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Day 03: Gas attack... Gas attack...!
Day 03: Gas attack... Gas attack...!
Tuesday June 16, 2009, 31 km (19 miles) - Total so far: 134 km (83 miles)
Tuesday June 16, 2009, 31 km (19 miles) - Total so far: 134 km (83 miles)
The mussels had an effect that even managed to wake drew up in the night the 'effect' was so 'strong'...!!!
... and then I had baked beans for breakfast.. and the 'effect' lasted all day long... hence the title for todays posting...! (and you should also watch out for the prunes today...!!!)
We started a little bit late today... both managed to sleep in until about 8am... riding today was much easier as we didn't have any bags on the bikes (we're staying in the same hotel tonight as last night)... First we went to Cheddar Villa, which was a bit of a disappointment... we could see the pill-box, but couldn't get to it without going through a farm yard with a dog in it... so we settled for the adjacent cemetery... it was a nice small one... here's the photos...
... Then we headed off even further away from Ypres, to Tyne Cot cemetary... this is the largest commonwealth cemetary in the world, and probably the most famous one on the western front... the visitors centre was very good... giving a good impression of the men buried there, and the sheer scale of the battlefield that the cemetery served... it was massive...!
... There's even German graves there, as the cross in the middle was the location of a pill-box (called 'Tyne Cottage'), and was attacked by the Germans...
... from there we went off to Sanctuary wood cemetary and Hill 62 museum... This is an interesting museum...there's certainly a lot of stuff there, in particular the original stereo photos of the trenches and battlefields, which for me were the best part of the museum...! They have some 'original' trenches in the area behind the museum, which was interesting to see, but I'm not sure how authentic they are...???... and it seemed a shame that a lot of the artefacts that they have collected are not preserved or presented very well... let's hope that changes some time...
... Just down the road from the museum is the Hooges Crater... one of the craters made by digging under the german lines and blowing them up with huge explosives... we found the cemetary easily, but the actual crater (which survives) was more difficult... in fact it was about a km up the road, and full of water....!!
I need to explain something about Ypres that I've not mentioned yet.... firstly, on the way to ypres on Monday, we stopped off at one of the towns on the way (poperinghe) and ate at a small bar/cafe, next to a table of older cyclists who were obviously friendly but with little english... fast forward again to last night and we're sitting in the restaurant where we ate the mussels, and they walked past...!!!... so we said hello, and they came in and we exchanged a few short sentences as they recognised us as well...!... fast forward again to tonight, and we're in a different bar at the other end of Ypres town square, and they turn up and sit in the bar next to ours...!!!... I think they're the belgian secret police and they're following us, but they're so nice and friendly I don't care..!!... maybe that's all the CIA need to be... more friendly...!!!?!
For Dinner, we both ordered 'Flemish beef stew with prunes'... and it was fantastic... it might sound a little bit strange, but that food was the food of kings...!!... I'll be Very surprised if anywhere in France can be better than that...!!...
... and the prunes may well give me a little "turbo Boost" for tomorrow cycling...!!!
...second thing is that we were sitting in the bar last night (eating the mussels... don't forget the mussels...!) and a lady from the British Legion who had taken part in the menin gate ceremony that night was sitting at the next table... Drew got talking to her, and she was interested in the fact that we had video of her taking part... so we exchanged email addresses... fast forward to mid-afternoon today, and we're walking through Ypres town square to go to the museum and we bumped into Jean and Pete again...!!... so I went down to the gate ceremony again tonight to video her again... maybe Drew and I will also star in her presentation about her time here in Ypres when she gets home....??!!
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