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[Page 3]
Strazeele
8/7/16
- Paid the men in the morning and then all hands got busy packing up for our move. Fell in in full marching order at 1 p.m. and moved off in Brigade column of route with our transport train in rear. The men all loaded up with packs and blankets but right throughout the march they stuck it very well and only two or three fell out. It was the boast of Nos. 9 & 12 that none of them had to leave the ranks. In the other companies it was very noticeable that the "beerheads" fell out.
The route lay through what was easily the prettiest country we have seen since coming to France. We moved along winding roads bordered by green hedgerows or by crops of waving corn. The roads twisted in a most remarkable fashion almost doubling back on themselves at times. One minute Bailleul and the observation balloons near there were on our right and then would suddenly appear on the left or perhaps behind. The long column wound round all these curves and what was perhaps a 9 mile march became very much longer.
We passed through two or three very neat and trim little villages and then came into sight of a hill upon the top of which seemed to be a convent and a number of tents – a very pretty spot. As the march progressed many of the men showed signs of fatigue but plodded on. The hedges are a very beautiful thing in this country and are planted along the ditches which border each field and are deep dug. Thick grass grows rankly down into the water of the ditch. Between paddocks they have no fences, nor are there any along the roads, the cultivation comes right up to the road itself! There is no wandering stock but sometimes one sees a flock of sheep going along following the shepherd and his dog. The crook as a rule has an iron curved head as a good piece of wood shaped naturally in the curve is rarely encountered. The farmhouses looked neat and homely nestling among trees and crops their old thatched roofs often just being visible above some fold in the ground.