"Ieper/Ypres" a Ieper Travel Page by Kettleman

The idea was to go to Ieper (Ypres in French), enjoy the local brews and also to ride around a selection of the WW1 sites.

I planned a short route lasting for most of the day around the area. As it was Easter Saturday when we were to do it I had to build in some contingencies for added traffic etc. What I hadn’t planned for was cafes/restaurants that were closed!

Altogether there were 8 of us in the group on 5 bikes, two GS1150’s, a Varadero, a Suzuki B12 and a 600 Hornet. Most of us were based in the Old Tom hotel right in the Grote Markt in Ieper. The hotel is functional rather than luxurious and the 60 Euros per night for a double room reflects position rather than luxury.

We arrived around lunchtime on Good Friday and immediately after changing out of leathers went for a light lunch!

Saturday after breakfast we set off for the trip around the battlefield areas. The plan was to call in at a German bunker called “Cheddar Villa” by the Tommies. But we couldn’t find it and it’s not signposted it. Why? Because a farmer now uses it a cow shed! We saw it another day on the ride past!

The next stop was in Langemarck, and the German Cemetery. This was started by the allies and then taken over by the Germans in the 1920’s. It contains around 44000 of their dead. Mostly from the early part of the war and also from 1917 and the 3rd Battle of Ypres nearby at Passendale.

After Langemarck we moved onto the Canadian Monument at Vancouver Corner.

On 22nd April 1915 the Germans launched an offensive in this area using gas for the first time. The monument carved from a single piece of granite and was designed by Chapman Clemesha who served in the area in this battle. It was unveiled in 1923 by the Duke of Connaught.

The Canadian losses were 2000 dead out of 18000 that started the battle.

By now it was getting almost time for lunch and we still had to fit Tyne Cot cemetery into the morning!

From Vancouver Corner we headed towards Zonnebeke and then left past the Totemuhle where Erich Maria Remarque (author of All Quiet on the Western Front) served during 1914.

The Germans used the mill as an observation point after they captured the area following the gas attack on the Canadians.

In the distance you can see the stone and marble of Tyne Cot. Tyne Cot is the largest British Cemetery in the world and contains 11871 graves, 70% of which unidentified.

The walls are made from flint imported from the UK and Italy.

The central part of the cemetery is built over a German bunker. and has the large cross on top. Across the salient there are over 1000 concrete structures built by the German Army during the course of the year.

The reason was that the water table was so near the surface, digging down would have meant flooding and trenches resembling drainage ditches, so the Germans, as early as 1915, used concrete above the ground.