Has anyone done a battlefield tour? I have always wanted to do one but prefer to do it outside of a group.
I was lucky enough via work to attend official functions in London last night. The tales & sacrifices, not to mention the selfless, understated patriotism of that generation, certainly stands in stark contrast to what we witness today. #WW1
How true. I am not an expert on WW1 but reading a few books over the years, it seemed that that was the golden generation of the British. We had the pick of the fighting Royals, (George was perhaps the smartest of all our Kings, knowing when to hand his Generals all power, something his cousins Willheim and Nick got stupendously wrong). We had the middle class and the masses, the soldiers of the empire. Their bravery was unsurpassed in all our nation's history. It shames me to see this country now, watching the ceremony last night from Westminster Abbey and the reverence paid to the dead (particularly noticing the tomb of the unknown warrior), I wonder if such a ceremony would be permitted in 20, or even 10 year's time?
I think it is very unlikely. Uncontrolled immigration has undoubtedly diluted a sense of national pride, as has political correctness.
I've extensively travelled the battlefields and cemeteries of Flanders and France. I once stood before a headstone at Tyne Cot that marks the grave of eight British soldiers. The bagpiper began to play at that moment and I sobbed like I'd never done before. Until last night, that is. Their memory liveth forever more.
I went on a school trip to Ypres. A wheelchair-bound friend from church told me she had a great uncle buried at Lijssenthoek and eventually I managed to find it. She was bowled over when I showed her a picture of his grave. On another trip I remember walking around an American cemetery somewhere in France - the name eludes me - just as the hymn 'O God Our Help In Ages Past' was played. That drew a tear.
I have visited both the first war battlefields and followed my late fathers path from the beaches through normandy to Belgium and Holland. I was overawed by the memorials at Thiepval and Ypres as wellas the cemetaries around Cambrai. At Thiepval I discovered that two of my maternal grandfather's brothers had died on the Somme. A visit to cemetaries of either war is an experience that you do not forget.
I want to go on a pilgrimage but would rather do it on my own away from others and have my thoughts to myself rather than be in a group which I may find to impersonal. . I find myself getting angry at the senseless slaughter and having been so much in profit from the dead I feel strongly that I should go.
Typical Definitely the way to do it is on your own rather than an organised tour. You get a chance to wonder at the enormity of it all and shed a tear in private rather than in front of a tour guide. Mostly you get the time to spend as you see appropriate rather than what others believe to be the things to see.
That must be right. I will look into the Eurostar and hire a car, or can it be done on train and walk? . I reckon 3 days will do it. It will be done.
I would recomend a car. Whilst Ypres can be accessed by public transport some of the cemetaries and memorials are away from main thoroughfares. There are alot of them and when driving you spot odd memorials or smaller cemetaries on lesser known battlefields.
This is my last schedule for visiting Flanders - Booked a five night stay at the excellent Ibis near to Kortrijk train station. Bought 3 x 10-journey cards from De Lijn ticket office. Buying tickets on the bus is ridiculously expensive, but work out at 80 cents per journey if bought beforehand. Day One - Train to Poperinge (no charge for children) for Talbot House, Condemned Cell and Execution Post, and the New Military Cemetery for the graves of those wrongly executed. Day Two - Train to Ypres for Menin Gate, Cloth Hall and Flanders Field Museum. Bus to Langemark German Cemetery, where a mass grave of over 20,000 (mainly students) can be found just inside the entrance. Day Three - Train to Ypres and then bus to Hill 62 and the Hooge Crater Museum, plus nearby Canadian Cemetery. Walk to Sanctuary Wood Trenches and Cemetery. Day Four - Train to Ypres and then bus to Zonnebeke for Passendale Museum. Walk to Tyne Cot Cemetery, the largest Commonwealth cemetery in the world. Walk to Polygon Wood and the New Zealand Memorial. Day Five - Train to Ypres and then bus to Heuvelland Tourist Office to pick up passes for Bayerwald Trenches, where Hitler served. Walk from Ypres to Yorkshire trenches, and then onto the bunkers at Pilkem. This will give you an excellent overview of the key places in Flanders, and it is a trip I planned myself. If you need bus timetables (valid until Spring 2015), maps and guidebooks, I will send them onto you. There is a fair amount of walking involved in this trip, but you can see all these places if you set out each morning around 9am and return by 6pm. I can also recommend my favourite restaurants (child-friendly) and excellent tobacconists.
Eurolines coach from London Victoria to Lille, then a short train journey or bus ride to Kortrijk. You can book a return coach from as little as £30, whereas the Eurostar is pricey and will only get you to Brussels, which would then entail a 90 minute journey across to Flanders. Kortrijk is a wonderful town; the architecture, museums, and markets are worth seeking out, and it is also the site of the Battle of the Golden Spurs, which heralded the end of medieval French chivalry and cavalry. The Flemish celebrate the victory over the French with a Bank Holiday, and they feast in the name of the mighty Jan Breydel. The transport links are great, too, with Ypres just twenty minutes away on a clean train.
Wow. That is amazingly comprehensive detailed and helpful. . I thought you two (pea and svt) would have done it. And it would be remiss of me if I didn't take the trip now. I will set aside four days in late September for this (next time off) I spent the last hour looking at maps and was getting a bit overwhelmed by the sheer number of graves/sites and the ones that you must see. I have read a few books on ww1 recently, (birdsong, guns of August, in my past, all quiet on the western front and a bit of Hemingway and was wondering if there is a book I must read before I go.
When you visit Flanders, you will feel an overwhelming urge to visit every cemetery, memorial, and museum in the area, but it is impossible without at least two weeks at your disposal, and even then there will be places that escape your gaze. I like to think even a fleeting visit serves its purpose and ensures that a duty has been completed, and hopefully visits will increase tenfold (at least) in the next four and a half years.
