NEW About the tour: Retreat from Mons

Day 1

Local departure by coach or Door-to-Door service, then to our hotel in Tournai for a three-night stay.

Day 2 - Charleroi & Mons

Today we look at the wider picture of the Battle of Mons, beginning near Charleroi, where French forces were engaged on the British flank. We explore the ground over which they fought the advancing German army, stop at the La Croix Cotelle Memorial, and pay our respects at La Belle Motte Cemetery, the final resting place of French soldiers killed in August 1914. We then turn to the atrocities committed against Belgian civilians during the invasion, seeing the memorials at Tamines that tell the town's tragic story.

After lunch in Binche, we see Casteau, where the British Expeditionary Force opened fire for the first time, followed by the battlefield at Obourg, held by the 4th Middlesex. We also visit Nimy, where the 4th Royal Fusiliers defended the railway bridge and the first two Victoria Crosses of the war were won.

Our day ends at Mons Communal Cemetery, one of the town's often-forgotten burial grounds, where men who fell in 1914 lie buried.

Included meals: Breakfast

Nimy Bridge (7)

Day 3 - Audregnies & St Symphorien Cemetery

We begin this morning on the left flank at Mons, visiting Hautrage Military Cemetery, a lesser-known 1914 cemetery where both sides buried their dead. Nearby, we visit the Royal West Kent Memorial, close to where the regiment fought in August 1914. At Audregnies, we look at the only British cavalry charge at Mons in 1914, visiting the ground where the 4th Dragoon Guards and 9th Lancers attacked, and we see their graves at Elouges.

After lunchtime in Mons, we visit the excellent Mons Memorial Museum, with its many artefacts from the 1914 fighting. We then visit the unique St Symphorien Military Cemetery, where British and German dead lie side by side, and where some of the first and last British casualties on the Western Front are buried.

We end with the final shots at Mons in 1918, seeing the memorial to Canadian soldier George Lawrence Price, who fell two minutes before the Armistice.

Included meals: Breakfast

St Symphorien Military Cemetery (7)

Day 4 - Retreat from Mons & Le Cateau

We leave Belgium and follow the story of the Retreat from Mons in August 1914, when the British Army marched over 200 miles. We visit the ground at Landrecies where the Guards fought, seeing the graves of their fallen. At Le Cateau, we visit the military cemetery and travel across the battlefield to the left flank at Esnes.

After lunchtime in Cambrai, we visit the British Memorial in the fields near Le Cateau and see where the Royal Munster Fusiliers made their last stand at Etreux. We then look at the story of the 'Iron Twelve' and discuss the British soldiers who were executed by the Germans while evading capture, visiting the memorial in the village of Iron and the graves of the men shot at Guise.

We continue to Compiegne for a three-night stay.

Included meals: Breakfast

British Memorial, Le Cateau (4)

Day 5 - Nery & the Marne

We begin at Nery, where British cavalry and Royal Horse Artillery gunners fought a famous action in September 1914 that resulted in the award of three Victoria Crosses. We visit the graves of the fallen and see the memorials, then see the Guards' Grave at Villers-Cotterets.

After lunchtime in Meaux, we visit the La Ferte-sous-Jouarre Memorial to the Missing, which commemorates those who died between Mons and the Aisne and have no known grave. We also see the memorial to the Royal Engineers who bridged the River Marne here.

Looking at the Battle of the Marne in September 1914, when the Germans were stopped from taking Paris, we see the impressive memorial at Dormans, along with French and German cemeteries from the fighting here.

Included meals: Breakfast

RE Memorial, La Ferté-sous-Jouarre (4)

Day 6 - Aisne Battlefields & Museum of the Great War

Today we look at the fighting on the Aisne in September and October 1914, which led to the first major trenches on the Western Front. We visit Vailly British Cemetery in the Aisne valley, then Soupir, where the front lines ran along the plateau above the village, seeing the church with its 1914 graffiti. We then visit Vendresse British Cemetery and the memorial to the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment at Cerny.

After lunchtime in Soissons, we end the tour at the Museum of the Great War in Meaux, which has one of the largest collections of First World War items in Europe and a reconstructed trench system.

Included meals: Breakfast

Vailly British Cemetery (5)

Day 7

Return home.

Included meals: Breakfast