5-Day Break

• Day 1 - Local departure by coach then onwards to Belgium for four nights.
• Day 2 - Flanders Fields & Ypres Our tour starts in Flanders Fields where we visit the grave of Noel Chavasse V.C. & Bar, the only man during the war to be awarded the V.C. twice and arguably the most famous V.C. hero of the war. Nearby we also see the grave of Jock Skinner V.C., a man who was carried to his grave by several V.C. winners. We then travel out to the battlefields near Ypres where Chavasse and Skinner were awarded their decorations and look at the ground where the actions took place. After lunch we go into Ypres and visit the moving St. George’s Memorial Church containing many WW1 memorials and see the remnants of the old British Community, seeing Ypres British school and its memorial to Old Etonians, including V.C. winners, who fell at Ypres during WW1. We then travel to Hill 60 where four V.C.s were won in a single day during the defence of this ground in 1915. We see the remains of bunkers and mine craters, and a shattered battlefield left as it was in 1918. In the evening, we attend the Last Post Ceremony at the Menin Gate. B
• Day 3 - Zeebrugge & Tyne Cot Today we travel to Zeebrugge where a raid by the Royal Navy and Royal Marines took place in April 1918. We visit the site of the Mole where the raid came in and see the memorials and Zeebrugge Churchyard. We also learn and look at the story of George Bradford V.C., one of two brothers to get the award, who was awarded it posthumously here; we also see his grave at Blankenberge. In the afternoon, we return to Flanders and visit the ground where Edward Cooper, a young Sergeant in the KRRC, received the V.C. for storming a machine-gun bunker. At Tyne Cot we look at Australian V.C. winners in the Battle of Passchendaele in 1917 and at Zandvoorde look at one of the earliest V.C.s at Ypres from 1914, and one of the last from 1918. We end the day at Hooge Crater Museum with its many artefacts of the fighting. B
• Day 4 -“ Richebourg, Bethune & Loos Today we head into northern France to Richebourg where we look at the story of Sir John Smyth V.C., who became a V.C. historian in later life, and the hero of the ‘day Sussex died’, Nelson Victor Carter V.C., seeing his grave. Lunchtime in Bethune, followed by a visit to Bethune Town Cemetery for the story of Lieutenant Frank De Pass V.C. of the Indian Army, one of the few Jewish V.C. winners of the war. We then look at the fighting in the Hohenzollern Redoubt at Loos, examining the history of several V.C.s awarded for bravery here. At Hill 70 we follow Piper Laidlaw V.C., who piped his men into action in September 1915 and end at Dud Corner Cemetery where many Loos V.C. heroes are buried and commemorated.. B
• Day 5 - To Calais and return home. B

Included Meals: B=Breakfast

Accommodation
You will stay for four nights in the historic small town of Lo, just over the French border in Belgium at the Hotel Oude Abdij, which translates as ‘Old Abbey’.

This family-run 3-star hotel has a spacious lounge area, bar, restaurant, large patio and lift.

All bedrooms have a T.V., telephone and hairdryer

Extras

• Optional excursions
• Single room supplement £69
• Travel insurance from £31.95

Battlefield Tours prices are per person, based on two sharing. Named accommodation may be changed if necessary by the tour operator. If this is the case you will be advised of all new details at time of enquiry. All holidays and prices are subject to availability and changes.