Cycling the Western Front, Hereford, Moselle, Rhine & Aare 

Saturday June 22nd - 63k ride to Ypres. Overcast, really cold most of day 19°C to 12°C

The day started out warmish at 19 ºC but got colder and wetter as the day progressed. Today we went to Fromelles, village where more than 400 Australians were buried in WW1 but only discovered in 2006.  We visited Hill 60, recently re-enacted in the movie Beneath Hill 60, and the Menen Gate before arriving in Ypres (Leper in Belgium) at 5pm after a cold, but relatively easy day along French canals and Belgian cycle paths.

We awoke at 7am to patches of blue skies.  Our Hotel was very quiet despite being near the busy Freeway.  Breakfast was more typically Belgian than French with cold cuts of meat and cheeses.  When we leave, it's 19 ºC with no need for a rainjacket.  But we are only 30minutes out when the rain sets in and out comes the wet weather gear. 

We have enough left overs for lunch, but some meat would be nice so I'm into the first Charcutie we see to buy some pate foie and sliced ham.  Then it's on to Fromelles.  There's a march in the centre of the village, apparently in remembrance of a Belgion Legionnaire killed in Vietnam.  They take their war dead very seriously in this part of the world - with good reason.

Someone directs us to the Pheasants Wood - the place where 250 Australian soldiers from WW1 were found buried in 2006.  After following the sign into a muddy field, then a wood for about a kilometre we were convinced it was a token sign only - it points in the direction of the wood, but no one ever really expected anyone to ever go there - except us.  We emerge from the other side muddy and cold and head back towards town and the newly built cemetery where the bodies were moved to in 2008.  After much DNA matching, only a handful of identities were revealed. By now it is raining but the entrance to the cemetery made a good cosy spot out of the wind to boil the billy - I'm sure the occupants wouldn't have minded.

Not far out of town, we stumble on an Aldi - Ian's favourite store - and of course we need a photo to share with the converted. It's getting wetter colder and the temperature has dropped again to 13 ºC and I get another flat tyre - my second one for the week.  The wet muddy back tyre is not easy to change - good thing Ian is here - I'm standing by with the rags for clean up.

On the road again heading north and as we ride through Perenchies, we spy a long line of people queueing at the mobile Friterie to buy chips.  They smell nice but the queue is too long to wait in the cold.  We detour left to find a bike path along the Canal de Deule and stop to have lunch on a bench out of the wind.  Following it until it crosses the border from France into Belgium, we hit the Belgian system of bike paths - very confusing - they have numbers and letters but no very few mention the town they are going to.  

There are 3 different systems, the LF or fietsroute, RaVel sometimes called an RV route, and a Rando Velo route, also sometimes called an RV route.  Mostly these cycle paths are dedicated to cyclists only and pass though farming country or along canals, but seem to miss the villages.  So it's easy to lose the feel of where you are, not knowing which village you have just whizzed by on the outskirts.  These cycle routes are more intended for commuters and day trippers rather than through cyclists like us. They do make it easy to get around the country side - you just don't see much other than cabbage patches.

We switch cycle paths from a number 38, to a RaVel 1 to an LF6, hopefully in the direction of Ypres.  Every now and then, Ian checks his GPS which is synced with a set of maps from Open Bike Map, to check our location.

Not far out of Ypres, there's a sign to Hill 60 which I recalled was one of the noted WW1 spots to visit.  The movie Beneath Hill 60 depicted the story of the Australian tunnellers who dug tunnels deep beneath the German trench lines. Hill 60 was a strategic location but it was more of a mound of dirt dug from a nearby railway cutting. 

A few kilometres on and we arrive in Ypres and I spy the recognisable Menen Gate - a towering archway dedicated to the Commonwealth men missing in WW1 in the Ypres Salient area.  There's 54,000 names inscribed on the inside of the archway, and considering 250,000 Commonwealth soldiers died in this area, that's a huge number of soldiers who have no known grave site.

The market square of Ypres is busy.  It's Saturday night.  It doesn't take long to find our B and B - the Demi Lune, and we are met by Greet, our host, who makes room in her garage for our bikes.  The room is lovely and warm.  We've been cold and wet all day.  She tells us about the Last Post ceremony that takes place at the Menen Gate every night of the week (and has done so since 1928) at 8pm.  We hurriedly shower, and leave to have a really nice dinner of chicken, jam sauce and potatoes (with the obligatory beer and rose) before heading down to the Menen Gate.  There's 1,000 people already there and the moving ceremony starts spot on 8pm, attended by the towns dignitaries and a Scottish pipe band supporting the lone trumpeter who plays the Last Post.