WW1 Trip to Ypres and the Somme

[Twotter]

For some time now my brother, Steve, and I have wanted to go and visit the World War One Battlefield sites in the Ypres Salient and on the Somme. We finally got around to arranging the trip and after plotting the routes, deciding on places to visit, booking places to stay and Steve hiring a bike, we were ready.


Friday 9th June.

After spending the night at Steve’s place in Henley-on-Thames we threaded our way through rush hour traffic and headed for the Channel Tunnel for an 1100 crossing. The sun was shining and we waved goodbye to blighty in good spirits.

The crossing was as straightforward as usual and we headed off onto the A16 under blue skies and sunshine. We quickly left the A16 and headed north east around Calais onto the quieter back roads. I had recently ‘upgraded’ to a Garmin Quest 2 GPS and after a few threats ‘Betty’ was looking after the navigation allowing us to have an enjoyable ride through the French countryside and into Belgium.

Our first stop was to the town of Poperinghe where we found Talbot House, the original ‘Toc H’, down a narrow street, next door to a lingerie shop.



From there we headed on towards Ypres and stopped at Brandhoek New Cemetery where we visited the grave of Captain Noel Chavasse, VC and bar MC, of the Royal Army Medical Corps. A brave man amongst a whole host of brave men. We were immediately struck by the immaculate state of the Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery and the quiet dignity that was a feature of each cemetery that we visited on this trip.



We made our way over famous Belgian cobbles into the main square of Ypres, or Ieper as it is now known, and parked up by the Cloth Hall. Inside is the excellent ‘In Flanders Fields’ Museum where we spent a good hour looking at the exhibits. A refreshing beverage in one of the nearby cafes followed and then we rode on to our base for the next two nights at the Hortensia B&B. We were welcomed by Andre the owner who insisted on moving his car so we could park our bikes in his garage – top chap!

After a shower and a snooze, it was off to the Menin Gate for the 8pm Last Post Ceremony. We were both taken aback by the sheer size of the Menin Gate and the number of people who attended. During the ceremony I took a moment to read some of the 54,000 names of the missing on the walls as the buglers played.



After the ceremony ended it was back to the main square where we partook of a glass or three of a splendid Belgian beer and some good food courtesy of the ‘Old Tom’ restaurant.

A good start to the trip.

 

[Twotter]

Saturday 10th June.

Another beautiful day. We left the B&B and headed out of Ypres by the southern Lille Gate. Following the road around Ypres we made our way to Essex Farm Cemetery. This has a memorial to Lt.Col.John McCrae who wrote this poem:

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That marks our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up or quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

We moved on and headed to the German cemetery at Langemarck. For me this was the saddest place that we visited during the whole trip. The cemetery has a central mass grave covered in flowers and surrounded by stones listing the men buried there. Around this mass grave lie flat headstones flush with the ground. The whole place is shaded by tall oak trees, and together with the silent watching figures opposite the entrance gives the place a deep sense of loss and sadness. It’s also referred to as the Students Cemetery due to the age and background of many of the men who rest there. This is a pic of the 4 silent figures who watch over the cemetery.



On from there we stopped briefly at the Guynemer Memorial which commerorates the great French Air Ace Charles Guynemer who was lost on 11 September 1917. He had 53 confirmed victories and has no known grave.



A short distance away is the Candian Memorial at Vancouver Corner. The ‘brooding soldier’ memorial is quite stunning and commemorates Canadian soldiers who withstood the first German gas attacks in April 1915.



We moved on to the largest Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery at Tyne Cot.



This has nearly 12,000 graves and on the back walls commemorates almost 35,000 men who have no known grave.



We were both struck by the sheer size of the place and the number of headstones for Unknown Soldiers of the Great War. The Cross is mounted upon a German bunker, part of which can still be seen.



From Tyne Cot we rode on to the small town of Zonnebeke where we visited the Museum housed in the Chateau. On the outside it looked rather shabby but contained an excellent display including a recreated dugout.

From Zonnebeeke we headed to the privately run museum at Hooge Crater. Another excellent museum with a nice café attached. Across the road is the Hooge Crater Cemetery containing nearly 6000 graves including that of Private P.J.Bugden, VC, of the Australian Imperial Forces.

