Lumaj wandelt

Intro:

A good name for this hike would be 'The Death March'. But in Belgium that name already refers to the famous yearly 100 km. march at Bornem, although you won't meet many dead there. What you will find there are a lot of zombies, as well as exhausted and wounded hikers that are forced to quit.
For those that prefer a 'real' Death March, this hike is what you need. The trail sways from one soldiers cemetery to another. Not really a happy sight, but at least it's a clear message to all those that still think that weapons, oppression and hatred are normal facts of life. This hike like no other illustrates the results of all this useless violence. Thousands of young men from all over the world were slaughtered here, mere cannon fudder in the plans of generals that wanted to conquer a few meters of land on the ennemy, pretending they needed to 'defend our freedom'.
Let's hope our politicians have learned their lesson, although we're not really convinced they did ...

Back and forth:

By train we traveled from Antwerp-Central to Kortrijk in little more than an hour. After a coffee we continued by train to Ieper (on the railway line heading to Poperinge). There an on-call bus picked us up and dropped us at the busstop Sint-Elooi (a hamlet on the N336 road, near Voormezele). We could have taken a regular bus, but it didn't connect well with the train schedules, so we would have had to wait for almost another hour in Ieper. The on-call bus clearly was a good decision. Moreover, the driver turned out to be an enthousiastic guide pointing out all the tourist highlights along the way (such as the famous Menenpoort where the Last Post is played).
We returned from the busstop Moorslede Station (situated between Passendale and Moorslede). During the week Bus 94 takes you to Roeselare every 30 minutes, traveltime 20 minutes. From Roeselare we took a train to Kortrijk and continued from there on to Antwerp.

The hike:

From the busstop Sint-Elooi it's a one kilometer walk to the entrance of the Provincial Domain ‘Palingbeek’. Our attention is immediately drawn to 2 military cemeteries: the Spoilbank Cemetery and a little bit further Chester Farm Cemetery.

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On a previous GR 5A hike (Wijtschate – Geluwe) we already got to visit the beautiful stretch of forest that makes up the Palingbeek domain. Our GR 128 trail however immediately turns left after entering the domain and takes us past some nice ponds to the Molenbos (Mill Forest). Almost all ponds in this area have been created by impacts of bombs or detonations of underground explosives. It looks like as if nature makes a special effort to transform all this horror into pure beauty. A better homage to the soldiers that gave their lives here is hardly thinkable.
The trail leads us to Hedge Row Trench Cemetery. It's a small graveyard for soldiers killed in World War I. During World War II the cemetery was completely destroyed and (like the rest of this area) turned into a moon-like landscape of craters and mud. After the war it was impossible to figure out where each grave was situated. That's why the graves were rearranged in a circle around a central cross. Next to the graveyard are exhibited the small objects that were found near these men. It's amazing how a tobacco box or a simple handkerchief can turn these anonymous people into humans just like you and us.

The Caterpillar is another impressive relict of World War I: an enormous bomb hole, now filled with a pool. On the edges a few weeping-willows show the first green of the season.
We arrive at Hill 60. It's an artificial hill created at the end of the 19th century for the construction of the railroad. That made the place a strategic viewpoint from where Ieper and the surrounding region could be perfectly watched. And that's exactly the reason why during World War I it was the stage of fierce battles. They had it all here: massive attacks, artillery fire, poisoned gas, underground detonations … Today several monuments commemorate what happened here.

During the next 5 km. the dead will leave us in peace. The trail visits the Gasthuisbossen (forests) using quiet and soft paths, passing through tourniquets. Zwarte Leenbos, Groenburgbos, Hoge Netelaarbos, … one wonders where they got the names. After a while we cross the N8 road (Ieper – Menen). Above the fence and the trees we notice the high attractions of the amusement park of Bellewaerde. The bright yellow rollercoaster is out of a job, but within one or two months the park will be open again for the season.

The trail now leads us to the Nonnenbossen where a collection of permanent weekendhouses illustrates the endless creativity of the Belgians when it comes to their own little house-and-garden. The ever present barking dogs are part of the game.
After crossing the A19 highway we enter the forest of Zonnebeke. Probably because of the shape  it's also called the Polygoonbos. Wide tree-lined alleys lead us straight to the Buttes New British Cemetery. We're confronted with a few thousand graves of English, Australian and New-Zealand soldiers. Opposite the entrance to this graveyard lies another smaller one: Polygon Wood Cemetery.

After a hike through a stretch of open fields, we enter Zonnebeke.
The municipal castle domain in Normandy style looks strange in this Flemish village. It's not even goodlooking, but the surrounding park is a little playground paradise for children, especially on a sunny wednesday afternoon.
Having left Zonnebeke the GR 128 trail starts to follow the former railway track Ieper – Roeselare. This track also was the stage of fierce battling in the senseless trenches war that was World War I. Several archeologic diggings along the track witness this fact. For Australians this place has become some kind of pilgrimage route where they try to visualise the surroundings and circumstances in which ancestors and long gone relatives hopelessly struggled during years to survive, in most cases without success.
It's not a coincidence to find in this area the biggest World War I Commonwealth graveyard in Europe: Tine Cot Cemetery. We passed at 250 meters from the memorial monument. But by that time we were so impressed by all the horror we witnessed that we decided not to add the 10.000 + dead resting in this graveyard to our casualties list. And then we didn't even mention the 38.000 names of missing people inscribed on the walls surrounding the place.

Along the old railway track we ended our hike, more precisely on the spot where used to stand the train station of Moorslede. Now it's the place where the new Passendale factory (cheese) is situated. There's a busstop and a little pub … that's all we needed to return to the world of the living.