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Remembered Today:

suggested itinerary for centenary


chrislad

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hi 

 

25th august marks 100 years from my great grandfather being killed in WW1 

 

I have been over on a school trip many years ago, but can't really remember where and what was worth looking at

 

my current itinerary is...

 

thursday 24th

6am ferry from Dover to Dunkirk arrive 9am

drive to Langemarck

Tyne Cot

Passchendaele & museum

Sanctuary Wood & trenches

Afternoon in Ypres - in Flanders fields museum

Ypres Last Post 8pm Menin Gate

stay - ypres

 

Friday 25th August - Centenary day

Breakfast in Ypres - drive to...

10:30 Villers Faucon – Grave E 19

Lochnagar Crater

Thiepval Memorial & museum

Beaumont Hamel

Vimy ridge

 

bit of a whistlestop tour - is there anything worth adding or omitting roughly along these routes?

 

thanks

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Unless you are using a satnav with every destination pre-loaded you could still collect a few speeding fines, :o That said it is just about do-able.  I would add sunken lane, The Arras memorial and the ring of remembrance at Notre dam de Lorette.

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  • 1 month later...

Maybe a bit late but you have a very aggressive itinerary. You will be probably finish Day 1 in Ypres around 5:00pm. I think you will hit a wall in Day 2 and have to cut a stop or two off. I would always suggest Vimy but you are starting down in the Somme. Vimy requires 2 hours and it is about an hour from the Somme. Also, the visitor centre (and tours) close at 5:00pm. It is better to enjoy the sites at your leisure than rush through them.

 

 

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I've rehashed the itinerary!

 

9am arrive dunkirk

langemark

tyne cot. Visit panel 6 where great great uncle listed

 

he died in 2nd battle of passchendaele- is there anything to actually visit at the battlefield?

 

decided to omit the rest and head into Ypres for a relaxed afternoon 

 

friday

 

really early start to be at gillemont farm- where my great grandfather was killed, in enough time to be at villers faucon to lay a wreath at 11am

 

objectives for the day mostly done, and we are staying in Bruges that night so need to be on the road by 5pm - probably looking to see the "best" two out of...

 

delville wood

Lochnagar Crater

Thiepval Memorial

Beaumont Hamel/Newfoundland memorial & sunken lane preserved trenches etc

Arras memorial

Vimy ridge

Notre dame du lorette

 

all are more or less along the route with not much detour

 

as a novice - just looking at seeing the most noteworthy sites

 

im thinking lochnagar as that shouldnt take long, thiepval but just the monument not the museum if we do Flanders fields in Ypres - and then flip a coin for Beaumont Hamel or vimy ridge? 

 

What is at each that would make one more worthy of a visit? 

 

Edited by chrislad
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3 hours ago, Vimyboy said:

Maybe a bit late but you have a very aggressive itinerary. You will be probably finish Day 1 in Ypres around 5:00pm. I think you will hit a wall in Day 2 and have to cut a stop or two off. I would always suggest Vimy but you are starting down in the Somme. Vimy requires 2 hours and it is about an hour from the Somme. Also, the visitor centre (and tours) close at 5:00pm. It is better to enjoy the sites at your leisure than rush through them.

 

 

 

Thanks for that, I think just google mapping it it's all along the same route so assumed I could pop in half an hour at each place and that would be fine

 

Re vimy - i estimate we could be there by 3pm so would have about 1.5hrs before heading to Bruges 

 

what would take the 2 hours? How much more to it than the main monument? 

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  • Admin

Vimy is a large site, preserved trenches, tunnels which you can tour, and the ubiquitous  visitors centre. And the view view over the Douai plain is worth pondering over.

 

Michelle 

 

 

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1 minute ago, Michelle Young said:

Vimy is a large site, preserved trenches, tunnels which you can tour, and the ubiquitous  visitors centre. And the view view over the Douai plain is worth pondering over.

 

Michelle 

 

 

 

Thanks michelle

is Newfoundland park a similar arrangement with the preserved trenches?  Worth trying to spend an hour here and an hour at vimy or more time at one or the other? 

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I'm not a regular Somme visitor, and haven't been to Newfoundland park for at least 10 years. I'm not best placed to answer. There's no tunnels at the Newfoundland park. You have set yourself a whistle stop tour, I would do one place a day, rather than the half hour at each. You will probably end up spending longer at Villers Faucon than you anticipated.

 

Michelle 

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At Vimy, it is nice to walk the memorial but the treat is the preserved trenches and the underground tour. You could do in 1.5 hours or earlier with the tour. I guess I spend more time at each memorial than the normal person. We tend to wander around and spend time at each cemetery.

 

I think Newfoundland Park is the most poignant place on the Western Front. Most memorials are symbols of victory. Newfoundland Park was a disaster. They lost about 85% of their soldiers in less than an hour. You can visit the park in about an hour (parking to completion) - visiting the small centre, talking with the tour guides (no planned tours like Vimy) and walking the site and the cemeteries.

 

I love Bruges. Hope you have a great time. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Vimy: bear in mind that you might not get on to a subway tour - they operate on a first come, first served basis.  Always an idea if hoping to do such a tour to pop into the Visitor Centre and check on (a) time of the next tour and (b) space availability. Given there s space and time 'to kill', then visit the centre, preserved outpost line and wonder over to the German outpost line, maybe doing  circuit past the Longfellow Craters (blown by the Germans in March 1917) and then back to the Grange/Visitors Centre car park.

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On 17/07/2017 at 22:57, chrislad said:

 

Just now, chrislad said:
On 17/07/2017 at 22:57, chrislad said:

 

 

Just now, chrislad said:
On 17/07/2017 at 22:57, chrislad said:

 

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just in bruges now - had a great couple of days - saw so much but left a lot more needing to be seen!

 

thursday - roads were great and managed to get up to Langemark in time for 11am though there was not another soul to be seen until we were halfway around

over to tyne cot to locate my great great uncles name on panel 6

 

the 2am start to make the ferry in time took its toll and we had to head back to Ypres for some lunch and a rest at the hotel.

back out to see the in Flanders fields museum and then on to the Menin gate for the last post

 

friday

another early start and a leisurely drive down from Ypres to the somme via a speed camera flash and a 30 min detour via st Quentin to get off the toll road!

drove via bony to gillemont farm where my great grandfather was killed with the 19th DLI 100 years ago today

onwards to lay a wreath at 11am in Villers faucon

onwards to 

lochnagar crater

thiepval monument

avrils tea rooms and then back to Beaumont hamel - Newfoundland park - personal tour with the guide as no-one else around

ulster tower as a surprise stop - didn't realise quite how close all these places are to each other then onwards to

vimy ridge - with unexpected pipe band and congregation laying a wreath - missed the subway tour as it was already fully subscribed but so much to come back again for

and on to bruges!

 

id love to have a proper look at the other side of Beaumont Hamel - sunken lane and etc next time, and id love to pull over and stop in all of the tiny cemeteries dotted here there and everywhere - that was more moving for me than some of the bigger monuments.

 

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