Last Post and Chorus

I got underway today with one last minor panic....no waterproof jacket to be found anywhere. Shouldn't need it much but sods law says that if I don't have one with me, there will be a monsoon in Europe this year. I landed in Calais and decided to take the little roads rather than the motorway. Much of northern France is a big flat plain full of cereal fields. This is where the French site their Nuclear power stations and heavy industry. Just across the border is the Belgian 'Riviera' full of large blocks of holiday accommodation.



I went to Tyne Cot century outside Ypres (Ieper in Belgian speak) and its is a sad and beautiful sight. 12,000 white headstones in neat rows with a large portland stone memorial bearing another 34,867 names of men who died and Ypres Salient who have no known grave. Walking around, the song "Willie MacBride" started playing in my head and made the whole thing seem sadder and more real at the same time.

In the evening, I went to see the last post at the Menin Gate. Every evening at 8pm sharp, Reveille and Last Post are played by buglers from the town's volunteer Fire Brigade. The ceremony dates back to 1928 and was only interrupted for 4 years during the the Nazi occupation. These days, there is often some other musical accompaniment with choirs, orchestras or wreath laying.