Today was our final full day on our Explorer Belt. Our plan was to visit the Memorial Museum Passchendaele 1917 and Tyne Cot Cemetry.
To get to the museum we had to catch a bus out to Zonnebeke. We got to the bus station and had to wait till half 10 before they opened, so that we could buy a day pass. This meant we had missed the earlier bus and had to wait an hour for the next. We decided that we would walk round in search for a cafe for a coffee. It seemed like everything was closed at 11am on a Monday. Where is a Costa when you need one!
At the Passchendaele Museum we were given an audio guide that gave you a more in depth description of everything in each room. It was like holding a phone to your ear and our arms soon started to ache. Each part of the museum was dedicated to a different part of all the battles in the Ypres Salinet. They had reconstructed the English Dugouts from under the church. This showed the living and working conditions of the army underground. Outside they had reconstructed both the German and British trenches at different years throughout the war.
The museum was well worth a visit and recommend anyone to go.
We then followed the old supply railway line to Tyne Cot Cemetry.
Tyne Cot is the largest Commonwealth Grave Cemetry in the world. There are 11,965 men buried there, and 33,783 names are on the wall to commerate those who have no know grave or are missing. The site is where a German outpost was on top of a hill. It gives a 360 degree view of the surrounding landscape, and ideal place to be on the lookout.
Matt has some relatives, from The Royal Scots and The Cameroonians "Scottish Rifles", names on the wall. We all paid our respects to them.
The amount of graves and names there makes you wonder if war is ever worth it. All these young men on both sides of the war killed because they were told kill or be killed...