WW1 Site Advice

I'm off on a long weekend soon to the WW1 sites and have done a bit of research for the best sites to visit as time won't be on my side

Narrowed it down to-

Flanders Fields Museum
Tyne Cot Cemetary
Hill's 60 & 62
Menin Gate
Hooge Crater
Passchendaele Museum
Yorkshire Trench
Vimy Ridge

To my shame although I'm quite up on WW2 I don't know WW1 very well at all hence this trip

Any of the above not worth visiting? or have I left out any must see sites?

All advice re the above greatly appreciated

(I've got 3 full days over there BTW)

Don't bother with Hooge. The crater no longer exists in any meaningful sense.

Better to continue up the road and then turn left for Polygon Wood. TBH, Polygon Wood doesn't offer much in the way of visuals (it's more important if you've read-up on the actions around there) but, just short of the Polygon Wood CWGC site is a cafe on a right-hand bend.



It's worth stopping, even only for a coffee as the owner is one of those who has discovered a dug-out. He has a lot of interesting photos and happily shares his experiences.

Vimy is worth a visit but the distance from the other sites you have listed will mean that you'd need to set aside most of a day (if you are going to be based near Ypres).

Big Nick said:

Flanders Fields Museum
Tyne Cot Cemetary
Hill's 60 & 62
Menin Gate
Hooge Crater
Passchendaele Museum
Yorkshire Trench
Vimy Ridge

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I'd make a point of visiting the big (in numbers) German cemetery as it's interesting to see the contrast between it and Tyne Cot a mile or two away.

If you haven't got anyone buried over there it might be quite interesting to pluck one name from Tyne Cot before you go and see what you can find out about them and their movements, makes the trip a little more interesting.

Ypres is a nice little town.

+ 1 both the previous comments & also Essex Farm Cemetary for the first aid post and Pvt Strudwick grave. I'd also suggest taking one of the 2-3 hour minibus guided tours bookable from the 'In Flanders Fields' museum fro about 20 Euros; you'll go to a lot of the key places but get a huge amount of background information about what you're seeing.

The Albion Hotel in Ieper is excellent.

Next time you'll probably want to visit the Somme...

Enjoy your trip!

I've been before and will do so again one day.

My own recommendations of places to visit would include:

Flanders Fields Museum
Tyne Cot
The German cemetery at Langemarck
Brandhoek New Military Cemetery - Captain Noel Chavasse VC & bar, MC rests here.
Menin Gate - during the daytime and the 20:00 Last Post ceremony
Passchendaele Museum
Vancouver Corner
Hooge Crater Museum is okay, with a handy cafe.
Poelkappelle - Georges Guynemer memorial
Essex Farm CWGC - remains of advanced dressing station behind the houses - where John McCrae is said to have penned the poem 'In Flanders Fields'

Place to avoid: Sanctuary Wood Museum - just don't bother.

Have a great trip

Agreed.

Sanctuary Wood is kinda like Marmite. You either love it or hate it.

The owner is rude and is clearly exploiting his visitors, but I loved the junk shop feel of the museum. I could've shot that fecking piper though!

Fascinating area to visit and I'll go again (to visit a family member buried there)

Think you have enough there for your first trip. My initial visit to the salient was 16 years ago and keep going back to the place, even from here. Anyway you say you have done some research which is great. I always take some handy books and find the Battleground Europe WW1 series fantastic. If you havnt got any already then I think www.pen-and-sword.co.uk still have a 3 for 2 offer. They are invaluable and you will want to collect the full set. Enjoy the trip

Further south is Villers-Bretonneux. Two reason for interest here. One is the Franco-Australian memorial which is also the site of the ANZAC memorial ceremony each year. Of great interest nearby for those of a tactical bent is the site of one where Lieutenant General Sir John Monash retook the town using the first combined services assault - he used tanks, infantry, artillery and air support in a combined manner. This precursor modern combined operations was revolutionary at the time and is considered a turning point in the conflict.

