| 26 - 28 July 2008 | ||
| This tour is now fully booked. Please call us on 0845 375 0430 if you would like to go on the waiting list or click here to e-mail us. | ||
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The might of the English longbow wielded by the skilled archers of England and Wales has never been more effectively demonstrated than on the legendary, almost magical fields of Agincourt (1415) and Crecy (1346). Against all the odds, two small and outnumbered English armies were able to decisively defeat their French opponents due, in no small part to the dominance of the longbow, a devastatingly effective weapon.
At Crecy, the Genoese crossbowmen of the French Army, who had previously been invincible in clearing the battlefields ready for the French knights to charge, had met their match. We follow Edward III’s army through Blanchetaque to the battlefield of Crecy, where the chivalry of France was destroyed by a despised infantry army one third its size. Seventy years later Henry V’s archers gave him a great victory at Agincourt, in the face of the French nobles confidence in their numerical superiority With your guide Mike Jones you will explore both battlefields in depth and take the opportunity to not only discuss the weapons and tactics employed by both sides but to witness their implementation as they will ably demonstrated before us on the field of Agincourt itself. |
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| Day 1 | (Friday): Depart London Victoria Coach Station 08:45. Dover - Calais Ferry. Drive to Le Crotoy, where the English imprisoned Joan of Arc prior to her execution. Continue to the pretty port of St Valery sur Somme from where William, Duke of Normandy launched his invasion fleet in 1066. Continue to Abbeville and check into our hotel for two nights. | |
| Day 2 | Drive to the field of Agincourt. Surprisingly the battlefield itself has changed little, with the ‘funnel’ formed by the flanking woods, still very much obvious. We will visit the informative Visitors’ Centre and as today will feature the annual re-enactment of the battle we shall take the opportunity of watching the re-enactors in all their splendour and wander around the authentically recreated camps. Presentation dinner. | |
| Day 3 | We now move onto the Crecy Campaign and visit the site of the Somme fords used by Edward III at Blanchtaque prior to the battle. Finally we explore the battlefield itself, gaining a great view from the observation tower and walk the field itself. Calais-Dover ferry. Arrive approximately 1845 Dover and 2030 London. |
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