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Hi Thanks for looking.We are off to Belgium in a couple of weeks and would like to visit a WW1 trench site but cant find anything on the internet.I know of the museum in Ypres but need to know where to go to visit the trenches.
Try Vimmy ridge, there are extensive trenches, a visitor center and lots of mine craters. There is also a huge monument to those who died. Parking is good next to the monument and visitors center.
Location: Brimington, Chesterfield, Derbyshire and Acharavi, Greece
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Go to Ypres pronounced "eeps" there is a campsite extremely close to the "Menin Gate" and just go into the town and take a tour, They are extremely good and you visit a few Trenches and also the infamous "Hill 60" it is on the Belgian French border and is not far at all.
on some maps it is spelled "Leper" but on most "Ypres"
Fantastic place.
The Menin Gate is a must, Just search for it on here and you will find numerous comments.
______________________________________________________________ Travel Safe
Les
On a sunny summers days looking over the lush fields with the birds are singing with it's hard to visualise muddy fields barbwire, the unmistakeable squeeking of tanks and shells exploding all around.
As Saddle tramp says Ypres is the place to head for and the last post at Menin Gate is a must as is St Margaret Chuch a short walk away in the centre of Ypres. There are numerous trench sites around the Ypres area and there are plenty of guide maps available for a couple of euro's.
The museum in Ieper/Ypres/Wipers is definitely worth a visit.
Took my teenage son who was in the school cadet force. He was interested in the weapons but not the cemeteries. There are photographs on display at Hill 60 which are grotesque so be warned because they show the true horror of war.
It was weeks later when my son visited his grandmother and she showed him a plaque on a wall in a back street of her home town. It listed the dead from that street on one day of battle on Hill 60. It included several from the same family. It was then that the human tragedy of the war hit home to my son. His view on the war has completely changed for the better.
If you have local war memorials, see if you can find out where the servicemen gave their life in battle and ensure you visit those cemeteries.
Please visit the cemetery at Passchendaele because that sums of the sacrifice of the British and Canadian soldiers.
Be prepared for the emotional roller coaster of lovely Belgian people and the killing fields of the salient.
The place you're looking for is called Sanctuary Wood - have included link to website which gives you all the details. Absolutely fascinating place and if you get chatting to owner who speaks excellent english he will quite happily tell you the history of the place and his familys involvement during both wars.
Messines Village south of 'Wipers' is a good starting point for an interesting day out. The bells in the church play Danny Boy to commemorate the Irish Division who fought in the area. This is the area of the huge underground bomb explosions, two of them are still waiting to go off! Then just a wee bit further down the road to Ploegstreet where Winston Churchill was billeted when he commanded a battalion of the Royal Scots. Go into the woods there where the famous 1914 football match at Christmas was played.
Have a good trip. Dave
______________________________________________________________ I´ve got a great ambition to die of exhaustion rather than boredom!
And if you have time after exploring the Western Front, make your way over to Verdun and contemplate the loss of almost a million men in a year-long battle.
We called at Ypres one year on our way back and went into the centre to the Tourist Info, I think in the town hall and picked up some leaflets there with two or three tour itineraries. We followed one the following day
You mustn't miss the last post, every night at the Menin Gate. the night we were there English and belgian school children were laying wreaths.
Vimy Ridge near Arras is very moving but of course all the memorials and cemeteries are.
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