Est51
05-29-2006, 06:00 AM
I'm just back from a week in Flanders & The Somme, visiting the battlegrounds, cemeteries and memorials of the Great War. Anyone who's interested in history and the folly of man should go for a look around. I know a lot more people died in the 2nd but the scale of men who died on single days on the western front is staggering [for example the monument at Poziers which highlights the 60,000 casualties in one day!].
I spent a couple of days in Ieper [Ypers, or "Wipers"], a couple in Saint Quentin and then back up to Lille. To do the trip on a bike is just fantastic, as the minor roads are brilliant. Good surfaces, constant twisties and, best of all, virtually empty. Those drivers you do come across are much more aware of bikes than in the UK and they move over for you. The only road danger I encountered was tractors. The area is very agricultural and it wasn't that uncommon to be enjoying a sweeping bend only to find a tractor pulling out of a field in front of you, or, worse still, a slew of mud across the road mid-bend.
Highlights
Ieper. This is a great little town that was the last staging post for Commonwealth soldiers heading for the front, hence it got comprehensively flattened by German artillery. It amazes me to see it today, as it's been rebuilt in its original style and it wasn't finished until the late 1960's! God knows where they got the money from to reproduce 15th & 16th century buildings, unless the Germans were made to pay reparations. Do any of you historian out there know?
If you ever get to Ieper you should make sure you're at the Mennin Gate at 8pm [any day of the week], as they shut the road to traffic and buglers sound the last post in memory of the fallen. It's a very touching ceremony that been going on every night since 1929 [except during the German occupation of the 2nd war]. What's particularly impressive is that the power of the moment even ensures that the huge parties of school children are quiet during it.
Vimy Ridge. This is an incredible place, where the trench systems of the Canadians and Germans have been preserved [perhaps a little sanitised]. The forward trenches of the opposing forces are, at most, 50 yards apart! They could have chucked rocks at each other, let alone needed guns! If you get to Vimy you must make time to take a tour of the tunnel system that was dug to support the fighting trenches. The guides are Canadian college students and they are very proud to spend 4 months there.
Sancuary Wood. Although this is a commercial enterprise [with cafe and museum] it's worth visiting to see the original trenches. Where the Canadians have decided to preserve the Vimy trenches with concrete "sand-bags" [which is what makes it a bit sanitised], the trenches at Sanctury Wood are as they would have been then - held up by corrugated iron and full of mud.
Cemeteries. These are awe-inspiring places. The Commonwealth ones are bright places [if that's possible] with light coloured headstones and flowers in front of each grave, whilst the German ones are very dark places, with black iron crosses and/or black stones and no flowers. Because the German dead were reburied in concentration cemeteries after the war, it's not unusual to find 45,000 men in one cemetery!
The only "low-light" of a trip to this area is the petrol issue. I found myself running on fumes twice during the week. Particularly in France, petrol stations seem to be an endangered species! Being on a bike means, obviously, that I'm attracted to minor roads and the French don't seem to have petrol stations in small villages [or, if they do, they hide them well]. Even in larger towns, petrol is often at supermarkets and is automated via your credit card [no attendant]. Twice my cards were rejected at these locations and I had to continue my search for a manned station. Although my limited French is good enough to ask for petrol, I often don't understand the reply [the French speak too fast for schoolboy French to help].
Anyway, that small irritant aside, it was a great week that I will be turning into an annual pilgrimage.
Cheers, Steve
I spent a couple of days in Ieper [Ypers, or "Wipers"], a couple in Saint Quentin and then back up to Lille. To do the trip on a bike is just fantastic, as the minor roads are brilliant. Good surfaces, constant twisties and, best of all, virtually empty. Those drivers you do come across are much more aware of bikes than in the UK and they move over for you. The only road danger I encountered was tractors. The area is very agricultural and it wasn't that uncommon to be enjoying a sweeping bend only to find a tractor pulling out of a field in front of you, or, worse still, a slew of mud across the road mid-bend.
Highlights
Ieper. This is a great little town that was the last staging post for Commonwealth soldiers heading for the front, hence it got comprehensively flattened by German artillery. It amazes me to see it today, as it's been rebuilt in its original style and it wasn't finished until the late 1960's! God knows where they got the money from to reproduce 15th & 16th century buildings, unless the Germans were made to pay reparations. Do any of you historian out there know?
If you ever get to Ieper you should make sure you're at the Mennin Gate at 8pm [any day of the week], as they shut the road to traffic and buglers sound the last post in memory of the fallen. It's a very touching ceremony that been going on every night since 1929 [except during the German occupation of the 2nd war]. What's particularly impressive is that the power of the moment even ensures that the huge parties of school children are quiet during it.
Vimy Ridge. This is an incredible place, where the trench systems of the Canadians and Germans have been preserved [perhaps a little sanitised]. The forward trenches of the opposing forces are, at most, 50 yards apart! They could have chucked rocks at each other, let alone needed guns! If you get to Vimy you must make time to take a tour of the tunnel system that was dug to support the fighting trenches. The guides are Canadian college students and they are very proud to spend 4 months there.
Sancuary Wood. Although this is a commercial enterprise [with cafe and museum] it's worth visiting to see the original trenches. Where the Canadians have decided to preserve the Vimy trenches with concrete "sand-bags" [which is what makes it a bit sanitised], the trenches at Sanctury Wood are as they would have been then - held up by corrugated iron and full of mud.
Cemeteries. These are awe-inspiring places. The Commonwealth ones are bright places [if that's possible] with light coloured headstones and flowers in front of each grave, whilst the German ones are very dark places, with black iron crosses and/or black stones and no flowers. Because the German dead were reburied in concentration cemeteries after the war, it's not unusual to find 45,000 men in one cemetery!
The only "low-light" of a trip to this area is the petrol issue. I found myself running on fumes twice during the week. Particularly in France, petrol stations seem to be an endangered species! Being on a bike means, obviously, that I'm attracted to minor roads and the French don't seem to have petrol stations in small villages [or, if they do, they hide them well]. Even in larger towns, petrol is often at supermarkets and is automated via your credit card [no attendant]. Twice my cards were rejected at these locations and I had to continue my search for a manned station. Although my limited French is good enough to ask for petrol, I often don't understand the reply [the French speak too fast for schoolboy French to help].
Anyway, that small irritant aside, it was a great week that I will be turning into an annual pilgrimage.
Cheers, Steve