From Ypres to the Somme

In the morning we went for a little stroll around the centre of Ypres and of course visited the Leonidas Chocolate shop. Then we were back in the car and on our way south towards the Somme battlefields. Again we visited some places that were new to us as well as places that we have visited before. I have been looking forward to visiting Fromelles ever since we went with Heather and Ewan to a talk about it in November last year. A mass grave of bodies has been exhumed, many identified, and each man given his own grave and headstone. The talk was very moving and it was amazing to be able to visit it. The gravestones were exactly like all of the other simple Commonwealth gravestones, and there were some beautiful messages on them from their families (descendants really, because their immediate families were all dead by the time of the reburials in 2010.)
Ally suggested visiting the Neuve-Chapelle Indian Memorial which was designed in the style of an Indian temple, and we also briefly visited the Portuguese cemetery which is nearby. Cat suggested that we go to the largest French military cemetery at Nôtre-Dame de Lorette. It was huge, full of the French style crosses rather than the Commonwealth rectangular markers, and it also had a church and an ossuary. We spotted a restaurant right beside it and nipped in, but kind of regretted it because the staff were really off hand with us at first. They were very busy but they were also distinctly unfriendly; we had sat in the wrong area and instead of explaining that to us in a friendly way they were obviously exasperated with us. However once we had been hustled through to the correct area our waitress gradually thawed towards us, worn down but our good manners and pleasant demeanour, and the food was quite good.
The afternoon was dedicated to Uncle Hugh. We visited the canal at Honnecourt sur Escaut, and then his grave at the Fins New British cemetery. We wanted to check if the little Heather that we planted is still growing and I’m delighted to report that it’s still there and has even been growing some new shoots!
When we arrived at our guest house in Corrie, an amazing experience awaited us. Our friendly hosts, Deborah and Gordon, welcomed us into their beautiful home and made us a delicious five course dinner. Their house, parts of which date back to the 16th century, is unique with a Turkish tiled room and the rest of the rooms were designed in the 1920s in Art Deco style. They told us all about the fascinating history of the house and we had a convivial evening.