C ONSIDERING the enormous attraction a visit to the Flanders battlefields
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must hold to many thousands of people, it is rather extraordinary that private' enterprise in Belgium should not have risen to the lac' casion and provided suitable motoring facilities to enable parties of visitors to view them.
Yet it has been left to British enterprise, and to a Livexpool concern, to open up the battlefields to the tourist, and thereby, to provide means whereby the dwellers in the devastated areas, who are slowly building up their shattered homes, can derive some badly needed revenue from the sightseer. It is true that, in Belgium, there are a. good many touring cars which can be hired—at a figure—but I believe that no Belgian concern has yet had the enterprise to put a char-a-bancs service on the roads, so that the visitor can make his trip in comfort, and at a reasonable cost. . There is a popular impression that passports are very difficult to obtain at the present time, and I was therefore agreeably surprised the other day when I set out to obtain one to find that, as regards Belgium at any rate,really no difficulties exist. So I was able to accept an invitation from Messrs. C. H. Rymer and Co., that enterprising Liverpool concern, to go out to Flanders for a week and see for myself how
• their char--banes services are run. It turned out to be a very. pleasant outing. Bruges is the eentre from which the battlefield tours are made, and most visitors, make the journey there under the ausPices Of the Free Church Touring Guild, an institution which has reduced the problem of
Continental travel to such a fine art that to entrust journey to its care is to be freed from all worries and trouble, except the gauntlet of the Customs. one's The journey to Bruges by way of Ostend occupies about seven hours, and, on the day I went, the three hours' sea, passage was delightful.
The first relicsof war damage greet one at Ostend.. There is the gallant old " Vindictive" at the liarhour's mouth, and the shattered station, which is not yet repaired ; but on arrival-at Bruges all traces of the war seem to have disappeared .again.
At the station exit one is met by a blue-uniformed hotel porter with "Hotel de lilandre ' on his cap, who singles one out with remarkable • discrimination. The hotel is not far away, and is newly-decerated and attractive place ; the directrice is Miss Haggard, a sister of the famous author, and the hotel is controlled by Sir Henry Lunn. One dines, on arrival, under an awning in a pleasant garden, with
• little red-topped tables dotted about amongst the geranium beds, and a fountain playing at the side.Dancing is in progress in an adjoining room, fork in quiet Bruges, one
makes ones own amusement. Thus pleasantly does the journey to the starting point of the battlefield tours commence.
Three main tours have been mapped out; They are all of absorbing interest, either to the old campaigner or to the newcomer to these famous places that will live in history. The longest.tour takes one through Thourout, Gitsberg, Hooglede, Westroosebecke, Poeleappelle, St. Julian, Wieltje, St. Jean, Ypre' s Boesinghe, Woitmen' Dixmude, Lengenboorn, and back to :Bruges. It is a fascinating trip. Interest centres, of course, on Ypres and the ruined Cloth Hall, though Dixmude is, perhaps, if anything, more impressive of havoc and destruction. At Poolcappelle—the cemetery of Tanks, as it is called—the shattered Tanks still lie upon the roadside and about. The sight to see at Lengenboom is the 15 in. German gun which made the life of the inhabitants in Dunkirk tor so long a misery. Starting at about 9 a.m., this trip occupies all of one day. The roads have been carefully chosen so that the visitor may see representative sections of the battlefield. This is rather an important point, as, in many places, bullrushea and weeds obscure all traces of the ground as it once was. To see it at its worst is, at once, an object lesson and a warning.
The next day's route lies through Ghistelles, Zenicote, St. Pierre CapeIle, Sehoore Pervyse, liamscappelle, Nieuport, Lombartsyde, Middlekerke, Ostend, and Blankenberghe.
There is variety and contrast in this trip. One sees the devastation at Pervyse, passes along the read which ran parallel behind the Belgian line, crosses the Yser by a temporary bridge, on which recoilstruetion operations are in progress, inspects the blockhouses which the Germans made with cement supposed to have come from England via Holland, and then one comes to Ostend— Ostend the gay, with all traces of war hidden away beneath new paint and a very multitude of flags.
There is another and a shorter trip, which takes the visitor to Blankenberghe and Heyst, to Knocke, where the batteries, dedicated to William II of Prussia and unhappy memory, were bedded down on concrete, and thence. to Zeebrugge, the fame of which can need no garland here.
That is what th6. visitor may 'see from these chars-ILsbanas, which 'carry the sign of "Quality, Wallasey," on their back panels. The vehicles in use are of the Tilling-Stevens type, with the petrol-electric type of transmission suited so admirably to passenger work, by reason of the freedem from starting jolts and gearchanging discomforts which it gives. The simplicity of control is, moreover, Of great advantage on the battle-area roads, as it relieves the driver of fatigue and enables the whole of his attention to be devoted to manoeuvring his vehicle along the very tricky roads. In the devastated regions the roads are, for the. inost part, perfectly atrocious-, and, in consequence, the most careful attention has to be given to the question of maintenance. Messrs. C. F. Rymer, Ltd., have established ai spacious garage in a. three-storied building on the outskirts of Bruges for maintenance purposes, and i they are fortunate n having as their engineer Captain. Robinson, who had much 'experience in keeping vehicles in trim under war conditions, and for whom atrocious roads and their effects 'can hold no terrors. This • garage is being equipped so that repairs to touring cars also can be undertaken.
The establishment of these services is air enterprise which has been confronted with many problems—of business, mechanic; and, not least, diplomacy, for the way of the pioneer in a foreign—if friendly—country is not always smooth.
On the successful surmounting of all these difficulties Mr. C. F. Rymer and his co-director, Captain Fry, must he congratulated. Many people will benefit by the opportunity which this enterprise affords of visiting some plot of ground " that is, for ever England, 'and many others will be glad to take the trips in order to visit these places of which they have heard so much, but have not seen.
I, personally, wish that Sir Henry Lunn and Mr. Rymer between them would take out a, pgrty of Trades T,Tnion officials and non-subscribers to our Housing Bonds, and show them how the Belgian. bricklayer, when he is "up against " amid a mass Of ruins, will lay SOO to 1,000 bricks a .day. The example might help us with our housing problem I R.H.G.