For us walking the WFW is more than raising money; it is about self-reflection, the chance to ‘walk and talk out’ our “stuff”. For the first time today, we really felt that the walk itself is actually the salve we have been looking for. As we traversed the Linge Ridge from Kleinkopf to Collet du Linge it became apparent that we were walking directly along and through front line German trenches, where nearly 20000 young men were killed between 20th July to 16th October 1915 in one of the bloodiest battles of the war. The French keen to retake the Colmar launched a series of attacks against well-constructed German trenches. At times the separation between the opposing sides was less than 15m.
German Trench - photo taken 22 March 2023
By the time we reached Orbey we both felt that being immersed in physical visual signs of World War One and coming to really understand what these symbols stood for, meant the various ups and downs of our own lives somehow seem not quite so important….
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