P. Ferguson image, March 2026.
…and so I have an idea…
My time here is filled, with each step, a scanning of perspectives – to think…I wander across landscapes I have travelled before either with bicycle or car. Walking…walking…brings new impressions and sentiments…I learn about distance and roads (paths too) less travelled. I find routes once taken via the long path to be traversed in half the time by my desire (and inclination) not to travel the same way twice.
These walks…my walks, perhaps of pilgrimage (perhaps salvation) have totalled 26.5 hours on foot. True there is time to stop, to write in my leather bound journal. Otherwise it is the next step…the next row…the next landscape. My bearings are kept by…Kemmel to the south…Ieper’s towers of to the north. With these beacons I am able to position myself within the Salient. Without either in site, my red and black acrylic compass tells me in which direction to travel.
P. Ferguson image, March 2026.
Walk Summary…
- 28 March (Saturday) Bedford House (4.5 hours).
- 29 March (Sunday) Voormezelle, Elzenwalle, Ridgewood (6 hours).
- 31 March (Tuesday) Duhallow ADS, Essex Farm (4.5 hours).
- 2 April (Thursday) Railway Chateau, Divisional Cemetery, Belgian Battery Corner (4 hours).
- 4 April (Saturday) Railway Dugouts (Transport Farm), Blauwepoort Farm, Zillebeke Churchyard, Hill 60, Larch Wood (Railway Cutting), Maple Copse (7.5 hours).
But so too on these perspectives I question what may be too much of “more of the same”. Many of the images I take are for reference, future study. I feel as yet I may be failing to capture the heart, the soul of a site in a unique way. And for today, a day of rest after all the time on the road yesterday I routinely think upon the Menin Gate…of Sassoon’s poem On Passing the Menin Gate…In the apartment I read and reread Sassoon’s lines…Paid with a pile of peace-complacent stone…Rise and deride this sepulchre of crime.
P. Ferguson image, March 2026.
Not to pillory the words of poets, both Sassoon and Owen (and others) had their time in the trenches and both were recipients of the Military Cross…I think…I do not stumble. How can Sassoon’s words influence my picture choice for a Menin Gate gallery?…and so I think. Do not use the gate…use words…of those who come to visit…Within this idea, a walk (on a day of rest) back to the Menin Gate…where Flemish text …special thanks to Feline (surname redacted)*…has given me this day and I have found words from others for the gallery.
P. Ferguson image, April 2026.
I am Feline….**
We learned at school about WWI.
About people who died as soldiers.
Who helped defend our country.
Not only Belgium, but also France and England…
I would really like to thank those people for what they have done.
They had to go fight for nothing, for our country and for their lives.
More than 30,000 did not survive.
Since then there have been more wars, such as in Gaza and in Russia.
For 4 years they fought for their lives.
From 1914 to 1918 there was nothing but war.
Just imagine that this never ended and Belgium and Ypres didn’t exist either.
I wish I could turn back time and make sure that Gavrilo Princip never shot Franz Ferdinand.
When will all those bombs stop?!
I have respect. Hopefully you do too.
Citation for the award of the Military Cross (London Gazette 27 July 1916)
2nd Lieutenant Siegfried Loraine Sassoon
3rd attached 1st Battalion, Royal Welsh Fusiliers
For conspicuous gallantry during a raid on the enemy’s trenches. He remained for 1½ hours under rifle and bomb fire collecting and bringing in our wounded. Owing to his courage and determination all the killed and wounded were brought in.
Citation for the award of the Military Cross (London Gazette 30 July 1919)
2nd Lieutenant Wilfred Salter Owen
5th attached 2nd Battalion Manchester Regiment
For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty in the attack on the Fonsomme Line on October 1st/2nd, 1918. On the company commander becoming a casualty, he assumed command and showed fine leadership and resisted a heavy counter-attack. He personally manipulated a captured enemy machine gun from an isolated position and inflicted considerable losses on the enemy. Throughout he behaved most gallantly.
*Feline…your voice has spoken. In gratitude…with respect…
**Translation by Elodie Delplace, Main Street Hotel, Ieper. Thank you Elodie.