We left home around 0900 hrs to connect with the Norfolk Lines vessel to Dunkirk. The vessel was comfortable but there seemed to bve a complete shortage of staff as there was no chef on board according the serving wench in the restaurant.
We arrived in Ypres at the Araine Hotel which is quite nice and then went for a walk around the town to get a feel for the place. We had dinner??so to speak, Adrian and Noel had the 'Croque Monsieur' which should have contained Gruyere cheese and ham and a Béchamel sauce. This one contained mostly two large slices of bread, a breath of cheese and a smell of ham, but we did have some chips. In the evening we went to the Menen Gateto watch the 'Last Post' played and the laying of wreaths.
It was a solemn but beautiful short service and only lasting about twenty minutes. The Corby Male Voice Choir were there and sang one song whilst the 'Hells Angels' group who support a Hospice also laid a wreath. Ypres is a nice little town that was completely raised to the ground in the First World War and then completely rebuilt in the original style some years after the war had ended. It's amazing that the town did not get it did not get severely damaged again during the second world war.
After the ceremony we went to a little bar that was decorated with hundreds of religious crosses and statues and had a couple of beers.
