'in Flanders Fields'

AUGUST 
from Monday 10th until Friday 14th
5 Day Fly/Coach Tour with
Professional Guide each day

3***Albion Hotel Ypres 

THE TOUR
Our tour is based in the Belgium town of Ieper (Flemish name) or Ypres (old French name) just sixty miles from the Port of Calais close to the French border. We plan to visit some of the key battlefields, cemeteries and memorials of WW1 following its 100th anniversary but also WW2 battle sites which covered much the same territory. The name Somme refers to the region and River Somme which rises in Picardy France and flows for 152 miles in France and Belgium before it reaches the English Channel.

We depart Northern Ireland from Belfast International Airport on a morning flight to London Gatwick where we meet our coach and driver travelling with us for the next five days. Its just seventy miles from the airport to Eurotunnel at Folkstone and within thirty five minutes of boarding Le Shuttle you are in Calais and soon on your next leg of sixty miles to your base at Ieper Belgium for the next four nights, all in about six hours of leaving Northern Ireland. Quick and convenient to say the least!

BATTLE OF THE SOMME
The Battle of the Somme took place between 1 July and 13th November 1916 and cost the lives of 1.265 million men – British causalities 420,000, French 195,000 and German 650,000. Only in the sense of relieving the French at Verdun can the British claim any measure of success as the battle only advanced their position five miles. In the Somme area, there are 410 Commonwealth Cemeteries, 22 French Military Cemeteries and 14 German Cemeteries. There are several reasons why there are more Commonwealth Cemeteries than French or German, one reason is that there was no repatriation of British war dead after 1915, and another is that after the war the Imperial War Graves Commission decided to maintain many of the smaller military cemeteries that had been created during the fighting.

THE MENIN GATE
The Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing is one of four British and Commonwealth memorials to the missing in the battlefield of the Ypres Salient in Belgian Flanders. The memorial bears the names of 54,389 officers and men from United Kingdom and Commonwealth Forces (except New Zealand and Newfoundland) who fell in the Ypres Salient before 16th August 1917 and who have no known grave. Every night at 8.00pm a moving ceremony takes place under the Menin Gate in Ieper - Ypres. The Last Post Ceremony has become part of the daily life in Ieper (Ypres) and the local people are proud of this simple but moving tribute to the courage and self-sacrifice of those who fell in defence of their town. The tribute is performed by buglers from Ypres Fire Service.

Tour Leader: Marshall and Carole Murray.

TOUR COST:   £839 per person sharing
       £135 single supplement
TOUR CODE:   SBT/20 
INSURANCE:  £32 per person
DEPOSIT:       £250 per person

PRICE INCLUDES:
 Flights between Belfast International/Gatwick.
 Coach transfers between Gatwick and Ypres.
 Cost of Eurotunnel between Folkstone/Calais.
 4 Nights Bed & Breakfast in 3***Albion Hotel.
 2 Evening Meals in hotel on Monday & Thursday.
 All coach tours and transfers during the tour.
 English-speaking guide on Tue, Wed & Thursday.
 Services of Tour Leader throughout holiday tour.

IMPORTANT ASPECTS: Hotel Lift: Yes, Location: Level, Steps: Some, Walking: Lots.