TCD MS 10821 folio 57 recto
[August 29th, 1916] our right. The night turned out cold & wet with a high wind. Webb & Drury from the Oxfords came to dine.
Aug 30th. We moved today back to Dernancourt. After a very stormy night, it set in to pour with rain which continued all day & it turned bitterly cold also. My insides are all wrong & so did not enjoy life. The roads & tracks were horribly muddy & at Dernancourt we found ourselves in tents & the men in barns. Staff arrangements were very bad & we were kept hanging about a long time in the rain before moving off. The guns round Thiepval were very busy all night.
August 31st. We had an early start & marched to Albert, about 3 miles where we entrained. The day was luckily fine but the roads were very muddy & many of the camps flooded. Our train consisted of cattle trucks for officers & men into which we were bundled. We collected some boxes to sit on & so were not very uncomfortable & as the train travelled but slowly & had frequent halts we were able to see the countryside well. At Amiens we laid in some provisions & I also met Rooke, whom I had not seen for some time. The train from Paris passed us here with its Dining car & first & 2nd Class inhabitants who eyed us in our cattle trucks with disapproval. We left the main line at Longpré