Sunday 28th May PM.

Back on the horse, well in the Mondeo, and another short drive to the Black-Watch memorial at Polygon Wood.

The next stop was a must, Tyne Cot Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery and Memorial to the Missing located outside of Passchendale. It is the largest cemetery for Commonwealth forces in the world, for any war. The name "Tyne Cot" is said to come from the Northumberland Fusiliers, seeing a resemblance between the many German concrete pill boxes on this site and typical Tyneside workers' cottages The concrete shelters which still stand in various parts of the cemetery were part of a fortified position of the German army. 11,961 Commonwealth servicemen of the First World War are buried or commemorated in Tyne Cot Cemetery. King George V visited the cemetery in 1922. At his suggestion the Cross of Sacrifice, also called the Great Cross, was built on the position of one of the concrete German blockhouses which had dominated the ridge.The Queen visited 12 July 2007 .The memorial was designed by Sir Herbert Baker.

We were fortunate that a Canadian pipe band had come across and was playing at the cross. We would see them again later...

A brief visit to the Memorial Museum Passchendaele at Zonnebeke then into Ypres or wipers to the english soldiers. Ypres was levelled to the ground but was sympathetically rebuilt. In the centre is the Lakenhalle or Cloth Hall which houses the 'in Flanders fields' museum. We spent a couple of hours in the museum learning facts of the Great War.

We just had time to visit the St Julien Canadian War Memorial, the brooding soldier. This area experienced the first poison gas attacks along the Western front.

We checked into our lovely B&B and chatted to our hosts Paul and Mimi then, on their advice, headed off early to the Menin gate Memorial to the Missing, for the last post. we got there with half an hour to spare but the crowd was already four or five deep. The memorial is located at the eastern exit of the town and marks the starting point for one of the main roads out of the town that led Allied soldiers to the front line. Its large Hall of Memory contains names on stone panels of 54,395 Commonwealth soldiers who died in the Salient but whose bodies have never been identified or found. Unveiled on 24 July 1927 the gate was designed by Reginald Blomfield.

The Canadian pipe band marched and played and this was followed by The Last Post. At 7.30pm each day, the police arrive and all traffic is stopped from driving through the Menin Gate until 8.30pm. The crowd is hushed and a stillness descends over the memorial. Buglers of the local volunteer Fire Brigade arrive and stand ready at the eastern entrance of the Menin Gate Memorial. They then step into the roadway under the Memorial Arch and make their way to stand in the centre of the Hall of Memory forming a line across the eastern entrance facing towards the town.

At 8pm the call to Attention then the Sounding of the “Last Post”, a minute of silence then the “Réveille”. There were a number of groups of veterans with their flags, one from Bristol who had come across for the Dunkirk anniversary and The Last Post ceremony.

The highlight of the trip. a spot of food in the main square then on to bed, well there was a bottle of wine involved...