Day 8 {Sun 9 Sep} Recreation (with a Mission)

Our last full day in Ieper came upon us.  We’d reserved this day, free of defined pursuits in our planning, to take any unforeseen opportunities that became evident in the time we had spent ‘walking around’.  A few had occurred to us.

First port of call was an address called Skyline Apartments.  When we first started planning this trip, almost two years ago, we’d planned to be in Ieper for the Australian Service for the 100^th Anniversary of the 2017 Flanders campaign, and we had booked an apartment here.  Having identified where it was, we decided we were better off to be where we were for this year, 

On the way there, Helen’s keen senses managed to discover a favourite haunt – the local antique shop!  What a pity it turned out to be closed for the day.

As we were at the South End of town, we took the opportunity to inspect the other, extant, original gateway through the town ramparts – the Lille Gate, dating from about the 12^th Century and much-modified over time, but a better representation of the historical form than the Menin Gate, which was part of the re-construction after 1918, it having degenerated to a simple cutting through the ramparts by 1914.

On our way back through town, we took time out to visit St Jacobs Church (Sint-Jacobskerk) one of several parish churches in the town, which remains predominantly Roman Catholic.  There was a church service in progress by the time we got there so no time to inspect the interior.  It is a very handsome gothic-style building (but rebuilt like the rest of the town).

On our way, we had passed a piece of history which was certainly ‘gothic’ in nature.  The local variant of being sentenced to a period ‘in the stocks’ - which was a common punishment for those who offended against parish bye-laws in England – was to be forced to do time on horseback.  Sounds innocent enough, but if you look at the photo and remember that most offenders did so with weights tied to their legs, must have been painful.  Effective as punishment, it also had the modern virtue of being gender-neutral.

Next was a short re-visit to the Menin Gate memorial.  Along with numerous other re-visits we made there, this served to remind us of just how powerful a monument it is, and how repeated visits reveal the depth of detail associated with it.

Our main purpose this time was to start from there to trace a journey made 101 years prior by the stretcher-bearers carrying John McKellar to an Advanced Dressing Station on the other side of town.  The very thorough and helpful researchers, Karen and Lee, at Zonnebeeke, had detailed his journey (including a map) from the Regimental Aid Post near Passchendaele, by stretcher-bearer, horse ambulance and motor ambulance to the Menin Gate, then by stretcher bearers through town – as set down in orders of the day.  With that in our possession, how could we not take up the challenge of following the path.  As we did so, we tried to imagine what it must have been like for a mortally wounded soldier to endure.  Of course we couldn’t know.

(Map)

The ADS position was adjacent to the railway heading north out of town, so was able to be accurately located.  A thorough search failed to reveal any structure that might have existed there in 1917, or any material trace, or any historical marker, so the photos can only indicate where a place of such intense urgency and purpose would have been.

(Photo)

(Photo)

John McKellar died at the ADS and was initially buried in a cemetery that had been established nearby, on the other side of the railway line.  Exactly what structures or buildings would have been there at the time wasn’t apparent, but the area is now occupied by a mental health facility with a barrier to entry.  We took turns to take photos while the other watched out for the Belgian AFP-equivalent to turn up to arrest us for taking unauthorised photos of government buildings.

Having had an afternoon for some pretty much focussed reflective thinking, we turned our attention to preparing for the next day’s activity – travel to the next destination, and some reconnaissance of the railway station, so we would know where to wait for the early morning train, which only stops briefly at Ieper – in the belief that it would be more than a pity to be on the wrong platform.  That accomplished, we returned ‘home’ to pack up, prior to a very pleasant outing for our last evening meal in Ieper.  This time we feasted from locally caught eel from the Diksmuide area (where the Belgian Army had flooded the countryside in 1914 by opening the dikes, to prevent any further German attempts to turn the Northern flank of the Belgian/British/French armies attempting to bring the front to stability).  The eels reminded Doug of the similar delicacy caught in the Merri River when he was a boy.  The bright green dressing, appearance-wise, reminded him of Merri River blanket-weed, but turned out to be quite a delicacy in itself.  Home again to sleep, having walked about 13-14 Km during the day.