went for a shower – in cold water as it turned out – before we packed up and left about 11.00 am. We headed for Limoges down the toll motorway – cost 18.5 Euros for the bit that we covered. The drive took about five hours with a short break to change drivers and have lunch. We were heading for an aire, and were pleasantly surprised when we got there. It was well set out and landscaped, with hardstanding plots for the motorhomes, separated by small hedges and even toilets and a washing up area. K said that the loo was better than the one on the campsite, and it was free to stay on this aire.

We passed a supermarket on the way in, and so got the bikes down when we had parked, and made our way back to it to buy some provisions (beer). Next day we were glad that we had put the bikes away properly, with covers, as it rained quite a bit in the night.

Saturday August 23^rd

After breakfast we took our rain Macs with us as we set out to walk to the memorial for the town. It took about fifteen minutes and it was raining fairly hard by the time we got there. On 10^th June 1944 the German army made an example of the town of Oradour sur Glane by killing everyone in it – some 642 men, women and children.

The town has been left as a memorial to that day and it stands quietly falling into decay. It is a very sad place to be, especially in the cemetery, where you can see pictures on tombstones, and whole groups of families buried together. Many of the remains could not be identified, as the soldiers had defiled the bodies – mixing them together and burning them. In the cemetery there is a memorial with two glass caskets showing the burnt and charred broken remains of human bones. We both got quite emotional and started a quiet walk back to the van. We passed through the visitors centre – which has exhibitions and information about what happened in the town.