Passchendale
Podtours has just launched two audio tours of the Ypres Salient, where some of the fiercest fighting of the First World War took place.
Jon Halperin, who regularly leads organised tours of battlefield sites in Belgium and France, takes listeners on a trip through time to imagine the surroundings as they were in the Great War, visiting the trenches as well as the military cemeteries.
Listeners will hear about individual acts of heroism, will learn about the military technology of the time, and will also be warned against picking up any left over pieces of military hardware – bombs, mines and shrapnel are still being found nearly a hundred years after the War.
The tours visit Sanctuary Wood, Hooge, Polygon Wood, Tyne Cot, Langemark, Essex Farm, Poperinge, Mount Kemmel, Ploegsteert ('Plugstreet' to the Tommies), Messine, Saint Eloi and Hill 60.
The tours have been planned so that visitors can drive themselves – no need to join a bus tour – but benefit from the services of a professional and knowledgeable guide. The audio tours can be downloaded from http://www.podtours.co.uk/
The two 'In Flanders Fields' tours cost £5 each. A free audio tour of the town of Ieper (Ypres) is also available.
Photo:
http://www.prlog.org/