With time pressing to the kick off of a certain game of football we pressed on to visit the Sanctuary Wood Museum. Again privately owned it contains trenches from the period and a large number of artifacts. Unfortunately I felt that it was rather contrived and was quite glad to move on.



Heading back to Ypres we stopped at Hellfire Corner, once one of the most dangerous places on Earth as German artillery was ranged in on this spot and would barrage the area at irregular intervals. Just over the roundabout is a demarcation stone, one of a dwindling group of stones which commemorate the limit of the German advance into Belgium.

 

[Twotter]

Sunday 11th June.

After breakfast we packed up the bikes and said farewell to Andre, our host. If you're looking for a good B&B in Ypres then I can recommend the Hortensia. I gave Betty a clip round the ear and we headed south on some quiet country backroads. It was another beautiful day and hot work at times.

On the way we came across a Portugese War Cemetery, which came as a surprise as I never realised they were actively involved.





We rode into France and made our merry way to the Canadian Memorial at Vimy Ridge. Unfortunately the passage of time has not been kind to it and this year sees it undergoing a major restoration leaving the memorial covered in protective covers. They have windows around the works so you can see what is going on but on a Saturday in France it was pretty quiet!



Across from the carpark was a memorial to the Moroccan Division of the French Army.



We left the bikes parked up and walked down the road to the preserved trenches and tunnels. The visitor centre gave some excellent background on what happened here and whilst waiting for an escorted tour of the tunnels we wandered through the preserved trenches.



The Canadian and German lines are very close here, at times seperated by only a few yards. Most of the area is fenced off due to unexploded ordnance but you can easily see the trenches and craters from shelling and the explosion of underground mines. The escorted tour began and we were led down out of the hot sunshine into the much cooler tunnels where our guide showed us what life was like underground. This tunnel has been partially filled in with rubble from a collapsed tunnel elsewhere in the system.



Back on the bikes and we soon started seeing signs for Arras and Bapaume. Turning onto the road to Albert we stopped at the Tank Corps Memorial, before moving on to La Grande Mine.



This is just outside the Lochnagar Crater which was exploded on 1st July 1916, the first day of the Battle of the Somme, blowing a massive crater in the German front line. Some years ago the site was bought by an Englishman, Richard Dunning, and it is now preserved.



From there we headed into Albert and parked up by the side of the very impressive Basilica. The Madonna and child stands upright now but during the war she was bent over after being damaged by shellfire.



Here we visited the Somme Trench Museum which is mainly underground and extends beneath the square in front of the Basilica. This museum has some excellent exhibits and is well worth a visit.

Time was getting on so we left Albert and made our way towards our B&B. On the way we stopped at Dantzig Alley Cemetery. Amongst the many books I have read on WW1, one story mentioned Captain Charles Campbell May of the Manchester Regiment who had a premonition that he would die on 1st July 1916. He asked a brother officer, called Earles, to look after his dear wife if anything should happen to him. Captain May was killed on the first day and in time, his brother officer later married his widow.



From there it was a short ride to the Bernafay Wood B&B. The accomodation is in a former train station which has been restored by the owners. It is a bit out of the way but is comfortable and quiet.

 

[Twotter]

Monday 12th June.

After breakfast on the patio I went to load up the bike for the days ride only to find that my rear tyre was very soft. I couldn't find any obvious punctures so decided to give it one cylinder from my puncture repair kit and then get to the nearest garage. Being a Monday our hostess suggested the BMW dealer in Arras, some 30km away. So a quick, though paranoid, ride up to Arras only to find that the dealer was closed. No wonder they weren't answering their phone! Checking the tyre showed that it hadn't lost any air so I decided to keep an eye on it and carry on with our trip.

Leaving Arras we headed to the western end of the Somme battlefield looking for the Sheffield Memorial Park. Failing on our first attempt we stopped at Avril Williams Tea Rooms in Auchonvillers for a pitstop. After looking round the trench in her garden we headed back. Following a little bit of off-road, well it was a VERY rutted track we found a small wood containing memorials to some of the famous 'Pals' battalions.





