Day 52- Arras to Ypres

Today was always going to be a special day for me for 2 reasons:

First I would be passing through some of the country my grandfather traveled through when he was in the artillery in the Australian army during WW1. He spoke a bit about his time here but I can certainly remember him singing “madamousle from Armitieres” many times when I was young.He was a young man at the time and spent quite some time here in Belgium and northern France.

Second to visit Mesen to see the plaque which was placed in the main square about 12 months ago to commemorate the bravery of Captain Robert Grieve who was awarded the VC for his outstanding effort. The plaque was provided by Wesley College and funded by a kind donation by Peter Boag. The whole project was helped and encouraged by my friend Phillip Powell, Dr Ross Bastiaan and of course the Wesley College Principal, Nick Evans.

The day started very early and after waking at 5.30 am we were on the road shortly after 6.00 am! Today’s ride was being led by Steve and he did an excellent job all day with some complicated navigation at times.

The weather today started cool and foggy and the fog only cleared late morning. The rest of the day it was hazy. The temperature was about 12 degrees at the start of the day and warmed to mid twenties. There was no wind.

The first objective was to find a bakery for breakfast….we had left well ahead of the breakfast schedule at the hotel. We found a bakery at Lens after riding about 20 kms. We were making good time as the gradient was almost flat. I had a coffee, OJ, croissant and a muffin which was great to start the day.

Riding on we passed several WW1 cemeteries which are remarkably well maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

On reaching Mesen I was pleasantly surprised at the town square and the various monuments celebrating aspects of the Great War. We had time to look at the Grieve plaque and I recorded a short video of me reciting the poem Flanders Fields which was written by a Canadian soldier during the war. It was good to see what the plaque gives to the town and how it seems to be a centre for tourists travelling through this part of Belgium. We had lunch of waffles and ice cream at a cafe in the town square and spent some time talking to a husband and wife who were riding bikes from Basel to their home in Holland…. Boy were they loaded up!

After lunch we made our way back to the Bethleem cemeteries and saw the area where Capt Grieve took out a German pill box which earned him the VC.

After this we made our way to Ypres where we are in a fancy Novotel hotel which is great…. Last nights hotel was terrible with bad bathroom and toilet facilities and the supervisor awoke us all at 10.30 to advise us that the account had not been paid…. We had paid it so that was quickly fixed!!!!

There will be another blog today as we are attending the Menin Gate ceremony!!!

Today’s pictures

The route

A typical war cemetery

We traveled beside a canal. You can see the fog

Town sign for Mesen

The Grieve plaques

A statue commemorating the famous Christmas Truce where German and English soldiers played soccer

2 more war cemeteries

Where I had a pleasant drink of ginger beer waiting for the washing and getting change for the machines

Home for the night in Ypres