TCD MS 10821 folio 40 recto
[July 31st 1916] day to start at 7 a.m. At that hour the mists were still lying thick in the valley, but we speedily climbed above them. The country is wonderfully well cultivated, crops everywhere & not a yard of ground wasted. There ought to be a very good harvest this year: it is extraordinary how they go on & keep the ground so clean & free from weeds with all the male population away at the war. The women & children are always to be seen at work. Our march was a short one to Fienvillers, only 5 miles & here we billeted. It is not such a pretty village, but I am in a comfortable cottage, looked after by an old grandmother, with I do not know how many grandchildren playing about.
August 1st. As we are not moving, we went for a route march in the morning before breakfast in order to get the men into training & then after breakfast practised bayonet fighting in a shady cider orchard. This is a great country for cider, there are great big cider orchards round every village. The day was a very hot one & in the cool of the evening we did some physical Drill.
August 2nd. This morning I took two companies for a run before breakfast & discovered that the 8th Bn were in the next village. They were still most of them asleep when we arrived there. There is a big aerodrome close here &