Visit to Waterloo – Day 2

0700 to 0730: Continental Breakfast.  The Funkey hotel has a self-serve kitchen stocked with all kinds of breakfast goodies.

0800: Tour bus south to Waterloo.  It is approximately 45 minutes drive from central Brussels to Waterloo.  On the way we passed through the Forêt de Soignes (much reduced in size in 2015 but still there and now protected).

0900: Visit Wellington Museum.  This private museum has among the best collection of historical artifacts from the era.

1100:  Tour bus south to Quatre Bras.  Quatre Bras (a crossroad on the Charleroi-Brussels road) was the site of the first significant battle of the Waterloo Campaign.  A British force sought to hold this strategic point on the road to Brussels; the left wing of the French Army under the command of Ney sought to seize it.  The battle is considered a tactical Anglo-Dutch victory but is often deemed a strategic success for Napoléon. This is because the French were able to prevent British forces from helping the Prussians in the nearly-simultaneous battle at Ligny (a telling French victory).

1200:  We stopped 400m south of Quatre Bras and walked north to the crossroads examining monuments and battlefield terrain where possible. Geminourt is a working farm in 2015. Picnic lunch in a private farmer’s cow patch – among the cow patties.

1400 to 1800: Our bus ferried us to Ligny (17 Km) via Sombreffe along N93. We made a stop at an old Roman Road.

We then toured the villages that formed the Prussian battle line – Ligny, Saint-Amand, Brye (Blücher’s HQ) during the battle on June 16th.

Several bus stops were needed because the battlefield was 10Km wide, not easily walk-able, and not well-preserved.  We located The Dyle river (today contained in a stone-channel but a significant obstacle in 1815.   The battle at Ligny involved house-to-house fighting. The Ligny Church was also embattled and traded hands during the battle.