Poperinge - Belgium
15th century. Just over the border from France is the small town of Poperinge suffering
its plague, starvation and plundering of religious wars.
1773 Marie Antionette enters
Paris to later become queen
1774 Louis XVI crowned as
French King
1789 Marie Antionette
realises being queen is not all its cracked up to be as an unruly mob disrupt a
short break to
Versailles
.
1790 and well into the
French revolution a farmer living between Poperinge and Watou decides to build a
refuge into the walls of his farm house to hide royalists, and carries on
farming and making beer
1914-1918, Poperinge becomes
the gateway to the Ypres battlefields and the centre of the British war effort
but the town was like an oasis of peace and quiet for the British soldiers
behind the labyrinth of trenches around Ieper. Those who survived long enough to
revisit the town regarded “Pop” as a haven. It wasn‘t a safe place to be, due to the shelling and bombing but they
could enjoy the busy town during the day and the lively nightlife
Back on the farm things are
fairly rough but the farmer still plods on and hides a few lost souls in his
refuge but the shelling does ruin the hop harvest somewhat.
May 1940 Poperinge becomes
the assembly point for fugitives on their way to France who - when the border
crossing closed - found a warm welcome with the local people.
Again our farmer is hiding
folk in the refuge and hoping the bloody British and Germans would stop running
back and forth in his fields this is getting a bit too common now.
August 2005
“ Sod It ! “ “
The’re back again !! “
Yep! He was right the
Brit’s and the Germans have returned to the sleepy little farm in the Belgium
countryside and this time there to make lots of noise , ride bikes and drink all
the beer and all arranged by our favorite Belgium motorcycle club run by Claude,
Rolly and Marcel
Were you there? ….Oh no
its you again and you didn’t come last year either, so you may as well turn
the page now and read the small ads
Anyway now he’s gone, the
rally was great, the new venue is excellent and if you talk to Rat you’ll find
the old refuge has been supplanted by a nice new one that he’s already booked
for next year
The weather was good if a
bit windy at first especially for those folk who ended up kite flying instead of
tent pitching but if you bring a big van then you have to park on the higher
field instead of down behind the trees.
Friday was fun , we followed
Anita and Pete over and met up with Robin and Chris Ball on the ferry due to
Anita’s ace navigating it was straight to the new place without a hitch except
maybe my total lack of French when trying to buy petrol (too bloody tight to buy
it in the UK). Set up and watch others
arriving, then down into “Pop” to drink coffee find cash and eat cakes. Nice town can now see why the Brits kept hold of it for so long.
We had to smile when Robin
and Chris went out to explore the local area and the local council gritted the
roads while they were gone “
surprise “ and it only goes to prove its not just Ockham that does that to us.
Friday night was spent
renewing friendships and trying the local beers and just having a laugh (if you
go you must try the local dark beer, we did) and for Chris Rix it mean doing a
deal to disguise his Chief as a barbeque (see pics)
Saturday was better. The
weather really started to cut in and it was idea for bike riding,
The run was as usual
efficiently planned and executed except possibly only one man actually knew
where we were going but fortunately he has a big truck to follow so no one got
lost, and after a tour round, the lunch stop was in the Belgium mountain
district? Well, bless them it was a
bit steep.
If you’ve ever watched the
“Tour De France “ it’s the uphill bit to the radio mast with the tricky
corners and must be a killer on a pushbike but even Pauline and the Topper raced
up it so no problem there.
Brilliant picnic and back on
the road
One nice thing is on this
weekend every year the military have a “Walk for Peace“ where all the locals
join in as the walk moves through
their area and we always manage to rally into the midst of it at some stage,
this time it was near the second stop where half the village was taken over by
soldiers and we charged through them to get to the café/museum stop .
It
was during this exercise Chris Rix taught me why I should have brought the bike
and not used the car by stealing the keys out of the ign in the middle of the
road Hmm! Justifiable revenge I
suppose But it could mean I have to
embarrass him some more! (we’ll see later)
Anyway the café and the toy
museum were good and the rest of the run went as it should and we were all back
well in time for the great evening meal.
And the British group seemed
to mop up the raffle prizes even Pete was well sorted with some Solvol Autosol
and Carl and Pauline got a radio to match the Topper
As evening came on the
anticipation was beginning to rise, Chris was getting excited as he’d heard
the rumour that Elvis was going to perform again!
Just down the road the
anticipation was beginning to rise, Elvis was getting excited as he’d heard
Chris Rix was back in Belgium and might actually be at his latest gig!
Oh they we both so chuffed!
In fact at one stage Chris actually joined Elvis for a chorus or two but due to
the ever increasing cost of performers that was all Elvis could afford.
But the Chris Rix Roadshow
rolls on and he had a few excited fans of his own to keep happy.
Sam was round on his quest
for international friendship and harmony by getting everyone in sight wrecked
and if you see the photo’s Rat’s choice to book the cottage next to the bar
seemed to be a very wise move
As for Elvis he was great as
we have come to expect, only at one point the seemed to be trying to chat Anita
for some of her J.D and his life expectancy dropped rapidly but it seems with
his raw charm he got away with it.
And it was a brilliant
evening and the party carried on till early morning, by the state of folks the
next morning most of them enjoyed it
I’m sure every year the
bike get better and this year there were some great bikes around but rather than
try to tell you about then have a look on the website there should be photo’s
there by now
I’d like to thank everyone who got involved with the rally this for making a
real good one to go to and we’ll definitely be back next year
“Oh ! Your still here, I told you last year you should come so if your sulking
that we had a great time and you didn’t… well what can I say “
Anyone wishing to join the
Chris Rix appreciation society please apply to Ms Anita Dray
Handy Translation
een ander bier tevreden……….Another
beer please
Ik ben droevig ik gedronken
be……………I’m sorry I’m drunk
ik
heb ook een Indian …………………….I have an Indian too
dit is een divers horloge…………………….This
is a divers watch
zou u me huis willen nemen………………..Would
you like to take me home
mijn laatste boyfriend was
een psychopath……my last boyfriend was a phsycopath
Err Ik moet nu gaan of ik
zal mijn veerboot missen …Err I must go now or I’ll miss my ferry
Dank u allen voor een prachtige tijd……………………Thank
you for a great time
Keith
Bird 
