On the Road Again!

Not long before I started writing a blog and then transferring the content over here to Blogger. I had only recently bought my R1150GS.  It came with the BMW system panniers but with no top box. That was remedied with a Givi plate and utilising the Givi E45 topbox that I had for over a decade by them (I still have it!). The Easter 2003 trip was organised for the Suzuki Owners Club, primarily for everyone in the club as well as friends Graham and Sarah Walker. The take up was very small.  People claim there was "nothing ever organised" but when there was they were pretty much absent.  On the way Claire and I stopped in Veurne near the Belgian coast and managed to park up alongside another Manadarin GS! Also with UK plates. Most of the participants had booked into the Old Tom B&B and restaurant in the main market square in Ypres. The idea was to get there on Good Friday.  Have two days touring and visiting the battlefields and then go home on Bank Holiday Monday. P...

We were up early for breakfast. The paperwork said that the parking along Beselarestraat from near Beselare towards Zonnebeke was open until 10am. The first problem was leaving the A19 as instructed that the junction wasn't policed on this section and we took nearly 15 mins to get the left rurn onto the N303 road into solid traffic through the town. Way before the start of the parking we were directed into a field and told to walk up the road. I had put a way marker into the TomTom for the road junction at the bottom of the parking. It was still some 600m to go. We were stopped by police and could see buses up ahead and a queue of people. By the time our column got up to about 200m  long the queue at what was Bus Stop F has disappeared. We were then told buses would come. With the traffic we were far too late to have a look around the museum site and went through accreditation and straight onto buses to Tyne Cot. We eventually arrived there about 11 o'clock. We were supposed to...

With the Shuttle booked for 1136 we arrived about an hour in advance and checked in. "Here we go". Disruption caused by a train being taken out of service. Three an hour.  Work it out  In the end we rolled out at 1305. What a superb service. That meant we were late in France. Late for lunch. In the end we stopped for a coffee and a sandwich at St Eloi services on the A25 just before the exit where we would head towards Poperinge and first stop at the B&B in Vlamertinge - B&B Pottebreker -  http://www.bbpottebreker.be We arrived before 4pm but the owners were there and showed us to the room. Modern and clean. We dropped off the luggage and headed for Ypres (Ieper) and the special events for the Menen Gate ceremony. After wandering about trying to get a bank with an ATM we finally found a viewpoint of the screens as we hadn't been lucky in any of the ballots. We saw the ceremony on the screen. The bands marching passed us (video below) and Queen Mathilde of Belgium ...

Have had an email confirming that we have got seating tickets for the main event at Tyne Cot. The tickets themselves haven't arrived. It's still two and a half weeks away though. I've been planning a few routes to get to the hotel and then across to Zonnebeke to park the car and look around the museum. The event the night before in Ypres itself means that we will check in the B&B and our hosts will get us a cab into town.  Getting one back will prove possibly more complex.

We have the dog booked into his favourite kennels for the duration of this weekend away. He goes in there late afternoon on Saturday. We have a dog-free evening. I had thought of going over then but finding a hotel or even a youth hostel in Belgium is like finding that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Unless you have that gold of course. So back to Plan A. Plan A had alwaya been to cross over on Sunday morning and head generally towards Ypres.  There's a few places I'd like to see again plus some new (to me) sites. Then see what parking is like in Ypres. There's a special ceremony in the Market by the Cloth Hall. It may be that as Plan A dictates that we go to Vlamertinge to the B&B and back out by taxi, we stick to it. Monday morning we have to be in Zonnebeke to park and see the museum and displays there. We have been before a few years ago. It was pre- Meldrews  so must have been the other club we don't mention. On that visit we had to park in the entrance ...

There are several ceremonies taking place at the same time in Ypres and the area that formed the Passchendaele battlefield. The first is a special event at the Menin Gate in Ypres.  I have been before to see the pageantry and the Fire Brigade buglers at the Gate and it is a truly moving experience.   The second, is the ceremony at Tyne Cot British Cemetery  and Memorial . This is also a ticket only event. parking will be at the Zonnebeke Museum and that will be by ticket and then shuttle buses to Tyne Cot. Unusually for me I hadn't booked any accommodation and of course now that everyone has got the okay that they are getting tickets to the event, the whole thing has gone wild.  Simply taking a look at "Ypres" and the dates on booking.com sees that some places are what we say in England are "taking the piss" with massively inflated prices. But, I guess someone will be desperate and pay them. In the end I have booked a B&B  in Vlamertinge near Ypres on the r...