3 
Captain A. B. Denne has kindly placed the following information at the dis¬ 
posal of the Committee; they publish it with much pleasure and feel sure that 
if one or two members of the Institution will take the matter in hand forth¬ 
with, it will be a simple matter to arrange a trip for 1899 ; if practice camps, 
inspections and manoeuvres be carried out as this year the most convenient 
period would seem to be that between 15th July and 7th August. Captain Denne 
writes:— 
Exclusive of those officers R.A. who visit the Franco-German battle-fields, as 
students at the Staff College, at the public expense—there are many others who 
go as a matter of interest, and the number of these latter would I feel sure be 
increased, but for the idea that the trip is an expensive one. Five years 
ago I went to Metz and Sedan, leaving Woolwich on a Thursday afternoon and 
being back again by 7 a.m. the following Thursday morning. This entailed 
going straight through to Metz via Ostend. Arriving at Metz Friday afternoon, 
the Saturday was devoted to driving round the battle-field of Yionville—Mars- 
la-Tour ; Sunday, Gravelotte—-St. Privat; Monday (on foot) Colombey—Nouilly; 
Tuesday, train to Sedan via Verdun ; Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morn¬ 
ing were employed going over the battle-field of Sedan; and on the Wednesday 
afternoon I started home again via Brussels and Ostend. The cost of this trip 
was, as far as I remember, between £11 and £12 ; and at the time I considered it 
very cheap. 
This summer, wishing to go again—but especially to see Weissenburg, Worth 
and Spicheren (which I had not seen)—I started 13th June, arriving in London 
again on 28th June, and the cost was £13. On this trip Cook’s tickets were 
not used—the class travelled on both this and previous trip was 2nd. This 
trip might have been even cheaper but for the fact that I wished to re-visit 
Coblenz—where as a small boy I had been for a couple of years at the 
Gymnasium. 
The main saving was effected by taking a bicycle, and thereby obviating the 
expense of carriage hire at Metz and elsewhere; bicycles were not used in 
travelling from place to place, but simply for getting about on arrival at one’s 
head-quarters. It is a convenience, where possible, to stay in a place for a few 
days at a time. Weissenburg was a convenient starting point, being on a main 
line—and (with a bicycle) within reach of Worth, which, by train, is rather 
inaccessible. Except on the steamer, and by train in the Rhine Palatinate, 
Alsace and Lorraine, a bike travels free, as personal luggage, whilst the ample 
rack of a continental railway carriage easily accommodates one’s gladstone 
bag, &c. 
My bicycle cost me 15s. approximately from the time I left London to the 
time I returned : and although I did not belong to the C.T.C., I had no trouble 
with the customs, thanks to going via Flushing. (The Flushing route to 
Cologne is considerably cheaper than either the Ostend or Calais one, and is only 
one hour longer than the former, and half an hour than the latter). The bicycle, 
besides saving a good deal of walking, in places where one would have had to 
leave one’s hired carriage, practically saved three whole days carriage hire at 
Metz, one at Worth, half-a-day each at Weissenburg and Saarbiicken—not to 
mention Coblenz and Mannheim. 
The following short diary shows the route taken :—■ 
Monday 13th June. —Left Victoria 8.50 p.m. for Flushing. 
Tuesday 11th June. —Arrived Coblenz about 2 p.m. 
Thursday 16th June. —By Rhine-steamer—left Coblenz 6 a.m., arrived Lud- 
wigshafen (opp. Mannheim) 7 p.m. 
