Normandy & Belgium Memorial Tour/Tours - Suggestions Please

Tonks

Tonks

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Myself and a friend are looking to do a short tour to the WWI and WWII sites in Belgium and France next year. Probably NOT around June 6...

We're looking to do a long weekend or a Monday-Friday trip for personal logistics reasons so it will be quite short and we'd prefer to be seeing sites (ie. the five beaches and the memorials, plus I in particular have an interest in Ypres and the Menin Gate as a relative's name is inscribed thereon) other than the road above the steering wheel. So this may end up being two trips rather than one to avoid spending loads of time on the road getting from one place to another.

I know lots of you Funsters have done similar trips so at this very early stage of planning, I'd be interested in your input, suggestions, ideas etc. We won't be 'off gridding' on this trip because we are likely to have three or four other vans at least with us, so being on site is easier and also means we'll have definite 'waypoints' so to speak.
 
Our top ww2 ones are the British cemetary is bayeux , Pegasus bridge , point du hoc , Arromanches-les-Bains and the new British memorial just a few miles east of there
 
Leger holidays do battlefield tours if you want something a bit more 'in-depth'. Did a four day 'Western Front' some years back with brother & nephew as grandfather fought on the Somme. Might be a better option than trying to do it in the same timeframe with a moho.
 
Certainly think it's a 2 trip run based on the directions of Normandy vs Ypres and your timescale.

For Normandy we headed to Pegasus bridge where we picked up lots of info about other museums and sites to visit. We also bought a pass that gave discounts on other places.

Ypres we only did the last post and a night in the town but others can suggest places to visit. (y)

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Bayeux, Stellplatz at the entrance to the Overlord museum €5.50 for 24 hrs, good access to the town and a Leclerc hypermarket up the road......we were there on the 7th of June, great and moving atmosphere....
 
Use the aire just outside Ypres at Zillibeke, Suarvecarve I think has used it and we had a looksee last week it looks great! ( water waste and electric included ) Go past the roundabout with the Big Tap on with the stadium on your right, turn left at the next roundabout and first left about 300 yds down road and it will take you to the aire, its right by the lake if you get lost.
Camping in Ypres itself is limited to what was known as Camping Jeugdstadion is now known as Urban Camping and is around E22 a night, go to the Cloth Hall tourist office and for E4 get a walking cycling map of the area, these are well marked out walking/cycling trails that will take you a good few days to do properly
 
The last post at the menin gate is not very inspiring at the moment the gate itself is cut off from the public with scaffolding as it is being done up and the last post is being done in the street outside.
 
chaser said:
The last post at the menin gate is not very inspiring at the moment the gate itself is cut off from the public with scaffolding as it is being done up and the last post is being done in the street outside.
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The scaffolding inside has mainly been removed. Was there Tuesday last week and the last post is back inside. Lots of scaffolding still on the outside though.



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Thiepval memorial is another must. It's enormous and can be seen from Miles around. Its very emotional place.

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JnJ said:
Thiepval memorial is another must. It's enormous and can be seen from Miles around. Its very emotional place.
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Thiepval, the Ulster Tower and the Lochnagar Crater are all worth visiting and are all within a 10 minute drive.
This field of poppies (June 23) was just opposite the Ulster Tower.


IMG_7177.jpg
 
cyberyacht said:
Leger holidays do battlefield tours if you want something a bit more 'in-depth'. Did a four day 'Western Front' some years back with brother & nephew as grandfather fought on the Somme. Might be a better option than trying to do it in the same timeframe with a moho.
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A friend of mine has done several of those tours and reported back that they were all excellent. So I take your point - but we would like to take our vans if possible. Though I can see the trip becoming a bit longer than we first thought.
 
For Ypres, overnighting is permitted in the parking area of the Paschendale Memorial Museum in Zonnebeke right in the heart of the battlefield - very spacious, hedged and quiet. Easy access to Tyne Cot cemetery and memorial wall and Vancouver Corner at St, Juliaan and the Brooding Soldier memorial - location of the first German gas attack. Totmuhle (Death Mill) is then nearby and where Erich Maria Remarque, author of All Quiet on the Western Front, served.

A good guide to the Ypres Salient is ‘Major & Mrs Holt’s Pocket Battlefield Guide Ypres & Passchendaele’

IMG_1343.jpeg


Agree with others,Ypres/Western Front and Normandy are worth two separate tours as there is so much to see and take in.
 
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Orion said:
For Ypres, overnighting is permitted in the parking area of the Paschendale Memorial Museum in Zonnebeke right in the heart of the battlefield - very spacious, hedged and quiet. Easy access to Tyne Cot cemetery and memorial wall and Vancouver Corner at St, Juliaan and the Brooding Soldier memorial - location of the first German gas attack. Totmuhle (Death Mill) is then nearby and where Erich Maria Remarque, author of All Quiet on the Western Front, served.

A good guide to the Ypres Salient is ‘Major & Mrs Holt’s Pocket Battlefield Guide Ypres & Passchendaele’

View attachment 908732

Agree with others,Ypres/Western Front and Normandy are worth two separate tours as there is so much to see and take in.
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Really helpful. Thanks for the info.
 
We were hoping to do Normandy and travel to Bruges and Antwerp. Would we need a separate toll transponder to use the toll roads in Belgium? (y)

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Another vote for Ypres. We found the last post to be a very emotional experience.
We also cycled The Peace Route a 50 km cycle route around the different cemeteries. Being flat we managed it without any problems. Would really recommend it.
 
cyberyacht said:
Another vote for Zillebeke. Easy walk into Ypres.
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About four or five years ago, we drove past the Aire at Zillebeke and parked up next to the fishing lake around the corner from the hotel/BnB for free for a couple of nights.
Special place for me as Zillebeke lake is where my great grandfather was killed by German shells.

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