My trip in June 2010 following advice from this forum

The trip to France in June 2010
Despite a traumatic start for me the group leader – Eurotunnel running 3 hours late due to technical problems, we got to the bed and breakfast just one hour later than planned. Evening meal had already been booked.
Day 1 – First day in France and I decided to take the group onto the edges of the Somme, just to let then sample what was available to see. I had been in touch via the UKGSER forum with a fellow rider from Spain and he suggested the following. Well he came up with the right format. We headed to Thiepval to see the memorial and also the newly opened museum. A great place to start if you know little or nothing about the world war one.
I took Sue, our host’s advice, ignored my sat nav plans and went to look for a road called the D8. What a find, bend after bend, with great cross views.........
We spent a couple of hours at Theipval before heading north for lunch at Avril Williams tea rooms 10, Rue Delattre, Auchonvillers, 80560, Somme. We had a leisurely lunch and toured the place and Avril suggested some other places to visit. Well time was getting on and we were so chilled, time was running out to see many more sites. I had wanted to see the Lochnagar crater at La Boiselle, but on route stopped at the Newfoundland Memorial Park. This park, located near Beaumont Hamel, is one of only a few sites on the Western Front where the ground remains largely untouched from when the First World War ended. The main entrance to the Newfoundland Memorial Park can be found on the D73 road between Hamel and Auchonvillers.
The distances between all these sites are not great so I was able to show the group the Park, before heading to the crater.
Site seeing done, I had to plan a ride back to the bed and breakfast, via an Aldi as we were having a cheese and wine night.
The route back, after filling up with fuel at Albert was along the D938 to Doullens, where we stopped for refreshments. Then like before, time was against us so a run up the D916 to St-Pol- sur-Ternoise, saw us getting fuel and all the food for our cheese and wine. Then back to the bed and breakfast in Gauchin – Verloingt. A great night, after a great day.
Day 2 – A look at the Western Front and run into Belgium saw us heading towards Vimy Ridge, the Canadian memorial. Another good site to visit as you can have guided tours of the ground and under ground tunnel. Time again was against us so we made our next stop the Hooge Crater, just outside Ypres.
We made our way into Ypres for the last post at 8pm, then a run back to the b and b, for a light snack of the remaining cheese supplemented by some chips we managed to get enroute. Another great day, only isuse was we weer due to go home the next day. Ah well I had planned a run back via a world war two museum, before heading to Calais for the Eurotunnel
Day 3 – The run home.
Plans never go right as I found some more fantastic roads and did a detour towards the coast, leaving St Pol along the D343 to Anvin then on the D94 towards Auchy-les-Hesdin. Here we turned north to pick up the D108, and D343 stopping in Hucqueliers for a drink. We then went onto Desvres, where Bob fueled up and I got a bit lost. I finally managed to find this roller coaster of a road through the Forest of Boulogne, the D341, before we got to Boulogne. Where we saw a first traffic, mainly British idiot drivers coming from Le Mans 24 hour. Never mind we went into Wimereux, a coastal town and had a leisurely dinner. You guessed ti, time was against us, so we made straight for Calais.

We will be back......

We had a great trip with excellent weather, Ride Report to follow but a brief taster.......

MikeP said:

Don't bother with Hooge. The crater no longer exists in any meaningful sense.

Better to continue up the road and then turn left for Polygon Wood. TBH, Polygon Wood doesn't offer much in the way of visuals (it's more important if you've read-up on the actions around there) but, just short of the Polygon Wood CWGC site is a cafe on a right-hand bend.

It's worth stopping, even only for a coffee as the owner is one of those who has discovered a dug-out. He has a lot of interesting photos and happily shares his experiences.

Vimy is worth a visit but the distance from the other sites you have listed will mean that you'd need to set aside most of a day (if you are going to be based near Ypres).

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I was here just over a year ago, we weresitting having a coffee when the owner got back and asked us if we had heard that Harry Patch had just died - theres a fair few photos of him inside, I think Harry fought here or nearby.

The ceremony at the Menin gate that evening was even more poingnant.

The owner has been involved in a lot of excavations of shafts and tunnels built by the various sappers, including the one shown on channel 4 a few years ago.

One place overlooked is just north west of Arras, largest German cemetary, black crosses, with some jewish ones intermixed near Neuville-Saint-Vaast, near Arras, France

Gossy said:

I was here just over a year ago, we weresitting having a coffee when the owner got back and asked us if we had heard that Harry Patch had just died - theres a fair few photos of him inside, I think Harry fought here or nearby.

The ceremony at the Menin gate that evening was even more poingnant.