We'd already stopped at the memorial to the Argyll's whilst looking for the famous Sunken Road, where men of the Lancashire Fusiliers were filmed just before the battle. After speaking with Avril we realised that the sunken road was the farm track that went up into the fields to the right of the Argylls Memorial.



Under a hot sun we moved on to Newfoundland Memorial Park. The Canadian tourist guides pointed us towards the Visitor Centre which was excellent and the Caribou Monument.



Then we walked from the Canadian Lines, through No-Mans-Land to the Danger Tree.



This petrified tree was a focal point for some of the survivors of the initial attack. We were told that out of 800 men who went over the top only 68 were left at the end of the day, the rest being dead, wounded or missing. The trenches are still preserved here, though not to the same extent as at Vimy Ridge.

Back on the bikes and we rode on to Thiepval and the massive Memorial to the Missing. Picture from www.1914-1918.net/sacredground/16Somme/thiepval.htm



Parking up in the carpark we were saw more bikes, all British regestrations and all BMW's. We looked around the excellent Visitor Centre before walking around to the Memorial itself,which has over 72,000 names of men with no known grave and is quite stunning in it's sheer size. Before the trip we'd made enquiries to see if any of our family members were buried over there and thankfully, failed to find any. However, at Thiepval we found four entries with our surname. Finding two of them together on the wall was a surprise and quite moving.

With the afternoon getting on we left and headed into Albert for some refreshment. During the day we had seen a tour coach from England that was on pretty much the same itinerary as we were. We bumped into them again at the Devonshires Cemetery.



All of us were looking for the grave of Captain Martin, who predicted the site of a German machine gun that killed him and many of his men. as with most of the graves here, he shares a headstone with two of his men who died with him.



We stopped to have a chat with the group and learned that this school organises a trip to the WW1 Battlefields every year and it is always oversubscribed. Bidding them farewell we moved on.

We made our way around Mametz Wood and followed a rough track to the dragon memorial to the 38th (Welsh) Division. With barbed wire grasped in its claw the Welsh Dragon stands looking towards Mametz Wood where men of the 38th fought.



Stopping at Longueval and the Pipers Memorial for a quick photo.



We rode on to the South African Memorial at Delville Wood. It has a small museum which is unfortunately closed on Mondays.



Instead we walked through the wood where we could see trenches and shell craters. On a corner we found a Hornbeam tree with a sign saying that his tree was the last survivor of the wood from 1916.Just along from it was a memorial to two VC's won near here. It's a peaceful place now but as we walked seperately back to our bikes it felt a little bit spooky.

With the sun setting we headed back towards the B&B, stopping for one last look round at Guillemont Road Cemetery. In all of the cemeteries that we visited we found a lot of headstones for Unknown Soldiers. Here is just one of them.



Rest In Peace.

 

[Twotter]

Tuesday 13th June.

Saying farewell to our hostess, Christine, at Bernafay Wood we set off and headed towards Calais and the Tunnel.

Sticking to the back roads we made our way up to the visitor centre at Agincourt. The French have cunningly renamed it Azincourt to try and throw us off the scent. But the cutout archers and knights along the sides of the road gave the game away! The exhibits and presentations were quite fairly presented, though towards the end I noticed that the English came in for criticism for killing captives after local folk had attacked their baggage train. Bearing in mind the French had flown the 'Oriflamme' standard which meant no prisoners would be taken this struck me as being a bit 'off'. Flicking a good natured two fingered salute we got back on the road.

Betty found us a few nice little roads, even a hairpin or two to keep us entertained, but before long we arrived at the Tunnel. A quick coffee and we were on the train and, after negotiating the M25 etc..., home.

Thanks to Major & Mrs Holt and their invaluable guide books to the Ypres Salient and the Somme, Imageshack for hosting the pics and to my earplugs, because if you think I snore then you've never heard Steve !

 

[MikeP]

Great photo's and write-up.

It's an amazing part of Europe, you can't move for history.

Captain Chavasse VC and BAR, was born 9 Nov. 1884.

His first VC was won 9th August 1916, his second between 31st July and 2nd Agust 1917.

