Extract from the diary of LCpl Walter Williamson, 6th Bn, 22nd (Cheshire) Regiment
We continued our march, passing through Ledringhe to barn billets near Arneke, only about 10 miles today in view of a big march to come.
Having a look round with Bob Atkinson, a Lewis Gunner, we were delighted to find what we judged was quite a decent bathing pond. Bob tried it with a pole, and finding what proved to be the only deep spot in it (which we did not realize at the time), said there was any amount of water, so we stripped and dived together, and buried our noses in black slime at the bottom of 30 inches of water, and to add insult to injury, the farmer came along while we were trying to clean ourselves again, and screeched some most terrible French at us, and being patient with him, we eventually managed to understand that he did not allow dirty soldiers to use his clean cow’s clean water, or something to that effect, and the only thing we could think of in reply was to ask him if he kept eggs, and finding he did we first ordered ours for tea and then warned the others that eggs might be had at the kitchen.