The owner has been involved in a lot of excavations of shafts and tunnels built by the various sappers, including the one shown on channel 4 a few years ago.

One place overlooked is just north west of Arras, largest German cemetary, black crosses, with some jewish ones intermixed near Neuville-Saint-Vaast, near Arras, France

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Was in Belgium a couple of weeks ago at hill 60 and other places.

Was also at the Somme in Neuville-Saint-Vaast a couple of months ago. What a sight, about 45000 germans buried there, the crosses made from black iron look awesome in the morning sun.
another good thing to look at is the sites of the british mines like the lochnagar crater, Vimy etc.

peagoose said:

Vimy etc.

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That's Canadian

Twotter said:

That's Canadian

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Indeed it is, but so is the St Julien memorial as pictured by Big Nick. There were 15000 Canadians lost there in WW1.
WW1 was an incredibly brutal war and many nations fought shoulder to shoulder with us as a united force.

peagoose said:

Indeed it is, but so is the St Julien memorial as pictured by Big Nick. There were 15000 Canadians lost there in WW1.
WW1 was an incredibly brutal war and many nations fought shoulder to shoulder with us as a united force.

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Cheers for that

Twotter said:

Cheers for that

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- grammer sorry
Its great to see you guys do the WW1 and WW2 stuff too. On the xtz750.com site we are also visiting the sites in respect to the many that gave their lives. I must admit going there and seeing is a sobering experience to all, and the roads, scenery, the way of life just add to the pleasure of the trip.
It would be great to have a joint trip but Id have to build an XTZ1150GS

A bit late now, but for others, I visited the Verdun area briefly (on way to black Forest) in 2009 and highly recommend it.
We stayed at

http://www.twowheelmoorings.co.uk

Accommodation at TWM is awesome, excellent place with great riverside location by a big war memorial and bridge over the river. A rather neat garage at the side of the house has two-level storage for bikes courtesy of a lift, so all bikes were locked away within the house building.



The service was 1st class with tea being made on arrival and Carol offering to dry any wet items overnight, everything here is perfect for those with bikes with handy in-room hangers and shelves for helmets and leathers etc.
Ian and Carol are superb hosts we stayed again this year and are stopping there on way to the Alps next year



We only had a day in the region, so we visited the Forts of Duoamont and for Vaux (where the famous Pigeon won a medal for Valour) Very interesting we went in both as it was fairly cheap and they are close together (2 miles apart tops) On the way out we visited the Ossuary – Google “Ossuary Verdun”,



A very moving place, you can see into the basement to where the bones of @130,000 unnown soldiers are stored.
We also stopped to look at the destroyed village of Fluery before driving off to the American Cemetery (heading to TWM from the UK you can cut cross country and go through the Cemetery on the way and it takes you over some great little back lane – I was on the ZZR and liked it, but the roads were GS territory, in fact many of the local lanes are good GS type roads)

Fort Vaux, very eerie inside, you can imagine how grim it must have been for the poor chaps there abck in 1916









The American Cemetery was particularly moving





Stopped here on way to TWM this year, just as moving and impressive second time around.

More Info:

Forts:
http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/Base/3495/FVerdun1a.html

Fluery
http://www.webmatters.net/france/ww1_verdun_champbat.htm

Bit late now Big Nick, but for next time check out www.martinpegler.com

Somme

Big Nick said:

I'm off on a long weekend soon to the WW1 sites and have done a bit of research for the best sites to visit as time won't be on my side

Narrowed it down to-

Flanders Fields Museum
Tyne Cot Cemetary
Hill's 60 & 62
Menin Gate
Hooge Crater
Passchendaele Museum
Yorkshire Trench
Vimy Ridge

To my shame although I'm quite up on WW2 I don't know WW1 very well at all hence this trip

Any of the above not worth visiting? or have I left out any must see sites?

All advice re the above greatly appreciated

(I've got 3 full days over there BTW)

Click to expand...

Must visit Thiepval memorial and visiter centre, you can search for relatives on their computers, then go to TOMMIES CAFE in the village for bacon and eggs, go out the back and see British and German trenches. There are buckets of battlefield souveniers bombs, bullets ect for a few Euros.
I found the little immaculate graveyards dotted around Ypres to be very moving set in the quiet countryside.