Following In The Footsteps Of The Fallen

100 years have passed since the Battle of Passchendaele. Niall Hampton heads to Ypres to find out more and pay his respects.

While taking a break from pootling around the countryside east of Ypres in our Vauxhall Insignia Grand Sport, a Google Maps alert popped up on my phone. If I left now, it said, I would be back in Twickenham in four hours. It clearly hadn’t taken the cross-Channel ferry into account, but it was still a reminder that even though we were abroad, we were very close to home.

This was presumably a feeling shared by the British soldiers fighting here alongside those from the Empire 100 years ago, trying to halt Germany’s invasion of Belgium. A conflict that was supposed to have been over within four months had instead become a stalemate, before grinding down into a war of attrition with loss of life on a scale we find hard to comprehend 100 years on.

I’ve always found the history of the First World War fascinating. Although I don’t have any family connections to the fighting in Belgium, I was determined to pay a visit to the West Flanders area (referred to locally as Westhoek) in the centenary year of the Third Battle of Ypres, better known as the Battle of Passchendaele. This battle is infamous for shifting the front line by five miles, for half a million casualties over 100 days of fierce fighting.

Our van for this tour was a Caravelair Antarès 496, exclusively available at Marquis Leisure’s 12 dealerships in the UK. Performing towing duties was our latest long-term test car, a Vauxhall Insignia Grand Sport SRi in fetching Lava Red.

With its unchallenging terrain plus the fact it’s a quick and easy drive from the Channel ports, West Flanders is ideal for touring by caravan. One can sail on a lunchtime ferry and be supping a local beer in one of Ypres’ many bars before tea-time.