At the start of World War 1, many towns and cities across Great Britain raised Pals Battalions, particularly in the North of England. Join us on this unique tour as we look at the Pals who fought and fell on the Somme. Travel to Gommecourt, Serre, Thiepval and examine the Somme following the Pals of many of the UK's towns and cities on this informative battlefields tour.
5 days from £579 pp
We offer flexible payment options
Once you have booked your tour either online, or by telephone ( 01709 787 463 ), you have the flexibility of how you pay off the remainder of your balance. You can:
Our contact and online banking payment details will be on your confirmation invoice to remind you of your choices.
Local departure by coach, then to our hotel in Amiens where we stay for four nights.
The territorials were, in many ways, the original Pals and helped create the Pals phenomena in 1914. We visit the battlefield around Gommecourt, and also see the memorial to the Bradford Pals who served in this area in 1916.
After lunch, we will spend an entire afternoon looking at the battlefield at Serre, where the Pals were “two years in the making, 10 minutes in the destruction” in the Battle of the Somme. Here we see where the Accrington, Barnsley, Bradford, Hull, Leeds and Sheffield Pals fought on 1st July 1916 – the first day of the Battle of the Somme.
We see the various memorials to the Pals battalions, visit the remains of trenches in the Sheffield Memorial Park and the battlefield cemeteries where their dead are buried.
Key Visits
We then look at the locally raised units of Northern Ireland that were part of the 36th (Ulster) Division, seeing the Ulster Tower and Thiepval Wood.
After lunch we then follow the story of the Tyneside Irish and Scottish Pals at La Boisselle, seeing their memorial and visiting the Lochnagar Crater, as well as seeing the memorial to the McCrae’s Battalion at Contalmaison.
We end the day at the Devonshire Cemetery, where we see the graves of Pals from Devon who were all buried together after the 1st July, and look at the battlefield from where the German machine guns were firing.
Key Visits
After lunch in Albert, we have time to see the war museum before visiting Mametz Wood, where we examine the battalions from Wales. We will see their Red Dragon memorial, and the battlefield around High Wood. We then move on to look at the end of the Battle of the Somme, which also brought an end to the Pals Battalions, who fought there in 1916.
Key Visits
Return Home
Thiepval
Thiepval Memorial is undergoing major restoration work from March 2020 through to 2021. We will still be visiting Thiepval Memorial during your tour but various parts of the structure will be inaccessible. Visitors wishing to see relatives’ names, will be able view the relevant panels via a new digital exhibition. The exhibition will also feature some of the casualties commemorated and the wider work of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
Book online OR call our friendly travel advisers on:
01709 787 463
If you prefer, then you can join the tour at the hotel. To do this, we will require a copy of your passport for identification purposes and you must advise us at the time of booking.
No reduction will be given if you should choose to do this.
We are unable to guarantee that the hotel will be able to meet your dietary requirements. We find that the majority of European countries do not generally cater for vegetarians and that the meal supplied may well be what everyone else is having minus the meat.
We will of course endeavour to arrange for a vegetarian meal at the hotel. We do however suggest that you advise us of your dietary requests at the time of booking and recommend that you speak to the receptionist on arrival with regard to your request.
You will stay for four nights at the 3-star Ibis Amiens Centre Cathedrale. The hotel is situated only five minutes' walk from the heart of the city with its bars and restaurants.
Front row seats can be reserved for £15pp (up to 6 days duration), £25pp (7 and 8 days duration), £30pp (9 to 11 days) or £35pp (12 days or more) on all European tours. This offer is only available for bookings of two or four persons on our Executive and Silver Service coaches and for one or two persons on our Luxuria coaches and is subject to availability. In addition to this, seats on the second row can be reserved for a supplement of £8pp (up to 6 days duration), £15pp (7 and 8 days duration), £18pp (9 to 11 days) or £22pp (12 days or more).
Guaranteed front or second row seats cannot be reserved on transfer journeys to/from the UK port. Occasionally, front and second row seats may be on a request only basis.
Please note: children under 15 years of age are not permitted to sit in the front seats of any coach.
On some coaches the legroom on front seats, central view seats and seats directly in front of the washroom may be slightly less than that available on other seats due to the presence of a modesty board in front.
If your tour is cancelled or merged for any reason and front or second row seats or central view seats or table seats are not available on your tour, you will be refunded any supplement paid. No other compensation will be payable.
Alternatively, we can take seating requests on your booking. However, requests are not guaranteed. All seat numbers are confirmed on travel documents approximately 7-10 days prior to departure.
Central View Seats are available to pre-book free of charge.
Table Seats are available to pre-book free of charge on our Luxuria coaches.
Transfer coaches are routed approximately 2-3 weeks before departure. The route taken depends on where paassengers are booked to travel from on any particular date as to which route is taken. If you require further detailed information regarding the route to the port you can contact our Customer Service Department on 01709 830333 two weeks before you are due to travel.
With regard to the route taken by the main tour coach, this is determined by the driver.
When it comes to getting you to your destination, Leger Holidays make it easy, with a selection of travel options for you to choose from.
We have hundreds of coach joining points throughout England, Scotland and Wales. To find your nearest joining point, search using your postcode below.
*Please note joining points are subject to availability.
Why not go the night before your tour for a relaxing start?
You can park for FREE for up to nine days at the Holiday Inn Ashford North and enjoy an overnight stay with English breakfast from just £41.50 per person (Based on 2 sharing a twin/double room on a B&B basis, subject to availability. Single supplements and terms and conditions apply.) We’ll then collect you from the hotel on the day of departure and return you there at the end of your holiday.
To book this package, please call the hotel on 01233 713333, select option 1, quoting ‘Leger Holidays’ and your booking reference. If your holiday is longer than seven days you can pay for additional days’ parking. Ask one of our friendly reservations team for more details when you book your holiday
On most holidays if you’d prefer to join your tour coach at Stop 24 services, you can park your car in the car park which is accredited by the Park Mark safer parking scheme and is monitored 24 hours a day by CCTV. Payment for the parking is made on arrival using the self-service machines. Excludes holidays to Ireland and the U.K. and tours travelling via Brittany Ferries.
To book this tour, just give our friendly team a call on 01709 787 463 or book online at www.leger.co.uk