Tour Details
The cost – includes breakfast, hotel accommodation, coach, museums and guide, although food and drinks are not included – is £1,150 per person.
A three-day, two-night tour exploring the famous Waterloo Campaign of 1815. Beginning with a visit to the vital battlefield of Quatre Bras, we will explore the action in which the campaign’s eventual outcome may well have been decided. Our second day includes a fully guided walking day of the entire Waterloo Battlefield to follow the action in that famous battle, with a specific focus on the fighting around the farmhouse of Hougoumont. Our final day sees us visit the equally vital battlefields of Wavre and Ligny where Prussian troops faced French forces in two much overlooked encounters.
Itinerary
Beginning in the UK, we travel to France via Dover-Calais Ferry and then on directly to Belgium. Our visits this afternoon include the crossroads of Quatre Bras where, having been beaten to the punch by Napoleon, Wellington scrambled forces to defend the vital link between himself and the Prussian forces. Visits include to Bossu Wood where Saxe-Weimar’s troops saved the day and to Gemioncourt Farm where some of the most bitter fighting of the entire Campaign was seen. A short visit to Ligny to discuss the major Prussian action on the same day completes our first day. Accommodation in Waterloo and evening meal.
Beginning in the town of Waterloo, we visit the Headquarters of the Duke of Wellington on the eve of the battle, today preserved as a fascinating museum, before making our way to the Mont St Jean Ridge. The remainder of our day is spent on foot across the battlefield itself, visiting and studying in detail the ‘battle within a battle’ for Hougoumont Farm. Further visits include the main ridge fighting where British Squares and Artillery took such a toll on Marshal Ney’s courageous but doomed cavalry. Also on the itinerary are Le Haye Sainte and La Belle Alliance in the heart of the battlefield and where Blucher and Wellington met at the end of one of the most famous days in military history.
Our final morning is spent visiting Napoleon’s ‘Dernier Quartier’ and key sites relating to the bloody aftermath of the Battle before returning to the UK via Calais.
