Day four took us back to the Ypres Salient. We started the day at Plugstreet (Ploegsteert) taking a look at the memorial to the missing, including my Wife’s Great Uncle Edward Staal.
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| Churchill memorial on Ploegsteert Town Hall |
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| Edward Staal remembered |
After which we moved to Plugstreet Wood to see the Christmas Truce memorial and the CWGC cemeteries within the wood.
Then it was on, up onto the Messines ridge taking in the Irish Peace Tower on the way.
In Mesen itself, we went to the Town Hall’s visitors centre and the church crypt where Hitler was treated for wounds during WW1.
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| Christmas Truce Memorial Mesen Town Square |
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| St. Nicholas Church in Mesen - where Hitler was treated for wounds |
Afterwards, just down the road we went to the New Zealand memorial park with its two battered enemy bunkers.
A stop for lunch at the Spanbroekmolen peace pool (a water filled 1917 mine crater) was followed by a trip to Hill 60 to see the various bunkers and the caterpillar mine crater.
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| Pool of Peace at Spanbroekmolen |
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| Hill 60 bunker - originally German, it was re-engineered by the Australians for use later in the war and was damaged during fighting again in 1940 |
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| Caterpillar Mine Crater |
The afternoon was finished off with visits to Gilbert Talbot’s grave at Sanctuary Wood and the Hill 62 Canadian memorial before taking in the Hooge Crater Museum on the Menin Road. A truly excellent collection with a great café for a drink afterwards.
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| Large scale Fokker Dr1 Triplane in the museum |
Then finally a trip to the German cemetery at Langemark before dinner in Ypres.
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