Battlefields: Ypres and the Somme
Stand at the largest Commonwealth war cemetery in the world, then place a personal tribute at the Menin Gate that evening – three nights of First World War history that never once feels like a checklist.
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Battlefields: Ypres and the Somme
Tell us your trip details and we'll put together a complimentary Stradora Expedition Pack for the journey.
3 nights through Belgium
Three nights on the Western Front, led by a retired Wing Commander with more than forty years of service behind him, and the tour is paced accordingly: low mileage, a great deal of history, and time to take it in.
Ypres comes first, by way of the tunnel, with the Hooge Crater museum and then the Last Post at the Menin Gate. The ceremony has been held under that arch almost every evening since 1928, the gate carries the names of nearly 55,000 men whose bodies were never found, and riders have the option of laying a personal tribute during it.
A full day covers the Ypres Salient: Essex Farm, where John McCrae wrote In Flanders Fields while serving as a field surgeon, the Passchendaele museum, and Tyne Cot, the largest Commonwealth war cemetery in the world, with close to twelve thousand graves and a wall behind them holding thirty-five thousand more names.
The route then crosses into France for Vimy Ridge and the Canadian Memorial, with the Wellington Tunnels beneath Arras, where New Zealand miners dug quarters for twenty-four thousand men, and a night at Albert. The Somme follows, including the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing and the Lochnagar crater, blown in 1916 and still ninety metres across. Hotels, breakfasts, the welcome and farewell dinners, the crossing, maps and GPS routes are included, with fuel and other meals separate. The price is quoted per person. Three nights is enough to cover the ground properly without the sites blurring into one another, and having someone along who can explain what happened on each piece of it changes the trip entirely.
Images selected by Stradora to represent the journey.
What's included
- Pre-tour pack (tour information
- Michelin maps
- route notes
- GPS routes in Garmin/BMW format)
- electronic copy of the World of BMW Touring Essentials Book
- all accommodation
- all breakfasts
- welcome and farewell dinners (excluding beverages)
- expert historical tour leader throughout
- LeShuttle return crossing
- commemorative shirt
- expert advice and support
- fully bonded tour operator protection.
Not included
- Fuel
- lunches
- dinners other than those listed
- travel insurance
- anything not listed as included.
Ready to drive it?
3 days, from £1,150pp