Vimy Memorial Walk

The walk starts near the Canadian National Vimy Memorial, on the ridge where heavy fighting took place in April 1917. Canadian troops attacked a strongly defended German position that had resisted earlier Allied assaults. The battle later became an important part of Canada's First World War remembrance.

From the car park, the route first heads towards the monument. Even before you reach it, shell craters, concrete remains and other traces of the former battlefield are already visible inside the restricted areas.

The memorial was designed by Canadian sculptor and architect Walter Seymour Allward and unveiled in 1936. Its walls carry the names of 11,285 Canadian servicemen who died in France during the First World War and whose graves were unknown at the time.

After the memorial, the route follows a short stretch of the Road of Canadian Memory before leaving the main road and entering the woods. The surroundings change immediately. The ground rises and falls gently, and old trenches, shell craters and remains of concrete structures still appear between the trees.

This is the section that gives the walk much of its interest for me. The traces are not concentrated in one place; they appear gradually through the woodland. In some spots, you need to look carefully to recognise what still belongs to the wartime landscape.

It is also the quietest part of the route. You may occasionally pass a trail runner or another walker, but long stretches of the woodland remain silent.

After the woodland, the route rejoins the road through the site. A short detour also allows you to visit the 3rd Canadian Division Memorial before continuing towards the visitor centre.

Around the centre are restored and reconstructed trenches on the former Canadian and German forward lines. You can walk through them while looking across a landscape that is still heavily marked by shell craters. Large parts of the site remain closed because dangerous wartime remains, including unexploded ammunition, may still be present underground. Sheep are used to graze parts of the site so that people and machinery do not need to enter restricted areas as often.

Inside, the visitor centre adds more context through artefacts, information and personal stories. Depending on guided tour availability, it may also be possible to visit parts of the underground tunnels. With a little extra time, you can take short detours to Canadian Cemetery No. 2 and Givenchy Road Canadian Cemetery. Afterwards, you return to the memorial and the car park where the walk began.