Day 14 Passchendaele 30 April 2018

Today was Passchendaele 1917 Museum. We had been there before but at least this time we got to see the short film. An interesting museum that has an extensive layout of underground tunnel system as well as external trench system that plots the changes in the trench systems between 1914/5 and 1918.

We visited the 5th Australian Division Memorial and two cemeteries.

 We also made a friend with a local donkey and we fed him some apples, whether he wanted them or not,

Our next stop was the Tyne Cot cemetery. It was called that because it reminded the northern British soldiers of the cottages from Tynside. There are 34,000 missing soldiers listed on the walls as well as 12,000 graves. There are two Australian VC winners here as well as a couple of German bunkers inside the cemetery.  The area was liberated by Australians in 1917. It is a quite an impressive and sobering monument to sacrifice.

We had lunch at a small museum/cafe called Diggers' Rest. the owner's speciality is tunnels. He told one road contractor his phone number and 10 Euro if he found any bodies. He did find bodies but he was suspicious and rang the Police instead. They were indeed bodies from WW1. The Police knew who he was as he is often consulted when this happens.

 Of course, every home owner has a 75mm French gun in their front yard.  It's their version of garden gnomes.

Our next stop is one of the few German cemeteries - Langemark Cemetery with 10,100 burials.

Above is a monument to Welsh Divisions.

We had our farewell dinner with our tour guide Rod, and we gave him a bottle of scotch. There is still one more day of the trip but we won’t see him tomorrow night as he returns home.