Hi all, Just got back from holiday in Belgium and felt the compunction to do a post. So straight into marshalling duty at our open, great watching the riders but felt heavy of heart at not being able to ride. Here I am on Sunday morning still nursing my broken fingers and feeling pretty fed up, hope all who are riding this morning are having a good ride in the sunshine. Can't wait to get back to it.
However Kath and I did manage a few little pootles around on cycle paths on our Brompton whilst away.
Had a great time away enjoying the the heat, just a bit to hot at times though. Found a lead to what could turn out to be my great uncle who is buried near Ypres. It stems from a faint memory I have of my mum once telling me my granddad (who was also over there) lost one of his brothers in the great war. I had no other information so a chance visit to a museum in Ypres, we found in a list of killed a David Walker Bancroft from Halifax which fits as my granddad was Percy Bancroft and was born Halifax. I remember his two brothers who we used to visit there but have always had this memory that there was another brother from what my mother said. So some investigate work is ahead and will keep you posted to what I find. We did visit this grave as it was at Ypres.
Interesting!
Boring stuff first though. When do you expect to get the all-clear to ride again?
My grandad was at Ypres in 'Hilda', a Mk IV Tank, which was probably one of the most famous tanks of WW1. Luckily, Hilda was home too to Lieutenant General Sir Hugh Jamieson Elles (Colonel Hugh Elles at the time) who thought it a good idea to withdraw from Passchendaele, a move which probably saved my grandad from a certain death although their tank was later hit on 24th March 1918.
We ought to get our heads together for a good chit chat sometime. It's moving stuff. I couldn't visit their without being in floods of tears. It's very emotive for me having someone I knew when I was a child being subjected to the torture that was WW1.
He never had a bad word to say about the Germans interestingly.
Yes it is very moving when you are there.
I going to the fracture clinic tomorrow, all depends on how that goes? But suspect it may be a few more weeks yet?