We’re aiming for warmer climes, but they’ll have to wait. We still have unfinished business over here.
Each day, we’re trying to kill two birds with one stone – or it could be three? We hope to maximise each day’s mileage, without jeopardising the journey itself. We need to allow ourselves time for a stop or two. Of course that means an early start. 10.15am our record so far.
So it’s an early goodbye to Ypres, without discovering just exactly how many guest bedrooms this place could possibly house – unless they’re a leftover from the astonishing pigeon post that operated so successfully during WW1. I’d hate to be the one tidying up after that lot checked out!
We intend Tyne Cot to be our last WW1 post, but as it happens it wasn’t. Again, words will never do justice. That’s long gone.
The Royal British Legion have planted a field of Passchendaele poppies at Tyne Cot. Messages from all over in remembrance.
We wander silently through the expanse of 12,000 graves.
Then it’s onwards and upwards. Or in our case downwards.
We’ve enhanced our team. There’s now five of us. Pat has an assistant. We’ve brought her on board as extra security. Thanks to the top people in Fiat Ducato’s think tank, Pat thinks we’re driving a Fiat 500 – all 3.5metres. Consequently on our previous trip she constantly tried to “boldly go where no one has gone before.” At times she behaved a little bit like me. Her confident cultured tones disguising the fact she was ignorant of the height, width and weight of Beastie. We think she may have thought she was traveling with a different Mr S.
With an Alps crossing coming up and time spent navigating the Italian Lakes, we’ve invested in Co-Pilot. Residing in tablet form, it houses a “Sheila”. An Oz with an attitude. Whereas Pat politely proffers her instructions, “Little Missy” brashly barks them. A woman at work. She comes from the land down under. She knows about big things.
Low tunnels. Weak bridges. Narrow lanes. Dirt tracks. Farmer’s fields – even Hyper-Marche height restricting barriers – all a thing of the past!
We’ll see.