chrislad Posted 17 July , 2017 Share Posted 17 July , 2017 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ralphed Posted 17 July , 2017 Share Posted 17 July , 2017 Unless you are using a satnav with every destination pre-loaded you could still collect a few speeding fines, 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vimyboy Posted 23 August , 2017 Share Posted 23 August , 2017 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrislad Posted 23 August , 2017 Author Share Posted 23 August , 2017 (edited) 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 23 August , 2017 by chrislad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrislad Posted 23 August , 2017 Author Share Posted 23 August , 2017 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? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin Michelle Young Posted 23 August , 2017 Admin Share Posted 23 August , 2017 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrislad Posted 23 August , 2017 Author Share Posted 23 August , 2017 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? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin Michelle Young Posted 23 August , 2017 Admin Share Posted 23 August , 2017 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vimyboy Posted 24 August , 2017 Share Posted 24 August , 2017 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nigelcave Posted 24 August , 2017 Share Posted 24 August , 2017 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrislad Posted 25 August , 2017 Author Share Posted 25 August , 2017 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: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrislad Posted 25 August , 2017 Author Share Posted 25 August , 2017 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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