Battlefield Tours by Coach

For the last 40 years or so I have been involved in coach travel in some shape or form - from 70 seaters to 16 seater coaches, vans and buses. This all first started when I lived in Newcastle upon Tyne, in the North East of England, way back in the 1980s when my passion to follow Newcastle United football club was unquestionable. I was struggling for money back then to go to the games and was introduced to the world of football stewarding on the coaches. It was fantastic! I could travel around England for 9 months a year as a steward on a football coach, learning the ropes of what is called now a Tour Manager - a brilliant intro to what life would turn out to be.

Travel England Coach Tours

Fast forward 40 years.... My travels since then, from those innocent days, have taken me all over the world, living and working in some of the most beautiful and hostile locations known to mankind. Take that experience now and implement it into coach travel for Battlefield Tours with 50 plus people - it's a perfect fit. Travel England Tours (or TET) have toured with our coach operator to The Somme battlefields, Americas Normandy D-Day landings, Ypres Salient Western front, Verdun and Dunkirk to D-day tours.

I ran my first Normandy battlefield tour 25 years ago for some friends out of London England and we visited the Normandy D-day sites for 5 days. My love of battlefield touring began then and the seed was planted. I also run about 12-14 private battlefield tours a year in my V class 7 seater Mercedes van. When touring with a full coach it is full on, and I absolutely love it to be fair.  We would normally travel from England to France with pick up points en route to collect our clients and then arrive at the docks. Passport control, on and off the coach, getting on board the ferry or ship depending what port in France we are sailing to - whilst keeping every body reliably sober!  then getting back on the coach and the crossing from Dover is around two hours or five hours from Portsmouth. Then the head count, every body back on board, the coach back through French customs and we are off to our destination.

We actually lost someone on a crossing from Dover to Calais, who ended up very drunk ending up in the hull of the ship! We got him back after an hour of waiting in the car park, after the ship docked.... needless to say he was not the flavour of the month when he got back on the coach. 

Checking everybody into the hotel, I would normally ring ahead to have all the room keys and paper work ready for when we arrive. I allocate the rooms, then the check in job is done. Sometimes your work is not over though if people arrive back at the hotel a little drunk from there first night out. It can happen, but very rarely!

The Day's Touring by Coach

The first day of touring, depending on which tour it is, WWI or WWII, and the location we are in the tour can change due to time of year, topography and weather. We will always take packed lunches on board the bus for everybody, which will keep everyone together at lunch time.

For a full day's touring, the coach would normally have two drivers and two battlefield guides on board. Normally we would have between 30-45 minutes at each stand or location. When touring on a coach, the second guide will act as the tour manager and take command on the mic on the coach, relaying relevant information on the areas and locations as we drive through. The main guide would lead on the stands with his insight and knowledge on the action, or the battle that took place in this area, with lots of questions being answered along the way.

We arrange dinner at night in a hotel restaurant, pub or cafe - all organised by us at TET. Full itineraries are emailed to each person with the full tour, locations we will visit and hospital information if needed. We also suggest movies to watch and possible books to read to give a greater understanding on the locations we visit and the action which took place there.