Today’s Objective Was Passchendaele

| September 27, 2016

Ypres Day Three of Five A shorter ride today though at times it felt uphill and against the wind. Determined to push on, today’s objective was Passchendaele – one spot on the high ground that is the Western Front. We were most familiar with Canada’s role in this climb to the top where today the Canadian Memorial […]

Mud, Memory and Musings

| September 25, 2016

Ypres Day One of Five The train arrives at Lille once again and I am most pleased to be back on this familiar expedition towards the Ypres Salient. As our driver takes us on our journey past drifting towns, villages and landmarks he is careful to avoid the many sail-less bicycles drifting to and fro on this […]

The Water Diviner and the Search for Canadian Great War Stories

| August 29, 2015

Finding Water – Finding Story When I was young, some forty years ago, I came to British Columbia and lived near a place that my maternal family had called home since the 1860s. Having lived in many places, across Canada and overseas, this new place of generational connection was foreign to me. Yet I wanted […]

The 100ths are Soon upon Us

| July 25, 2014

Searching for the Great War 100 Years Later “Some wars name themselves…This is the Great War. It names itself.” Maclean’s Magazine, October 1914, p. 53 “Every intelligent person in the world knew that disaster was impending and knew no way to avoid it.” H.G. Wells (Writer) “…an old world of swords, lances and bugles would […]