In the Trenches

Well it's been a very long day here in Belgium.  We started off on the ferry early with a big breakfast before leaving Zeebrugge on a sunny morning.  Within an hour we were walking into Sanctuary Wood Museum and taking in the remarkably well preserved trenches near Ypres.

We then walked through to a nearby memorial grave where over 1700 people were buried, many of them without any name.  We even found one German grave there.  It was very moving especially on such a beautiful day.

Following that, we stopped in Ypres and had some lunch outside the Cloth Hall.  The town is so pretty and was completely rebuilt after the war.  We also wandered down to the Menen Gate and the huge memorial to all the dead.  The children spent time looking for names and people from Liverpool; there were many.

Three hours later, we arrived in Durbuy after a journey which took us in and out of France and were straight into the canteen with dozens of Belgian children, and then photos with our new green t-shirts.

Finally, we all trekked off into the woods via the wobbly bridge for a go down the zip wire with our new friends with our children mixing really well.  It's been a long day!