Now when you wake up on a French camp site on an August morning that looks like this you really don't want to be leaving. So it was rather depressing to put the tent away after breakfast, load the bike and head off.
In order to make my visit to the World War 1 battlefield sites more eclectic I decided to go to Ypres - Ieper as the Belgians now call it, and since it is in their country they should know. It was a flying visit, negotiating the motorway round Lille and thankful for my excellent TomTom motorbike satnav which was superb, an attribute that could hardly be ascribed to some of the French drivers on the busy roads. What is it about people that changes them from thoughtful, considerate drivers on rural roads to morons once they are on four-lane city perimeter roads? Anyway I knew I had crossed into Belgium not only because of a change in the road signs but because the road surfaces deteriorated significantly - one way of enforcing the speed limit for motorbikes! Ieper has a lovely cathedral - and lots of impressive buildings.
I only had time to call into the entrance to this museum, but it is pretty clear that the WWI battlefields are a major contributor to the tourist trade. I was surprised that here, just over the border from France, everything is in Flemish that isn't geared to the English tourist.
A scorching hot day, and I had my bike gear on - could cheerfully have stripped and lay down in this, but doubt it would have improved the prospects for the tourist industry.
First sight of the monument I had come to Ypres to see - the Menin Gate. Bought a couple of bottles of Coca Cola on this street, spoke not a word to the shop woman, who nevertheless wished me a "good morning." How did she know I was British? "I can just tell." This is depressing, but at least I didn't have to demonstrate my ignorance of the language.
You get a bit nearer and start to appreciate the scale of the thing
There were a whole host of places like this, offering tours of battlefield sites and various other "reality" experiences. I would have liked to have tried one, but had insufficient time.
Close up it becomes even more impressive
Some boards explaining what happens here on a regular basis and what the monument is all about
thankfully all in English
This is what is morbidly impressive - every inch of every wall is covered with the names of the people who were killed in the fighting around Ypres.
But these are only the names of those who were never buried because their remains were never found. As I understand it some simply disappeared under the water and mud and their bodies were never recovered.
Even allowing for the possibility of the odd few having escaped and who sat out the war incognito in some Belgian bordello this is gruesomely impressive. Every archway reveals another series of walls covered in yet more names.
It simply never seems to end. Now they are just names, but of course they were once real men who were loved and missed and mourned.
Just time for a quick walk around Ieper. Some really nice architecture with religion dominating the skyline.
That and various memorials - more names, emotional anaesthetic generated by anonymity and by the sheer scale of the slaughter
Loads of churches like this - we could do with just one of these in Leicester to replace our rather flea-bitten and unimpressive cathedral
Funny seeing religious icons like this just adorning the walls of commercial premises. Mary keeping an eye on the place while the owners are out to lunch?
O dear
The motorbike park in the middle of the town - and Benji was keeping company with some pretty impressive machines - some rather posh Harleys and a top of the range Gold Wing in particular. Personally I still prefer BMW's but they did stand out from the crowd.
Met one or two bikers who had just taken off from the UK, crossed the channel, and were spending 2-3 weeks just going where the fancy took them. This gave me ideas!
More impressive buildings to admire during lunch and then the return trip to Dunkirk, where I thought I had plenty of time to buy some wine for my lovely wife before driving down to the ferry, only to discover that the ferry terminal is in Dunkirk in the same sense that London Stansted airport is in London. Good job I allowed plenty of time.
Benji had a good crossing with some new friends at the front of the boat.
This is the one thing about cross-channel ferries I have never understood.Half an hour before arrival people start queuing at the stairway to the car decks in order to be at their vehicles before anyone else, rather than enjoying the view, or having a comfortable seat and a coffee while the ferry docks. Do they think that if they get to their cars before anyone else they will be off the ferry first? Answers on a postcard.
It was all rather fun, as the bikes were at the front of the ferry, and we ended up disembarking long before the people at the front of the queue.
Anyway an uneventful 3 hours back to Leicester sampling the delights of the M25 and M11 in the rush hour followed making me so thankful I don't live in the south-east of England and longing for the remoteness of my beloved Northumberland.
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