The best cycling routes around Pargnan

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.

Louis Astoul: Along the D18 on the Chemin des Dames, between Cerny-en-Laonnois and the Caverne du Dragon, stands a modest monument to Louis Astoul, a young French second lieutenant in the 70th regiment of tirailleurs sénégalais. He was killed on 16 April 1917, on the first day of the disastrous Nivelle Offensive, at the age of just 24. The monument honours not only him, but also his comrades – mostly colonial soldiers from West Africa – who gave their lives in this region in the hope of a breakthrough that never came. Astoul was reported missing near the village of Paissy, and his body was never found. Today, this memorial recalls the often forgotten role of colonial troops in the Great War, and the personal drama behind the great history.

During the First World War, Cerny-en-Laonnois was a strategic point along the Chemin des Dames, a ridge fiercely contested by French and German troops. In September 1914, the village was taken by the Germans, who used it as a defensive post. They dug deep underground networks in the limestone, which served as shelters and munitions stores. In the spring of 1917, the area became the scene of the Nivelle Offensive, a large-scale French attack that resulted in heavy losses and eventually led to mutinies within the French army. Cerny-en-Laonnois was completely destroyed by artillery fire and fighting. After the war, the village was rebuilt a little further south. Today, the military cemeteries, the memorial chapel and the “Lanterne des Morts” bear witness to the immense human suffering that took place here.