Vimy Ridge - and the most wonderful memorial.
I spent about an hour riding over to Arras and the small town of Givenchy-en-Gohelle to visit the WW1 trenches and then to see the stunning Vimy Ridge memorial.
The memorial was built to commemorate the 36 thousand Canadians who died re-taking the Vimy Ridge over four days on the 12th April 1917.
Built in 1936, the memorial is stunning. Standing 27m tall using locally quarried limestone, the two pylons represent Canada and France, and unbelievably, all the surrounding pastures are still pockmarked with shell holes. There are even areas cordoned off as they still have unexploded ordinance. Strangely enough, there were no dog walkers there…
