In the footsteps of the Celts and the Red Baron

The starting point is on the Grand Canal below Place du Château.

(S/E) Head back up towards the square and Rue du Prévotier, heading west towards Bonnay, until you reach the drinking trough.

(1) Turn left onto Rue du Moulin and continue to the hamlet of Caquevel.

(2) Carry on straight ahead and cross the railway line with care. Continue straight on until you reach the junction with the D120.

(3) Cross the D120 and carry on straight ahead. Walk alongside the Delamotte woods until you reach the top of the hill.

(4) Turn left, then, 50 metres further on, turn right onto the dirt track and carry on until you reach the D1 departmental road.

(5) Cross the D1 with care and turn left onto the hard shoulder, walking for just under a hundred metres until you reach the farm track leading down towards Vaux.
Turn right and walk downhill to the church at Vaux-sur-Somme.

(6) Turn right and walk along the pavement towards Corbie until you reach the edge of the village. Cross the D233 and take a look at the anamorphic painting erected in memory of Manfred von Richthofen and the information panel.

(7) Head back in the other direction towards the centre of Vaux.

(6) Opposite the church, turn right onto Rue de l’Abreuvoir, heading towards Vaire-sous-Corbie until you reach Rue de Sailly. Turn left and follow Rue de Sailly to the cemetery. Carry on to the left, following the tarmac road to the farm buildings. Cross the D233 with care and turn right; walk alongside the road for about a hundred metres to the wayside shrine.

(8) Take the first left, with your back to the wayside cross, until you reach the first junction.

(9) Turn right and head up the Bosquet Duval valley until you reach the D1.

(10) Turn left and follow the D1 for 450 metres.

(11) Cross the D1 and take the road leading down towards Méricourt-l’Abbé until you reach the first junction.

(12) Turn left and follow the flat track, taking in the panoramic view of the lower Ancre valley, until you reach the top of the hill you passed earlier.

(4) Head back down to the right towards Heilly, rejoining the D120.

(3) Cross it with care. Continue to the entrance to Caquevel.

(2) Here, there are two options:
- either carry on to the right, directly towards the finish (option not taken)
- or turn left and take a detour of about 2.2 km around the Corbie ponds (federal ponds), taking care not to disturb the anglers.

(13) The optional circular loop passes between two ponds, then goes round the one on the left before returning along the railway embankment. Head towards Caquevel.

(2) Walk through the hamlet of Caquevel and continue along Rue du Moulin to the crossroads at the drinking trough.

(1) Turn right and return to the starting point (S/E).

An easy walk, but caution is required when walking alongside and crossing local roads and the railway line.

NB: On 10 June 2018, the meeting point is Place du Château at 8.30 am for walkers and at 10.00 am for mountain bikers; the mountain bike route is 25 km long.
On 10 June, both routes will be signposted.
For more information, follow this link.

Heilly Castle and its grand canal (now dry), as well as the church, date from the 18th century.

(Between 2 and 4) The walk passes the site where a British field hospital was located during the Great War, then the ‘Heilly Station Cemetery’, situated in the municipality of Méricourt l’Abbé, where nearly 3,000 Commonwealth soldiers and 83 Germans are buried.

Vaux-sur-Somme preserves the memory of a German figure from the Great War, Manfred von Richthofen, nicknamed the Red Baron, who died on 21 April 1918 and was buried, after receiving honours from his adversaries, in Bertangles Cemetery.
(Between 4 and 5) Look to the right to see the chimney of the Sainte-Colette brickworks and, a little further on, on the other side of the road, the Corbie woods. It was here that the Red Baron made an emergency landing after being mortally wounded by Australian artillery.
(At 7) Take a look at the anamorphic painting – a work of commemorative art – and the information panel dedicated to it.

Near point (2) – on the left on the way back – another aircraft, a French one, crashed on 20 May 1940 into the Caquevel pond, at the entrance to Heilly. Its pilot, Second Lieutenant Duchêne-Marulaz, who was wounded, managed to parachute to safety and was evacuated along with other French officers, before returning to service as a fighter pilot with the Lafayette Fighter Group.