Through battlefields and the blackest night: the 100 Miles of Ypres 2022

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Long-time readers of PreWarCar.com will be aware of the 100 Miles, a night rally formerly held in the Netherlands, but staged for the first time this year in Belgium, organisation having been taken over by the enthusiastic young Bossaert brothers.

To digress briefly, I was profoundly struck by the many differences between Belgium and England, and left a confirmed Belgiophile. I travelled to Ypres via Bruges, where I was immediately taken in by the great 1930s railway station with its magnificent atrium adorned with murals celebrating Flemish history and culture, as seen through a Modernist lens.

Home-thoughts from abroad

I spent a few hours in Kortrijk and Menen, which impressed me not only with their architecture but also with their local cycling culture. In the centres, motor traffic was at a minimum but ample provisions were made for the many cyclists. Quite apart from the obvious health benefits which showed on the rosy complexions of Flemings pedalling through the bracing morning sunlight, the cities seemed altogether happier, friendlier and more peaceful than those in England where, if motorists and cyclists acknowledge one another, it is usually on acrimonious terms.

The observation is germane because, on reaching Ypres, we find a city centre not untouched by modernity, but unspoilt by it. There is minimal traffic-related clutter and no incongruous road markings, and the pavements are on a level with the roads. The motorists are courteous and considerate, pedestrians and cyclists are relaxed and unhurried, and the effect, to one hailing from the periphery of London, feels positively utopian. With the Christmas market in full swing and the bells of the Cloth Hall chiming to Adeste fideles, one can't help but feel cheered by this rather Dickensian vision of Christmas, which cannot be simulated in a city so overtaken by corporate greed as modern-day London is.

History and splendour

For historical background, Ypres is a mediæval city which rose to prosperity as a mercantile trading centre, but diminished during centuries of warfare between the English, French and Spanish. Its historic architecture made it a popular destination by the 19th-century, but its strategic importance during the Kaiser War saw it destroyed virtually in its entirety. Mercifully, the citizens overcame their loss to once again construct a beautiful city in the traditional Flemish style, with the 13th-century Cloth Hall and St. Martin's Cathedral painstakingly rebuilt to original plans between the 1930s and 1960s.

To the east of the town is the Menin Gate, the monumental arch constructed in the 1920s to memorialise the missing soldiers - almost 55,000 of them - who died fighting on the Ypres Salient. Between there and the towering Gothic spire of St. James's Church is College Ieper, the courtyard of which awakened to the rorty exhaust notes of the 25 pre-war cars which had travelled from Belgium, Britain, France, Germany and the Netherlands to contend the 100 Miles.

A plethora of British greats from Alvis, Austin, MG, Jaguar and Riley rubbed shoulders with Delage, BMW, Peugeot, Cadillac, Bugatti, Mercedes-Benz, Lancia and more, and after a convivial dinner and a solemn observance of the Last Post at the Menin Gate, we fired up our cars and shattered the peace. A few participants cursed the cold weather as they resorted to frantic bump-starting to coax their cars into life but, as navigator in the PreWarCar.com Riley 14/6 Lynx, I had no such worries - it dutifully fired up on the first attempt. I merely regretted my failure to wear extra-thick woolly socks, three hats, four scarves and six jumpers, because, at -8°C (18°F), it was a bitter night.

Through darkness, mist and ice

Once without the boundaries of Ypres, navigating became particularly difficult on the pitch-black rural roads, where turnings were hard enough to spot in the first place, but harder still to distinguish from driveways and farm tracks. The more remote roads were pure white, covered by thick layers of frost and ice. Towns and villages glowing under lamplight  provided welcome reprieve, and their cobblestone streets glistened most attractively before the searing beams from Joseph Lucas's finest.

Had there been time, it would have been interesting to reflect on the changing character of the landscape. Vast, flat expanses of soil, stained with tragedy 100 years ago, are now, by day, given over to arable farming in a picture of modest, unassuming beauty. By night, in December, the land is as bleak as it comes, with swirling mists contriving to make the darkness that much more impenetrable. It's no surprise that the roads are pretty much isolated, allowing all of West Flanders to become, for a few hours, a pre-war playground. With each car making its way in its own idiosyncratic fashion, from the steady progress of a vintage Austin 20 to the flamboyant exhibitionism of a Bugatti Type 37, the 100 Miles Rally has a special character.

With a burst of throttle, we made a quick ascent of the Kemmelberg, the only elevation on the route, past the monument to French soldiers, and had a long drive ahead to the welcome refreshment stop at Boezinge. We stopped again in Diksmuide to consider the Yser Towers, a particularly bold war memorial defiantly projecting 'AVV-VVK' (All For Flanders - Flanders For Christ) against the night sky. Subsequent navigations became especially difficult, as we knew we were supposed to be following a canal but were incapable of distinguising it from the interminable drainage channels which dissected the land.

As we reached the end, we were welcomed into the Oldtimer Museum Bossaert, an exceptional collection containing all manner of fascinating pre- and post-war marques, with an emphasis on Belgian makes such as Pipe, FN and Minerva. After another hot drink we returned to Ypres and the ceremonial finish beneath the Menin Gate, by which time it was 3.00 a.m. and we were all quite glad to stagger to bed, thinking 'What a wonderful event and what a wonderful city.'

Words: Zack Stiling
 

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