Via Yprensis

For the Via Yprensis, we must first return to the coast, to Nieuwpoort. Nieuwpoort was originally a small fishing port. Due to the silting up of the mouth of the Yser, access for larger ships to Diksmuide was no longer possible and traders and pilgrims set foot in Nieuwpoort.

In memory of the first pilgrims who started their journey here, the Via Yprensis begins at the head of the Westerstaketsel, 500 m in the North Sea. Along the mouth of the Yser and the center of the city you arrive at the Ganzenpoot. There, in October 1915, Karel Cogghe and Hendrik Geeraert managed to open the locks and flood the Yser plain, stopping the advance of the Germans. The Via Yprensis follows part of the frontal region along the banks of the Yser, through nature reserves and small villages. The thinking of the First World War is never far away. The beautiful church of Sainte-Jacobskapelle and the statue of the pilgrim that is there already make you dream of the final goal. The Via winds along car-free roads after Boezinge and Steenstraete to Ypres.

In addition to Ghent and Bruges, Ypres was an important centre of the cloth industry. But the city was also a place where pilgrims found refuge in the Eleven-Lieve-Vrouwegasthuis. On the way to the Sint-Jakobskerk, the Via passes in front of the Menin Gate, a symbol commemorating the dead of the First World War. Here you can get goosebumps every night when you hear the Last Post. Via Komen/Comines and Wervik, Via Yprensis enters France to reach Via Brugensis after 70 km.