Motorbike Diaries -Day 55 ( Sunday 12th )

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Ypres – Menin Gate – Passendaele – Tyne Cot
Up early- and after another Breakfast for Champions ! – See photo –
Spent the day exploring the whole area around Ypres ( Spelled Leper in Belgium) this is where some of the huge battles happened places like -Passchendaele – Tyne Cot etc.
also went to the Flanders Fields Museum in the centre of Ypres –
Ypres- Is actually a very pretty town the whole centre is covered in cobblestones and today filled with little cafes and restaurants – very different I imagine to what it was like 100 years ago.
Having the motorbike proved to be incredibly useful I was able to go up tiny little alleyways one-way streets and really explore the whole area quite thoroughly.
It also meant I was able to get to all of the various sites around Ypres very quickly..
The Menin Gate – Which is actually right in the town of Ypres is very impressive and moving. They have carved the names of every single person who was missing in action in that area — tens of thousands !!!
Even today there were hundreds of wreaths laid at the gate which shows that individuals and organisations are still paying tribute and showing respect.
I rode out to Tyne Cot Cemetery – Which is the largest British military cemetery in the world I believe.
This is where- John McCrae penned the famous poem “in Flanders Fields”
Its references to the red poppies that grew over the graves of fallen soldiers resulted in the remembrance poppy becoming one of the world’s most recognized memorial symbols for soldiers who have died in conflict.
In the visitor centre at Tyne Cot – they have a lady’s voice quietly coming over the tannoy system – reading one by one the names and ages of people who died – very emotive -It all became a little bit overwhelming-There is literally too much to see and do in this whole area- almost every little village has got a graveyard and memorial and so many museums all dedicated to the battles in the area.- Which Hopefully means the memory will live on and people will not repeat these mistakes-
However, 21 years later in 1939 they did it all again !!!!!!
My plan is to head to the Calais region and base myself there for my last few days- doing short day trips to places like Dunkirk, Dieppe and so on.
Now that I am on the very last leg with just a few days to go-
There is a part of me that actually wants to turn the Bike around and go south-east again back through the mountains and into the Balkans-
At the same time another part of me misses home very much and I can’t wait to get back and see my wife, children, garden – and even attend my weekly veteran breakfast meetings ( Notice how I cunningly put my wife first 🙂 🙂 )
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