A tourist board in northern France has become the first in the country to install signs for visitors following the World War One front line, and they are hoping other parts of the country will follow suit.
The Western Front Way (the Grand Front Ouest) is a 1,000km path that runs along No Man’s Land, from the Swiss border to the Belgian coast.
The route was inspired by a letter from British soldier A.D. Gillespie, who in 1915 wrote home to his headmaster that he wished for a “via sacra” (sacred road), so that men, women and children could “think and learn what war means from the silent witnesses on either side”.
The tourist board for Armentiérois and Weppes, a rural area on the outskirts of Lille, held an inaugural hike in late April after installing official signs indicating its 30 km portion of the trail and educating visitors about the local battlefields.
Walking and heritage
The tourist office is using its location along the Western Front Way as an opportunity to “combine hiking with discovering local heritage”, said Camille Frérot, who oversees the project.
Local authorities have invested in signs, which closely resemble those that already exist on the parts of the trail found just over the border in Belgium, as well as nine educational panels, created in partnership with historians. These tell the local story of the front line, in French, English, German and Dutch.
A.D. Gillespie inspired the routeWinchester College
During the war, Commonwealth soldiers were stationed in the town of Armentières, which lies on the border with Belgium and is part of the public body Métropole Européenne de Lille.
“It was known as ‘The Nursery’. The troops came here to rest and learn how to handle weapons before joining the front line,” said Mr Frérot. “The town was a target, and 80% of it was destroyed.”
Economic benefits
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The nearby Museum of the Battle of Fromelles already attracts many tourists from overseas, mostly from the UK and Australia, but the hope is that the trail will encourage visitors to spend longer in the region, bringing benefits to the local economy.
“The memorial sites are spread across the north, so in general people come here by bus or by car, and don’t take the time to discover the area,” Mr Frérot said.
Historian Sir Anthony Seldon was working on a book about the war in 2012 when an archivist came across Gillespie’s letter. Rory Forsyth, founder of the Western Front Way, got in touch with Seldon to propose making Gillespie’s dream a reality, and together they made contact with the soldier’s descendants.
With the help of local authorities in France and Belgium, which suggested existing roads and footpaths that could make up the trail, the commemorative path was born. In 2022, Seldon published a book about his experience walking the length of the route, titled The Path of Peace.
Then last year, after becoming a limited company under the name of Waytrails in order to raise more money to invest in the service, they launched a mobile app. Visitors now have access to maps, historical information, and can book travel and accommodation all in one place.
The addition of physical signs on the French side of the border is a symbolic moment, said Waytrails co-founder Kim Hay. “To now have the two nations connecting as Gillespie wanted in his letter is very impactful,” she said.
Both Waytrails and the local tourist board hope it will encourage other towns and villages to do the same, so that eventually the whole route is transformed from a digital map into something more tangible.
Ms Hay said around 500 people, most of them British, set off on the trail last summer, and more than 1,000 people have downloaded the app. “We were very surprised, we thought lots of people would do it in stages, as 1,000 km is a long way. But the majority of people have done the whole thing,” she said.
The hike takes around 30 days, or there is also an alternative seven-day cycle route, and all the paths have been tried and tested.
“I’ve run it once, walked it twice, and cycled it three times, and each time we were very conscious that if we took people down roads there was a verge to walk on,” Ms Hay said.
Changing landscape
Those courageous enough to follow the entire route will witness the changing landscape, from the Vosges mountains to the battlefields of the Somme, via the city of Reims. The cycle route also passes through Nancy.
“There’s so much to see,” said Ms Hay. “When you think there’ll be nothing for 10 km, suddenly there’ll be this wonderful headstone in the middle of the woods, or you’ll see the trenches in the Argonne Forest.”
Part of the attraction, she says, is the relative quiet of the trail compared to other hiking paths, such as the famous Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route.
“The Camino had almost 450,000 walkers last year. Many people are quite keen to look for quieter places,” she said.
Connecting
It also offers a different way of connecting with a conflict in which millions lost their lives, which requires no prior knowledge.
“You can’t help but feel where you are,” Ms Hay said. “It’s impactful, but it should also be encouraging and positive, and you end up talking almost to the wind sometimes. You see cemeteries and do have a connection.”
The Waytrails app is available for a monthly subscription fee of £3.99, or £34.99 per year. It has recently added the Normandy Way, a circular 300 km cycling route, and more itineraries are on the way.
