What to do and see in Vic-sur-Aisne, Hauts-de-France: The Best Things to do

Reviewed By 324abigailk

Tucked away in the hills above Berny-Rivière, is this unmarked homage to World War I. Aside from some well warn footpaths that give nothing away of what to expect and perhaps a deep dive into Trip Advisor that hint of something special, we were really not prepared. “Bring a torch”. We brought our phones. Look for the “burnt out car”. What looked like an old early 1900s Ford burns an image of the memory. “The odd bat” Ok. Perhaps a little spooky, best go during the day. We’re a family of 6, including 4 teenagers. They’re bored. It’s off season. We make our way up the hill finding eventually an entrance to the cave. Phone torches on....tick Wander through caves....tick Burnt out car...tick Bats?? Altar......ok there’s a surprise. People lived here? Perhaps should have read all the advice. “Strangely sanitised” and “not that scarey” are both phrases that spring to mind. The kids are in their element and find another exit. We’re now out in the fresh air after a climb that made mummy and daddy stretch further than they had in years and dignity well and truly behind in the caves. Kids are now moaning for lunch. Hubby feels like his had a complete work out. We’ve wandered around the caves for around 15-20mins so it feels like we deserve it. Where to go? Apparently I am now on sat nav duty. There’s 3 possible directions. Somehow we’ve made it to the top of the path via the caves. So we head left as going back the way we came makes no sense and we stumble across a....well another doorway, only this time it’s a grand entrance, edges by what look like guard houses. So of course we entered. I call ahead to remind my people that we’re better off keeping to one sides that we know how to return. Kids and co are now confident they’ve worked out these caves. So press ahead not paying any attention. It was when we found cave 8 and the chimney we stumbled upon a little later, glimpsing the outside world but unreachable as we were now several metres below ground, that my daughter started to panic. By now we’d seen the bats. We’d seen a second car relic. We’d seen what seemed to be room after room after room. The roots from the trees above gradually disappearing. The air getting a bit more stagnant. Arrows pointing in every direction seemingly sending us in circles, that we eventually bottled it and panicked our way out of there. When we emerged......eventually, the relief was palpable. We’d been in there just over another hour. Absolutely worth a visit.