The Immortal Salient

Itinerary

• Day 1

  Local departure by coach, then to our hotel in Ypres in Belgium where we stay for four nights.

• Day 2 - Bedford House; Palingbeek – The Bluff; Hooglede German Cemetery; In Flanders Fields Museum

  We start at Bedford House Cemetery, unique in Flanders as it's built around the ruins of an old château. Here we look at the commemoration of the dead, and then travel out to the Palingbeek, now a nature reserve but to the British soldiers in WW1 it was known as The Bluff.

  Here we see massive mine craters and the scars of war, looking at the ‘war underground’. We then have lunch at the Hooge Crater Café with time to see the museum and trenches. In the afternoon we visit the private memorial to Captain Ewen Brodie, a Scots officer who fell at Ypres in 1914, giving us time to discuss the ‘Old Contemptibles’.

  We then continue to Hooglede German Cemetery, one of the least visited German cemeteries in Flanders but with the graves of more than 8,000 men. We look at the role of French soldiers, ‘Poilus’, at Potijze and end back in Ypres for a visit to the In Flanders Fields Museum, one of the most important WW1 museums in the world.

  Meals - Breakfast

• Day 3 - Houthulst Belgian Cemetery; Yser Tower; Flanders Fields Cemetery

  Today we look at the role of Allies in the fighting for Flanders seeing the massive Belgian Cemetery at Houthulst Forest.

  We then travel to Vladslo to see the Katie Kollwitz statues of the mourning parents, and at Dixmude visit the impressive Yser Tower which is a WW1 museum with stunning views across the battlefields.

  We also have time for lunch here before looking at the role of American troops in Belgium in WW1 seeing the US Memorial at Vierstraat, the In Flanders Fields American Cemetery at Waregem, and then seeing the ground where the Doughboys fought in the autumn of 1918.

  Meals - Breakfast

• Day 4 - Ploegsteert Memorial; Bailleul; Hoogenacke Ridge

  On our final day we look at the Battle of the Lys, one of the forgotten battles in Flanders in 1918 where the Germans broke through the Allied lines. We start at the Ploegsteert Memorial, where many men who fell in the battle are commemorated.

  We then travel over the Flanders hills, scene of heavy fighting in April 1918, seeing the 34th Division Memorial, and go into Bailleul to visit the cemetery and memorial to the 25th Division, having lunch here.

  In the afternoon we look at the April 1918 sector in French Flanders in the area around the Nieppe Forest where Australians and British Guardsmen fought side by side, and visit the ridge where British machine guns saved the Channel Ports in April 1918. We end with a look at the Portuguese Expeditionary Force, our oldest Ally who fought for Britain from 1917, seeing the Portuguese Memorial at La Couture and then visiting their cemetery at Neuve-Chapelle.

  Meals - Breakfast

• Day 5

  Return home

  Meals - Breakfast

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Accommodation

You will stay for four nights at the 3-star Novotel Ypres Centrum, situated in the centre of the town and only a few hundred metres from the Menin Gate. Back to top