He died near Ypres, 4th August 1917.

Not only is he one of a handful of double VC winners but he was related to Capatin C H Upham another double VC!

 

[Micky]

Saying farewell to our hostess, Christine, at Bernafay Wood we set off and headed towards Calais and the Tunnel.

Great piccies and write up Twotter, thanks for sharing them with us. Visited the area many times, my grandad was lucky to live through the Somme, I have his medals. Found out a couple of weeks ago that my great grandfather and his son were killed over there. Private Frank Taylor died aged 20 year, and is buried at Bernafay Wood Cemetery, his dad Frank Taylor died aged 43 and is buried at Menin Road South Cemetery.

I'm there in three weeks...

 

[Twotter]

Saying farewell to our hostess, Christine, at Bernafay Wood we set off and headed towards Calais and the Tunnel.

Great piccies and write up Twotter, thanks for sharing them with us. Visited the area many times, my grandad was lucky to live through the Somme, I have his medals. Found out a couple of weeks ago that my great grandfather and his son were killed over there. Private Frank Taylor died aged 20 year, and is buried at Bernafay Wood Cemetery, his dad Frank Taylor died aged 43 and is buried at Menin Road South Cemetery.

I'm there in three weeks...

Cheers. The report is really just the highlights. We stopped at Bernafay Wood Cemetery on the way to Longueval to see the Pipers Memorial. The cemetery is a smaller one but it is as immaculate and peaceful as all the rest.

 

[FatAl]

Excellent pics and write up. I've visited these areas a few times and it never fails to bring a tear to the eye, and a feeling of pride. A friend of mine is a battlefield tour guide and tells me that when he takes over school parties many of the the kids are totally awestruck and often moved to tears especially when they see the ages of some of the fallen.
I found an unused British hand grenade in the field near to the Thiepvalle memorial, I thought it was a potato at first. if you explore along the farm tracks that connect many of the fields you will often find unexploded bombs and shells stacked up by the farmers ready for collection by the local bomb disposal unit. I'm amazed at the casual way the stuff is left laying there, any fool could pick up a large shell, cradle it in his arms and have his photo taken, madness.

 

[xbootie]

Brilliant - just done a google search on Captain Noel Chavasse, a very brave man in deed to win one VC but two, and the MC ..... i am humbled

 

[Twotter]

I watched a very good programme on the Battle of the Somme last night on BBC1. Most writers, programmes etc... focus solely on the shocking casualty figures of the first day and the 'lions led by donkeys' etc... This programme considered the battle in a wider context and explained how the lessons that were learned were subsequently applied and helped the allied forces with the war in 1918.

Well done the BBC

 

[tommyboy]

Cheers Twotter,

Great write up and piccies, I will get there myself one day

Tom

 

[North]

That was great Twotter.

Its hard to imagine all the slaughter that took place at those site.

People say that Newfoundland never recovered from the men that they lost at the Somme. They were the Best of the Best.

 

[ChasMill]

Quite agree - great write-up of a tour I plan to do some day. Suggested it to SWMBO last night and was told to "go and do it with one of your mates" - looks like a pink ticket to me!

 

[Bryn]

Great write up and good pictures too!.. I meant to get over to the Menin Gate for the last post en route to Assen a couple of years ago... trouble is the ferries were all running a couple of hours late due to a storm, so had to miss it....

Managed to see Arnhem and the airborne museum though...

Looks like you did your research! pulled in quite a few places and in perfect weather

Bryn

 

[SkyGod]

Well done mate, enjoyed reading that.

 

[Davy F]

Every trip I've taken to Europe has been on 'War trails'. Thanks for reminding me about my trip.

 

[Toad]

Respect

......

 

[Psyko]

Great write up and photos - very moving. Thanks.

Psyko

 

[franco]

Great write up

I've done a load of battlefield trips with ELK and have been to all the places you visited. Very humbling, desperately sad and everyne should do it at least once. My great grandfather is buried in the Loos war memorial cemetary, near Vimy Ridge. 24 years old and left 4 kids behind. I'm in the middle of reading a history of WW1 by Hew Strachan. Recommended.

RIP all of them.