Pals on the Somme
About the tour: Pals on the Somme
Tour Introduction
At the beginning of WW1, many towns and cities across Great Britain raised Pals battalions, men who had enlisted together in local recruitment drives under the promise that they would be able to serve alongside their friends, neighbours and work colleagues. Join us on this unique tour as we follow in the footsteps on the Pals on the Somme and pay our respects to those who fought and fell on the battlefields. We'll travel to Gommecourt, Serre, Thiepval and examine the Somme following the Pals of many of the UK's towns and cities.
Tour Includes
- 4 nights hotel with continental breakfast
- Specialist Battlefield Guide
- Convenient local joining points
We offer flexible payment options
Once you have booked your battlefield tour either online, or by telephone (), you have the flexibility of how you pay off the remainder of your balance. You can -
- Use our balance payment facility online to make and track your card payments. You can pay as much as you want up until your final due date or pay it all, the choice is yours.
- Send payments via online banking.
- Send payments via cheque.
- Call us and make a card payment, either a small amount or as lump sum until your final due date.
Our contact and online banking payment details will be on your confirmation invoice to remind you of your choices.
Tour Itinerary
For customers living outside of the UK, if you want to make a booking you will need to provide a UK postcode on our online booking system. If you are not able to provide a relevant UK postcode then you can enter the postcode for London Victoria Coach Station – SW1W 9TP. You should then be able to proceed to complete your booking.
If you do encounter a problem then you can speak to one of our friendly advisors who will be happy to help.
Please Note : After completing your booking, a member of our Customer Service team will be in touch to make sure everything is okay.
Either e-mail our Reservations Department or call on 01709 830 333 and they will check to see whether you can visit a particular cemetery on any of our Battlefield Tours, if we are not able to fit it into our itinerary then you could take some time out of the tour and do this independently by taxi or public transport.
Day 1
Local departure by coach, then to our hotel in Amiens where we stay for four nights.
Day 2 - Gommecourt & Serre
We start our tour in the northern part of the battlefield at Gommecourt, examining the Territorial soldiers from London and the Midlands.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.
Included meals: Breakfast
Serre (4)
Key Visits
- Serre
- Sheffield Memorial Park, Serre
- Gommecourt
Day 3 - Thiepval & Lochnagar Crater
We start our day at the Thiepval Memorial, which commemorates many Pals who fell on the Somme. We take time to see the museum and visitors centre, then look at the attack on Thiepval involving the men of the Newcastle Commercials and Salford Pals.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.
Included meals: Breakfast
Ulster Tower (5)
Key Visits
- Ulster Tower
- Thiepval Memorial
- Lochnagar Crater Memorial
- Devonshire Cemetery
Day 4 - The Somme
Today, we return to the Somme and examine the story of the Liverpool and Manchester Pals at Montauban, Trones Wood and Guillemont. We then look at the Pals Battalions who fought in Delville Wood.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.
Included meals: Breakfast
Welsh Memorial, Mametz Wood (4)
Key Visits
- Delville Wood
- Welsh Memorial, Mametz Wood
- High Wood
- Montauban
- Trones Wood
- Guillemont
Day 5
Return Home
Included meals: Breakfast
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.
Specialist Battlefield Guides
All of Leger’s battlefield tours are accompanied by specialist guides. Their individual in-depth knowledge of warfare will be informative, as well as enhance your overall experience, as they recreate a fascinating perception of the history and factual events of each battle. Discover the actual catalysts for war, the strategies employed and the final, inevitable outcomes, as well as experiencing the emotional human side of the front line.
Please note: On certain tours, you may get tour guides other that the ones listed below.
Hotel
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.
All hotel rooms benefit from private bathroom facilities.
Some hotels have tea and coffee making facilities. Please check the tour pages for more information or call our Customer Service Department on 01709 830333
Most hotels have a lift, please call our Customer Service Department on 01709 830333 for more information.
Some hotels have ground floor rooms. Please email for information on individual hotels or call our Customer Service Department on 01709 830333.
Your hotels will supply towels in your room.
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.
Travel Options
Departure times given for each region are approximate. Please check your travel documents to confirm the actual timings.
Front row seats can be reserved for £14pp (up to 6 days duration), £22pp (7 & 8 days duration) and £25pp (9 days duration and over) on all European tours. In addition to this seats on the second row can be reserved for £7pp (up to 6 days duration), £14pp (7 & 8 days duration) and £15pp (9 days duration and over). This offer is only available for bookings of two or four persons on the front row and is subject to availability. Guaranteed front/second row seats cannot be reserved on feeder journeys to/from the U.K. port. Children under 15 years cannot occupy a front row seat due to French Law. Central view seats are free.
Please note: On some coaches the legroom on front seats 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 for any reason and front/second row seats are not available on your new tour you will be refunded the supplement. 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.
We guarantee that all passengers on the same booking will be seated together on the main tour coach. Seats on the transfer coaches to and from the U.K. port are not allocated.
Hot and cold drinks are served on the main tour coaches. Prices are approximately £1 or 1.25 Euro per drink. Prices will be confirmed by the driver. Drinks may also be served on the transfer coaches but this is not guaranteed.
Transfer vehicles are routed approximately 2-3 weeks before departure and will depend on where passengers 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.
All main tour coaches have on-board toilets. Transfer vehicles to and from the U.K. port may not have on-board toilets. When non-British coaches are used on transfers and tours (air holidays only) an on-board toilet may not be available. However, comfort stops will be made during long journeys.
All coaches feature air-conditioning. Should the air-conditioning system break down for a period exceeding 12 hours, compensation will be awarded up to a maximum of £10 per fare-paying passenger per tour.
Depending on the location of your pickup point, you may be picked up by coach (not necessarily the on you are touring on), minibus, taxi, National Express or Megabus service. You may then be taken to another centralised pickup location or service station. We operate a passenger interchange at Stop 24 Services, where you will meet the tour coach you are holidaying on and then continue on with your outbound journey. Similarly, on the way home, you may also change transfer vehicles at another location, to take you to your final drop off point.
One medium sized suitcase per person, which should weigh no more than 20kg when full. We may refuse to carry larger or heavier cases. Hand luggage can be stored in the overhead racks aboard the coach.
It could be either - This will be confirmed in your travel documents.
When it comes to getting to the Battlefields, Leger Holidays make it easy, with a selection of travel options for you choose from.
Travel Extras
With an overnight stay or the option to meet us at the interchange, our travel extras allow you to create a travel experience to suit your needs...
Join coach at Interchange
+ Find out moreJoin your tour coach at the interchange.
On most tours 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 tours to Ireland and the U.K. and tours travelling via Brittany Ferries.
