Day 34 - Cobblestones and Canals.

Following a hearty breakfast with Gemma and Rick, we walked today’s 25km rather lighter than usual, carrying only water, Snickers, warm layer and waterproofs in one pack (thanks for volunteering yours JP), leaving the remainder back at the hotel. We left Ypres via the Menin Gate and walked, with the accompanying click-clack-click-clack of our poles, through the suburbs to the ‘Yorkshire Trench’ located in Boezinge, a busy industrial estate, and then onto the Leperlee Canal for the walk into Diksmuide. Following our route through Ypres, we were grateful that the cobblestones soon gave way to tarmac, for as mentioned in previous blogs, though our Altra trainers are excellent, the combination of uneven cobblestones and already sore feet meant their minimal cushioning was proving less than optimal.

Sadly, the Yorkshire Trench and Dugout was closed for renovations. The trench and dugouts were discovered in the 1990’s and excavated by a group of Belgian amateur archaeologists, known as the ‘Diggers’. The trench was named by the men from 49th West Riding Division, who extended and improved the original French dug trench system. The trench would have been the British front line between 1916 and 1917, and the dugouts were used by the Royal Welch Fusiliers prior to their participation in the 3rd Battle of Ypres (Passchendaele). The German lines were approximately ½ km to the east.

Vaguely following what would have been Essex Trench, we joined the Leperlee Canal and turned north on what was Canal Trench, a German front line position. Amazingly from our trench map, the British front line followed the canal on the western bank. We continued, into a cold head wind along the canal bank, crossing to the west at Sas Lock, the site of a German fortified position. Trudging through the long grass on the western bank we continued north to Noordschote Drie Grachten, before crossing back to the east and heading to where the Leperlee joins the Yser Canal, which runs east west to Diksmuide. These two waterways connected the British Ypres Salient to the Belgian held Yser Front, with the Germans occupying the opposite bank. We crossed yet again to what was now the northern bank and began the 8km walk into Diksmuide. About 1km later we met Gemma and Rick, who had driven out to Diksmuide to meet us. They about turned and joined us for the final windy and rainy stretch back into Diksmuide, from where we would commence our final day’s walk tomorrow.

All feeling rather damp and in need of a hot drink, we enjoyed a quick cup of coffee and slice of apple pie in Diksmuide’s Grand Place before heading northeast by car to Tyne Cot Cemetery. The cemetery is located on a gentle slope that rises to the village of Passchendaele on its crest. In 1917 the Germans developed a heavily fortified trench system ringing Ypres. A German fortified position known as Flanden/Stellung occupied the ground that is now Tyne Cot, the remains of which can still be seen within the perimeter of the cemetery. It was these fortifications which gave rise to the cemetery’s name. The Northumberland Fusiliers likened the fortified pill boxes to traditional Tyneside workers cottages or ‘Tyne Cottages,’ shortened to Tyne Cot. On 4th October 1917 the 3rd Australian and New Zealand Divisions captured the Flandun/Stellung and 2 days later a field cemetery was constructed.

Today Tyne Cot Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery and Memorial to the Missing is the largest cemetery for Commonwealth forces anywhere in the world. There are 10,459 soldiers buried here from across the Commonwealth and a further 33,783 British and 1,176 New Zealand soldiers with no known grave commemorated on the walls surrounding Tyne Cot. These names are in addition to the 52,000 names of the missing listed on the Menin Gate, which upon completion was found to be too small to contain all the names as planned. All the missing after 15 August 1917 were therefore listed at Tyne Cot.

Despite the number of cemeteries that we have visited over the past 5 weeks, as we walked amongst these graves in the misty rain, the sense of melancholy remained just as palpable. The scale of the 3rd Battle of Ypres or Passchendaele is perhaps best represented by the Memorial wall, where the names of the missing are listed by Battalion and fill endless panel after panel. At the same time as feeling sad, one cannot help but also feel proud; proud of these men from all walks of life who volunteered willingly and made the ultimate sacrifice so that we can live in better world. The Kohima Epitaph sums up this sentiment far more eloquently:

When you go home Tell them of us and say For your tomorrow We gave our today