In Flanders fields

This entry is published just after our trip across to Belgium. We wanted to do a couple of things. First, we wanted to see some old friends whom we hadn't seen for 16 years - and we also wanted to see some of the WW1 scenes of battle in Flanders Fields.

We were flying Wizz and that meant the totally inhumane start of 01:00!!!!!!!!!! YUK! A taxi to the bus station at 02:00, then the Wizzbus at 02:30 - for a 2 hour bus run to Katowice. (That took longer than the actual flight to Charlerois!!! We boarded and were all set to take off - we pushed back and ..then sat on the apron for TWO HOURS because the fog was so thick. We thought our flight was doomed, but at least they let us use our mobiles...so we contacted our friends so they wouldn't leave the house too early.

We finally took off and got to Belgium without further dramas. N & V were there to meet us and what a reunion! Of course we all claimed we hadn't changed a bit!! Despite the early start I managed to stay awake all day. Wed went to a SSAFA lunch, then relaxed till evening when we had a BBQ and a few friends came round. That was such a good night. Roast lamb bbqed! Oh boy! First lamb we'd had for 6 months........................ Just delicious.......

Our friends live just outside Mons and we had an absolute ball with them. It's amazing when you can just pick up the pieces and gossip as if you've just been away for a week or so!! We were very lucky as our friends took leave to spend time with us and so the four of us went off together....

On Sunday we did the Battle of Mons, guided by a friend who knew his stuff. We learned a great deal, such as ...did you know that the first and last shots of the war were fired about 10 meters from each other - on opposite sides of the road? Or that the first and last allied dead are buried in Mons Military Cemetery opposite each other? That was by chance.

The first blood drawn as actually by sabre - not by bullet and the places where the first and last 'action' happened is literally meters apart. You could say that the allies managed to cross the road after more than 4 years of bloodshed!

Well, after that we had to have a decent sit down so repaired to a lovely Belgian pub called the Maggots by our SHAPE friends. Excellent beer and company....

Monday was set aside to drive to Villers Brettoneux. This was our chance to see part of the Somme and visit the Australian memorial. the town is very pro-Aussie. As you can see, they are into kangaroos!! We'd managed to adopt a couple of stray Aussies and they came round with us. We found the smaller of the two places and after walking round I found the original grave of the Australian Unknown Soldier. That was quite a surprise. I can tell you.

Then we had a typical French lunch -the set menu and wine! This was very good and set us up for the afternoon when we went to the main cemetery which is HUGE. With the rain -which decided to fall we had a good idea of how soggy and awful it must have been for the men trying to fight over the impossibly open ground. Our resident experts enjoyed talking tactics while we listened and read some of the notes and so on that had been left.

I leave today's notes with an image of mixed sentiment. There was a cyclists' corps and someone had visited. Sad yet so apt.