Two hundred and two miles later - plus an unscheduled extra 12 on Day One - I completed MAG's Somme - Flanders cycle event. Forty-five weary but elated cyclists mustered into a peleton and rolled into Ypres's central square on the Saturday afternoon to be met with fizz, balloons and an unscripted cool-off in the town's main fountain...
With ninety-odd miles done on Day One (much of that into stiff headwinds) it was some relief to learn that Days Two and Three were more sedate distance-wise. However, we were now at Amiens and close to the Front Line, so there was an increasing number of cemetries and memorials en route at which to stop and pay our respects.
With the breeze whispering through the cornfield surrounding the small Bray Hill British cemetery, Brooke's corner of a foreign field was laid bare. Soon, the collosal Thiepval memorial to missing British and Commonwealth soldiers loomed above the forest on the horizon. Up close, its scale is hard to fathom, until you realise it needed to be big enough to bear 73,000 names.
Moving visits followed to a strikingly austere German cemetery, the Devonshires' cemetery, the Connaught cemetery and the Ulster memorial: a replica of Helen's Tower near Bangor, commemorating the only batallion which achieved its objective on the first day of the Somme.
Leaving Arras on Day Three, we soon reached the striking Vimy Ridge memorial to missing Canadian soldiers. Much of the landscape around the ridge is still scarred by the distinctive moguls and craters of heavy shelling and mining - and ninety years on modern signs are still needed to warn people about unexploded ordnance. The elegance and positioning of the memorial itself were quite overwhelming.
The group was in high spirits as we cruised as one into Ypres, but we had one more important memorial requiring our attention, gratitiude and respects: the Menin Gate. That evening's Last Post ceremony (conducted every evening at 8pm since 1928) was sobering, reflective and attended by over 500 people. Lou McGrath, MAG's chief executive who rode the whole way as part of the group, laid a wreath.
The ceremony ended a journey which had proved by turns to be physically and emotionally draining, highly sociable, exhilarating and fulfilling. It also proved extremely worthwhile for MAG, with the participants raising over £64,000 altogether to aid their work in clearing conflict remnants around the world. In addition, the recently ratified international treaty against the use of cluster munitions is another victory for MAG.
NB. Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.
