All's Busy On The Western Front

On our first full day in France we did what any sensible person would do and immediately left after only 2 hours. Belgium was the place to be. We spent most of the middle of the day in and around Ypres seeing lots of the places I will no doubt frequent as a history teacher later on a battlefields tour. Then finally off to Ghent to hit the ground running tomorrow visiting the city!

Bye bye England

A really cool trench system and underground dug out in what is now an industrial estate outside Ypres (shame we didn't get any pictures of it above ground). Very close to home seeing fellow Yorkshire men in Belgium

A dressing station at Essex Farm in Ypres (sensing a theme here) it was bizarre seeing the tiny rooms the doctors and orderlies practiced in. Despite its troubles Danni is confident the NHS isn't quite in this state yet.

The aftermath of the obliteration of the top of the Caterpillar (next to Hill 60) from 32 tonnes of explosives (approx. 10 x moiras). The photo really doesn't do the size of this hole justice. Despite the historical suffering from all of the sites today, being in the presence of the place where 600 young men vanished in a single instant was surreal.

Into the actual city of Ypres in the evening for some less bleak history of the cloth hall and its impressive tower that had been completely rebuilt since the war (destroyed in 1915-18 and not fully rebuilt until 1967!). 

We ended the trip to Ypres with a walk along the 17th century ramparts to keep out the French and later the Hapsburgs attackers. The gate in the photo is actually part of the oldest sections of the walls from the medieval era (14th century) that the later fortifications improved upon. There was an awesome tower also built into the wall which served as a massive early modern fridge where chunks of ice would be placed from the moat in the winter months and kept food fresh through most of the year. 

Finally, we drove to Ghent to start the new day nice and early although after quite a heavy day I would not be surprised if we end up with a bit of a well deserved lie-in.