LRGG Walk Waterloo

 

OK, the day before our walk, the wandering members of the LRGG had visited St.Joseph’s Church & the Wellington Museum, in Waterloo, as well as the Musee du Memorial, the Panorama, Lion Mound and Hougoumont, down on the field itself. Now we were going to walk the field good & proper!

The plan was for a 6 mile walk, covering the Northern part of the field, but in an uncharacteristic fit of enthusiasm, the team elected to also include Napoleon’s Last HQ (Simon will do anything to avoid a bus fare!). Anyway, this changed the plan to a distance of over 10 miles and by the time we were finished, we had plodded over 14 miles!

Anyway, we started our march at the Lion Mound [A]. From the bus stop, we carefully avoided the Frit van out on the N27, (having been forced to consume vast quantities of chips and beer here, the day before!), we reach the Lion Mound, from where we strike East, to La Haye Saint, to study the various memorials located there and peer at La Haye Saint [B], from the other side of the Chau de Charleroi (just to avoid being mowed down by passing high speed traffic!).

From La Haye Saint, we set-off East, along the Allied ridgeline, toward Papelotte. What strikes you here, especially as you move away from the excavations made to create the Lion Mound, is the undulating nature of the terrain. What look like quite gentle slopes, do result in quite markedly varying sightlines, when looking Southward, to the advance axis of the French forces. Fortunately there were also a couple of tractors off to the South, more of less marking the position of Napoleon’s Grand Battery. This offered a good perspective of the position of the French guns even if seeming disconcertingly close for 12 pounders!!

At [C] we reach pretty well the extent of the left flank of the Allied army, so we turned South-East toward Papelotte Farm. Sadly as this is on a private road, it has to be viewed from afar. However, once again, the noticeable feature are the relatively significant humps & bumps of the ground looking from the French positions. It also strikes you as to how exposed the French flank would feel, to the woods, where the Prussians would eventually emerge from later in the day!

From Papelotte [D], we head South, cutting down between where the Durutte’s & Von Ziethen’s forces would clash [E] in the evening.

Arrival in Plancenoit [F] is marked by the very Prussian monument! Also an interesting reflection that virtually every national army involved at Waterloo, seems to have a collective memorial on the field, except for the British!? Anyway, having struggled down to Plancenoit and wandered around the Church, we sit down for coffee and consider what must have been some hideous close quarter fighting across the very village green, where we now quietly sip our coffee!

We now make the final decision to press-on, all the way to Napoleon’s Last HQ, away to the South. The trails down here are rather less well travelled and so we brave many nettle stings & bramble scratches to exposed legs, in order to reach Ney’s HQ at Chantelet Farm, with it’s peculiar Baroque Chapel [G]. Simon indulges in a spot of Prussian marching, just to get in the mood!

On to Napoleon’s Last HQ [H], where it eventually dawns on us that it wasn’t Wellington & Blucher who won at Waterloo, but Napoleon, well at least based on statue count and name drops!?

From Napoleon’s Last HQ, we hack back up through the more modern Western part of Plancenoit, until we get up the Observatoire de Napoleon. No wonder he lost, you can see little from here due to the surrounding high hedges! Anyway, peering over these hedges, you do get an idea of how effective Napoleon’s Grand Battery could have been, when they were able to graze balls off the forward slopes of Mont St Jean ridge, into anything that might be exposed on the ridge.

We then trotted off to the rather unmarked Belle Alliance. Did Wellington & Blucher really meet on this very spot, after such an epic struggle? Seems like there should be some sort of marker?!

A brief detour takes us back down the Charleroi road, to the Victor Hugo column and the rather impressive but overgrown French Guard Wounded Eagle monument. After marvelling at yet another French field memorial, we return to puzzle over why the largest moment on the field, is dedicated to a visit by an author, many years after the battle?!

Back up to Belle Alliance and then left toward Hougoumont [K]. Sadly the big Chateaux is no more and the woods that once stood before the big farm, are all but cleared, but you can still see why this position absorbed over a division of French attacking force!

From Hougoumont, we struggle back up to the Lion Mound, dodging the little electric visitor bus, taking those seemingly unable to manage the 1.2km walk from the Visitor Centre, down to Hougoumont!! Pampered and sheltered from the sun, these folk cared little for the little party of hot & sweaty Brits, who by now had covered over 10 miles!

This same sweaty band of wargaming ‘flesh wobble’, struggled it’s way back to the bus stop. But, horror, no bus for at least 40 mins!? Well we thought, we have walked this far, we may as well walk on! 1.5 miles later, we spy the Café Du Paris bar. Time for a brief refreshment stop. Well 1.5 litres of beer each later, we set off to cover the remaining three-quarters of a mile, back to the enclave of other Waterloo obsessed wargamers, otherwise know as the Waterloo IBIS!? A good, if exhausting day proving that once again that it really helps to walk the actual ground, to properly understand a battle.

p.s. You have to travel into Brussels to find a British Army monument, albeit rather Guards dominated!!