Weekend Report

A few shots from this weekend’s Flanders excursion. 

Time was spent in the company of this gentleman,…

…and, of course, this gentleman, pictured here at the site of Dirty Bucket Camp.

We searched for, and found, strange things in French woods,…

…and visited some of these – of course we did – a couple for a second time, on a glorious Friday afternoon,…

…and of nine yet-to-visit cemeteries on my agenda, we managed eight, so no complaints there.

We found time for one of these, too, on a glorious Sunday lunchtime, a few hours prior to Lille departure.

Saturday.  Clouds build above the Kemmelberg as evening draws in.  This view, from just outside Poperinge, looks south east, the ‘mountain’ some five miles away.  Further right, almost obscured by trees, and before the small range of hills – Mont Rouge, Mont Vidaigne & Mont Noir – that lead towards the edge of the picture on the far right, the small hump of the Scherpenberg can also be seen.  A mile closer to us than the Kemmelberg, the Germans captured the Scherpenberg on 29th April 1918.  It was the final action of the Battle of the Lys; the land between us and the hill would remain in Allied hands for the rest of the war.

By the way, I gather it had been raining in Belgium for weeks before I turned up……