Vimy Ridge

At 7 o'clock we woke to rain. By 8:30 the sky was turning blue so we headed out of the city to visit Vimy Ridge National Historic Site of Canada. We arrived at the town of Arras, after being told that we could either get a cab or join a tour bus to reach the monument. Exiting the station we are met with a total absence of cabs and no bus. Hmmmm. Others have been waiting 30 minutes to catch a cab. We talk to a young couple from Toronto and we agree to share a cab if one ever shows up. Yeah! We have a cab and off we head.

There are a team of young people from all over Canada working at the Information Centre. It was nice to chat and find out where they came from in Canada. We met a girl from Port Albernie. We booked a tour to explore the tunnels and with a hour and a half on our hands we set off to see the monument. It is about a 15 minute walk from the centre and the road has a border of maple trees lining the way. They were in full colour. On either side of the road the earth although grassy now, is pitted with the remenants of shell explosions and the remains of the trenchs the men used during the battle. A million shells had landed over a front only a few kilometres wide. Just before the first wave of soldiers, underground mines - each packed with almost 10 tonnes of explosives - were also fired. As we approach the monument the size and scale are huge. We both have eyes filled with tears as we mount the stairs of this memorial to the tragedy of war and the lost young people who gave their lives in the terrible battles that took place in northern France and Belgium. It is hard to come to grips with the volume of people who fought in these mightly battles and the sacrifice so freely given to us. The cemetaries we passed are humbling with the thousands of crosses from all the allied fighters in this battle.

This is a Canadian monument to be proud off and we wish more could visit this site. We walk down the road for our tour of the tunnels we are very lucking to have tickets. The tour is lead by the young volunteers. The tunnel we enter is about 1/2 kilometer we are a group of 25. They were built by hand using shovel & pick. It took about 6 months. The tunnels were built to contain all the information and communications for the Canadians. They had telephones, morse code, electricity, aerial photos, dogs and pigeons for communication. The had runners that would go to the surface with information to the troops in the trenches. The life span of a runner was 5-7 days & they were all volunteers. No one is sure how many miles of trenches there are. We climbed out of the earth & walked through some of the restored trenches. We left the park at sunset thinking about the ones we were leaving behind.

Travel Tip:

If you travel to Vimy Ridge watch for maple leaves on backpacks and offer to share a cab which is far cheaper than the tours. Book ahead if you want to tour the tunnels. The tour books up quickly.