Final day started with the established routine….scrambled eggs , streaky bacon and coffee. Final chance to sneak a couple of boiled eggs out for later. Then we packed up all our stuff, checked out of the hotel and set off to the sports centre to pick up the route for the final walk. By now, many of our fellow walkers were familiar faces and a cheery mood prevailed with lots of encouragement to make it across the finishing line.
The weather had clouded over and the big decision was to take some wet weather protection on the 6k route we had selected via the suburbs of Potyze and Sint Jan. Marc had already left on the longer route and we exchanged messages and hoped to catch up with him later.
We left via the wooded area to the rear of the sports centre passing a splendid running track. Passed through some sleepy suburban estates and we paused to pay our respects at a town cemetery to Captain Liebert from Wincanton who was a casualty in the very early stages of the fighting and so buried in a conventional cemetery before the scale of casualties led to the vast number of graves and gravesites.
The rain came in gently after an hour or so just as we reached a rest station so we went in for coffee and here Dave encountered some more old acquaintances. Whilst sipping our coffees and chatting Marc arrived in the hall, keen to get out of the rain and sporting an amusing hat and anorak combo.
Here was perhaps the funniest incident of the weekend as Marc had been telling us that Thierry had split with his wife whom he pointed out to us clearing the tables. When she came past our table he said hello and said some thing like Of course you are Thierry’s ex-wife….to which she replied (perhaps a little hastily) No no…I just work with him…I am quite happily married to Mark who will be arriving shortly! We then met the said Mark as we left and he took a photo of us and was quite cool when German Marc made some joke about flirting with his wife.
Mercifully, we had missed the brief shower so the remaining stretch of the walk was completed in watery sunshine as we walked along the banks of the moat and city walls. Marc began to tell us the story of a gunner who is commemorated for saving the city with a single cannon shot which took out the high command of the attacking forces thus demoralising the attackers who withdrew. We came across the statue to Nikolass Kannonier (the cannon man) and could not resist picturing one artilleryman acknowledging another.
We made one final visit to the Menin Gate and took the chance to inspect the wreaths, including the football laid on Friday evening.
The final stretch of city walls included some of the newer memorials including ironically a peace bench placed by members of the European Council in 2014 including the names of many former leaders such as Merkel , Cameron and Hollande…the sinister Orban seemed to be the only one still in power. (I wonder why?)
Reaching the finishing line at the sports centre we were presented with our 50th Anniversary medals by Thierry and sat for some refreshments with another former gunner called Ivan. We had achieved what we had set out to do and it had been another great experience. The beautiful setting of Ieper is a super location for walking with an open landscape offering walks to suit all abilities and ages. The organization is extremely impressive with the clearest signage and plenty of rest areas and refreshments. Most memorable of all is the constant reminder of the impact of war on this lovely old town and the enormous sacrifice of youth in the surrounding countryside. Coming across the grave of a Somerset lad or a commemoration of the one-time secretary of the Old Sexeians on the Menin Gate is a poignant reminder of how close we all are still to that generation who sacrificed everything for us.
"When you go home, tell them of us and say,
For your tomorrows , these gave their today"
Written and published by John Maxwell Edmonds in 1919
Now it was time to set off for home and with the satnav set for Somerset we drove one final time round the streets of Ypres. We zipped through the flat landscape with more or less empty roads, making excellent time until we reached the tunnel crossing point at Calais. Here we got caught up in the stream of disappointed scousers making their way home from the Paris final. The fans were subdued but nursing their grievance about police brutality at the stadium. There was a delay but we grabbed a coffee and finished our snaffled helping of bread rolls, cheese and hard boiled eggs before the chunnel express took us back to Kent and so via the M25 and A303 to home!
If you’ve enjoyed reading these reports and want to get involved another year, please speak to either Dave or Richard.
And in the good traditional way, please stand for the closing ceremony!
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