Even though the memorial service for 100 years since the First World War is now complete, no one in Ypres and the surrounding area escapes the Great War. Walk from the Menin Gate through a countryside with carefully tended war graves.

Text and Photo Chris Van Minnebruggen

There is no more symbolic place to start than the Menin Gate with its Last Post and the thousands of names of fallen soldiers. From there, you pass the walking junctions to the soothing nature of the strict Zillebeekvijver. After the village center of Zillebeke, you come through the fields to the Larch Wood Railway Cutting Cemetery, next to the railway line. There are more military cemeteries to follow, and before you know it, you find yourself in the greenery of the Provincial area De Palingbeek. By the way, you will find the Astrolab Iris, the local public observatory, at the entrance.

The path continues through deciduous forest for a while, then follows the Ypres-Comines Canal for quite a stretch. It was once supposed to connect the IJzer with the Leie, but endless setbacks and budget restrictions caused the prestigious project to fail. Today, it is a straight stretch where cyclists, rollerbladers, and hikers can travel undisturbed to the city limits of Ypres. Through the park on the Ypres fortifications, you return to the Menin Gate.

The Route

With your back to the lions at the Menin Gate, you go right onto Hoornwerk. At house number 23, left onto Vaubanstraat until No. 85. Right onto Citadelstraat along Hoornwerkpark until Camping Jeugdstadion with pitches (Self-Check-in). Follow right to walking junction (KP) 33 along the football stadium, under the roundabout, and at the Ypres Peace Forest over the Zillebekevoetweg until B&B-Brasserie Het Vijverhuis and nature reserve Verdronken Weide. Right and around the Zillebekevijver to KP 69. Right to KP 23. You go through Zillebeke village, turn right briefly through Blaupoortstraat, then take a path left and over the Perseweide to the Larch Wood Railway Cutting Cemetery. Over the railway line and at the T-junction, turn left. Go straight to KP 23 over Verbrandemolenstraat with a wide view of Ypres, and just before another military cemetery, turn left into Molenbos. At KP 23 go straight to KP 22 until the small Hedge Row Cemetery. Turn right around the cemetery over a very muddy path. Continue to KP 22 and go straight to KP 18 along the Astrolab Iris with cafeteria and WC, also the entrance to the Provincial area De Palingbeek. At KP 18, at the top of a slope, turn right to KP 19 through a thin deciduous forest. At KP 19, go straight to KP 20 with a large GR signpost, a shelter with WC, and the Spoilbank Cemetery. Go straight until KP 47 over the asphalt of Bijlanderpad along the Ypres-Comines Canal and after the N336 along the other bank of the canal. Once again go straight for quite a stretch and across the N133 to KP 60. Here you finally get a good view of the water. Go straight to KP 61, where you change banks once more. At KP 61, turn right to KP 62. Along the way, you cross the railway line and the busy N37b, to choose diagonally right, next to the Steinerschool, at KP 62 and follow straight to KP 64 along Majoorgracht until you reach the Ramparts Lille Gate Cemetery. Continue over the Vauban fortification and along Kasteelgracht towards KP 63. Along the way, you will see the Menin Gate once again.