The best cycling routes around Langemark - Poelkapelle

The harbor in Ypres, known locally as "De Kaaie," is actually the Ieperlee, which runs beneath the city of Ypres and becomes visible again there. At the Drie Grachten (Three Canals), the Ieperlee is joined by the Martjevaart canal, which originates in Merkem. Drie Grachten is a hamlet in the west of Merkem where the three canals converge: the Martjevaart canal, the Ypres-IJzer canal (also known as the Ieperlee Canal), and the Ieperlee itself. Drie Grachten is also known for the battles during World War I, in which the French, including the Zouaves, fought against the Germans. After a failed attack on the German outpost at Luigem, the Germans captured a number of Zouaves. They launched a counterattack but hid behind the captured Zouaves to prevent the French Zouaves from firing on them, thinking they were their own men returning. At one point, one of the captured Zouaves reportedly shouted: "Tirez donc au nom de Dieu, ce sont les Boches!" (For God's sake, these are the Boches!). Immediately after the warning, a French salvo erupted, mowing down both the Germans and the captured Zouaves. The Zouaves of Northern France (Union des Zouaves du Nord) continued to commemorate this after the war. Luigem is a hamlet 1 kilometer east of Drie Grachten and 1 kilometer west of the center of Noordschote. The Zouaves (French: zouaves) were a light infantry unit of the French Army, associated with French North Africa.

Shady in sunny and warm weather

Beautiful cycling route

Here you can happen to see a boat passing through the lock.

The New Zealand Division Passchendaele Memorial commemorates the more than 5,000 New Zealand soldiers who were killed or mortally wounded during the series of battles that culminated in the Battle of Passchendaele in 1917. Located in Zonnebeke, Belgium, the memorial pays tribute to the sacrifices of New Zealand troops during one of the darkest days in New Zealand's military history.

Beautiful cycle path, what a luxury!

An interesting anecdote about Artillery Wood Cemetery concerns the poets buried here. Two famous poets of the First World War, Francis Ledwidge and Ellis Humphrey Evans (known as Hedd Wyn), rest here. Both poets died on the same day, 31 July 1917, during the Third Battle of Ypres. Hedd Wyn, a Welsh poet, was posthumously awarded the prestigious bardic chair at the National Eisteddfod of Wales in 1917, just a few weeks after his death. His poem "Yr Arwr" (The Hero) was awarded, and the empty chair was covered with a black cloth as a symbol of mourning.

Artillery Wood Cemetery is a Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery. The cemetery was established in 1917 after the Battle of Pilckem Ridge and was used until March 1918. The site was given in perpetual ownership to the United Kingdom by King Albert I of Belgium, in recognition of the sacrifices made by the British Empire in the defence and liberation of Belgium. The cemetery contains 1,307 graves of soldiers who died in the First World War, of which 801 have been identified. The cemetery was designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield.