Western Front Explorer

Western Front Explorer

The Western Front Explorer Tour will walk in the footsteps of the Anzacs on all the main battlefield sites in the Somme, Flanders and the Ypres Salient over 4 days. The itinerary has been personally designed by Mat McLachlan, Australia's leading battlefield historian, and the expert historians who escort this tour have been hand-picked by Mat.Either begin your tour in Paris or join the tour in Lille.

Itinerary

Day 1: Paris to Ypres

Stop At: Mat McLachlan Battlefield Tours, 27 Belgrave st. Manly 303, Sydney, New South Wales 2095 Australia
Meet at the Holiday Inn Express – Canal De La Villette Hotel in Paris for a 9.00am departure. We drive to Ypres, Belgium. In the evening we will enjoy a walking tour with our Historian around the rebuilt town, before coming together for a welcome dinner. (Passengers joining the tour in Lille will be collected from our meeting point at the Lille Eurostar station at midday en-route to Ypres.) (D)
Duration: 2 hours

Stop At: Ypres Cloth Hall, Grote Markt 34, Ieper (Ypres) 8900 Belgium
e will leave Paris and drive north towards the Belgian border. Our destination is the town of Ypres, our home for the next two nights. Between 1914 and 1918 Ypres was completely destroyed by shellfire, and came to symbolise the horror of the First World War. In the evening we will enjoy a walking tour with our Historian around the rebuilt town, before coming together for a welcome dinner. (Passengers joining the tour in Lille will be collected from our meeting point en-route to Ypres.)
Duration: 2 hours

Meals included:
• Dinner
Accommodation included: Overnight at Ypres Hotel

Day 2: The Ypres Salient

Stop At: Battle of Polygon Wood, Zonnebeke Belgium
Today we will explore the Australian battlefields in the Salient, places where the Anzacs made history in 1917. Our first stop will be the Passchendaele Museum. We will then visit the 5th Australian Division Memorial at Polygon Wood. Lunch is included at a local café.
Duration: 1 hour

Stop At: Hill 60, Zwarteleenstraat 36-40, Ieper (Ypres) 8902 Belgium
We then visit Hill 60, before visiting Tyne Cot, the world’s largest Commonwealth war cemetery. Our final stop today is at the German Cemetery at Langemark. On return to our hotel we see the magnificent Canadian memorial at Langemark. This evening visit the Menin Gate where the names of 54,000 missing British and Commonwealth soldiers are recorded, for the moving Last Post ceremony.
Duration: 30 minutes

Stop At: Tyne Cot Cemetery, Tynecotstraat, Zonnebeke 8980 Belgium
Tyne Cot is the world’s largest Commonwealth war cemetery.
Duration: 1 hour

Stop At: Langemark Cemetery, Klerkenstraat, Langemark Belgium
Our final stop today is at the German Cemetery at Langemark. On return to our hotel we see the magnificent Canadian memorial at Langemark.
Duration: 45 minutes

Stop At: Last Post ceremony, Menin Gate, Ieper (Ypres) Belgium
This evening visit the Menin Gate where the names of 54,000 missing British and Commonwealth soldiers are recorded, for the moving Last Post ceremony.
Duration: 1 hour

Meals included:
• Breakfast
• Lunch
Accommodation included: Overnight at Ypres Hotel

Day 3: Ypres to the Somme

Stop At: Australian Memorial Park, Rue delval, Fromelles France
We will travel to French Flanders, and the very moving 1916 battlefield of Fromelles, where Australia lost 5533 men during its first action on the Western Front. While here we will visit the Australian Memorial Park, VC Corner Cemetery (the only all-Australian cemetery in France), the site of the Australian mass grave at Pheasant Wood and the Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Cemetery, where 250 Australian and British soldiers were laid to rest in 2010. We will also visit the Fromelles Museum which tells the story of Australia’s disastrous involvement in the battle of Fromelles in 1916. Next is the battlefield of Bullecourt, where Australia lost 10,000 men in two great battles in 1917.
Duration: 4 hours

Stop At: The Bullecourt Digger, 10 rue des Australiens, 62128 Bullecourt France
Next is the battlefield of Bullecourt, where Australia lost 10,000 men in two great battles in 1917. We will pay our respects to them at the Slouch Hat memorial in the centre of town and the Australian Memorial Park on the site of the German front line
Duration: 2 hours

Stop At: Pozieres Memorial, 80300 Pozieres France
In the afternoon we will visit Pozieres, scene of the most costly battle in Australia’s history. 23,000 men were killed or wounded here in six weeks of fighting and we will pay tribute to them at the 1st Division Memorial and the Windmill. We will then see Mouquet Farm, where the Australians fought a bitter campaign against the Germans in August 1916.
Duration: 2 hours

Stop At: Thiepval Memorial, Rue de L'Ancre, 80300 Authuille France
Our final stop is the imposing Thiepval Memorial, which commemorates more than 70,000 British soldiers missing from the Somme fighting. After checking in to our central Somme hotel we will have free time to enjoy dinner
Duration: 1 hour

Meals included:
• Breakfast
• Lunch
Accommodation included: Overnight at Amiens Hotel

Day 4: Ypres to Paris

Stop At: Adelaide Cemetery, Rue d'Amiens, 80380 Villers-Bretonneux France
Today we will explore the killing fields of the Somme, where Australian troops performed magnificently in 1918. Our first visit is to Adelaide Cemetery and then see the Victoria School in Villers- Bretonneux where a sign entreats that the schoolchildren ‘Do Not Forget Australia’.
Duration: 1 hour

Stop At: Franco-Australian Museum, 9 rue Victoria, 80800 Villers-Bretonneux France
We will also visit the excellent Franco-Australian Museum at the school.
Duration: 1 hour

Stop At: Australian National Memorial, route de Villers Bretonneux D23, 80800 Fouilloy France
We then travel to the Australian Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux, where the names of almost 11,000 Australians missing in France are recorded and also visit the new Sir John Monash Interpretive Centre, which tells the story of Australia’s achievements on the Western Front.
Duration: 2 hours

Stop At: Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial, Rue de l'Eglise, 80300 Beaumont-Hamel France
Our next stop is the Australian Memorial Park at Hamel, scene of a great Australian victory orchestrated by General John Monash on July 4, 1918. We then farewell the battlefields and drive back to Paris, arriving at the Holiday Inn Express – Canal De La Villette Hotel at approximately 5pm. (B)
Duration: 1 hour

Meals included:
• Breakfast
No accommodation included on this day.