From a gap in the ancient walls of the city of Eap, we follow a route past a corner where once

Shrapnel fell, walk amongst the long lines of headstones in one of the larger Flander cemeteries

in this part of the battlefield, an end amongst the reeds along an old canal that once took men

to an uncertain future in the front line. November is coming to an end, and I've been very

lucky this month to be able to get over to the old front line on a regular basis. I've just

returned from the SOM with a group from Northern Ireland

who was there for the centenary of the opening of the Ulster Tower. And this week we begin at the

Lill Gate, where I was on the 11th of November on Armistice Day, sat quietly in one corner of the

cemetery, and just before 11 o'clock had a chat with teacher Tom Rogers

on his teacher's radio channel to talk about the sacrifice and the remembrance of the

Great War and what that might mean to new generations. This year the number of English

visitors in Eap for the 11th November was very small indeed, but some were there.

Gradually the pilgrims, the battlefield visitors are being able to return, and that's a good thing.

It's certainly very welcome in the communities and the places and the businesses that are there.

But the battlefields, that means means are returning to what they were

once again and that in itself can only be a good thing. Being in the Epe area for the 11th November

and seeing old battlefield friends on a regular basis once more, it's all felt normal again, the kind of normality that we've all

wish for these many, many dark months that have proceeded this time. And while it's clear

from the news, there are still some challenges ahead, the feeling that the battlefields are once

more, very much part of our lives, very much part of what we do and

we're able to visit them again feels very, very strong indeed. But you realise as you travel around

them at this time and as I said in a previous podcast, looking at them now, it feels as if nothing

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