Walking in Ypres Salient

[El Mayordomo]

In preparation for my CF in the summer I am heading to Ypres, Belgium for a couple of days walking away from home. This week May 28th -31st
Plan is base myself in Ypres and do circular walks of 25-30km each day. I have booked a different B&Bs for each night to remove the tempation to leave stuff (or whole bag) in the room and head out 'light'!
Any advice on routes or what to see and where to visit/eat/drink in the are and the town itself most welcome.

Thanks and Buen Camino

#MyLongWalk2019
@MayordomoEl

 

[mspath]

This tourist office site should be useful for Ypres

Toerisme Ieper - Alle info voor jouw bezoek

Ieper: grootstad in de middeleeuwen en onlosmakelijk verbonden met de Eerste Wereldoorlog. Gelegen op een boogscheut van de Belgische kust en de Franse grens. Ontdek wat je allemaal kan doen tijdens jouw bezoek. Vind inspiratie om te logeren, te fietsen, te wandelen, eten en drinken en nog veel...

www.toerismeieper.be

and for a very personal account do also read
Back to the Front: An Accidental Historian Walks the Trenches of World War 1 by Stephen O'Shea.
See more here--

Back to the Front

World War I is beyond the memory of almost everyone alive today. Yet it has left as deep a scar on the imaginative landscape of our century as it has on the land where it was fought. Nowhere is that more evident than on the Western Front-the sinuous, deadly line of trenches that stretched from...

books.google.com

 

[MinaKamina]

http://www.greatwar.co.uk/events/menin-gate-last-post-ceremony.htm

 

[SCT]

Enjoy your time there! I don't know about specific walking paths but my husband and I spent five memorable days there last November. We will never forget the Last Post ceremonies at the Menin Gate. There is a helpful tourist office in the same building as the Flanders Field Museum.

 

[El Mayordomo]

Will not miss it - am there for two nights so will take it in twice!

My Long Walk 2019

Camino de Santiago

mylongwalk2019.home.blog

 

[Jeff Crawley]

Will not miss it - am there for two nights so will take it in twice!

My Long Walk 2019

Camino de Santiago

mylongwalk2019.home.blog

It's at 8pm every night of the year come rain or shine. See THIS link for details.

You may also find the Western Front Way of interest.

 

[alhartman]

Similarly, I was brought to near tears at each of the small French village memorials to war dead on LePuy and Vezelay. A village with 10 buildings would have 10 names for WW1 and 1-2 for WW2. "The Great War"

And from history curriculum in the 50s-60s, I though USA and Brits won WW2. Now with so many Netflix documentaries, I think it was really the Russians--20-27 million dead!!

Memorial Day here in USA.

 

[Jeff Crawley]

Similarly, I was brought to near tears at each of the small French village memorials to war dead on LePuy and Vezelay. A village with 10 buildings would have 10 names for WW1 and 1-2 for WW2. "The Great War"

And from history curriculum in the 50s-60s, I though USA and Brits won WW2. Now with so many Netflix documentaries, I think it was really the Russians--20-27 million dead!!

Memorial Day here in USA.

We have an expression here in the UK: A Thankful Village - it's the name given to a town, village or hamlet that lost no sons or daughters in WW1. There are just 52 of these in the whole of England and Wales (one bizarrely called Upper Slaughter!). There's not a single recorded Thankful Village in the whole of Ireland nor in Scotland - they all lost somebody. 14 are Doubly Thankful - they lost no sons or daughters in WW2 either.
Most towns in France will have a war memorial. An exception to this is Thierville in Normandy whose inhabitants managed to survive the last five wars France was involved in (Franco-Prussian, WW1, WW2, Indochina (Vietnam) and Algeria without a single casualty.

 

[jimmyc]

The USA did not come into the war until 1918. Many countries including Australia, Canada and India made huge contributions to winning that war and suffered many losses.
My mothers brother was with the AIF and was killed in 1917 in Belgium.

 

[SCT]

Will not miss it - am there for two nights so will take it in twice!

My Long Walk 2019

Camino de Santiago

mylongwalk2019.home.blog

And FYI we discovered a restaurant that had just opened near the main square called"The Library" that we loved and frequented.

 

[Jeff Crawley]

The USA did not come into the war until 1918. Many countries including Australia, Canada and India made huge contributions to winning that war and suffered many losses.
My mothers brother was with the AIF and was killed in 1917 in Belgium.

America declared war on German in April 1917 actually but, oddly, waited until December 1917 to declare war on Germany's ally Austria-Hungary.

 

[El Mayordomo]

And FYI we discovered a restaurant that had just opened near the main square called"The Library" that we loved and frequented.

Going to try this place out later after Last Post

 

[El Mayordomo]

Going to try this place out later after Last Post

And FYI we discovered a restaurant that had just opened near the main square called"The Library" that we loved and frequented.

according to Google it is now permanently closed.

 

[SCT]

according to Google it is now permanently closed.

That is sad!

 

[El Mayordomo]

Found Brasserie Kazematten in the Ramparts. Very Good