Upcoming Cycling Trip Along the Western Front Way

In the Somme River region in France and in the Flanders region in Belgium are among the most famous and bloodiest battlefields of the First World War. Names such as Péronne, Thiepval, and Beaumont-Hamel in France, and Ypres, Messines, and Passchendaele in Belgium, have become synonymous with the courage, sacrifice, and staggering human cost of the Great War from 1914 to 1918.

Julia Donley (left) and Linda Jantzen at the United States Army Museum.

Over the years, I have visited many of the more than 400 international memorials and Commonwealth cemeteries scattered across the Somme, and many more throughout Flanders. Each offers a powerful reminder of the individuals behind the history. This year, however, I will experience this landscape in an entirely new way — by cycling the Western Front Way from Amiens, France, to Bruges, Belgium.

This journey is inspired by author Briana Gervat, who in 2022 walked the Western Front Way, traveling from “Kilometer Zero” on the Swiss border with France to the Belgian coast. Her book, There Will Come Soft Rains: A Journey Along the Western Front  (Apeiron Books, 2025), reflects on what it means to move slowly through history: “to feel its reverberations, to listen to its echoes, and, with hope, learn something along the way.” Over 36 days, she covered more than 500 miles on foot.

Our journey will be shorter, approximately 200 miles, but no less meaningful. For my traveling companions and me, this route is deeply personal. At least two of my mother’s uncles were killed on the Western Front. My fellow rider, Julia Donley, and I are both retired Army officers, shaped by a shared respect for military history and service.

Carolyn Timbie at the U.S. Army Museum.

Joining us are Carolyn Timbie and her husband, Dusty Clampitt. Carolyn’s grandmother, Grace Banker, served as Chief of the first group of American women switchboard operators, known as the “Hello Girls,” who connected calls and provided translation for the American Expeditionary Forces from the ports to the headquarters to the front lines.  Carolyn and Dusty have long worked to preserve and share the stories of the Hello Girls and to ensure their service is properly recognized.

Belgium hosts the graves of over 13,000 American servicemembers who died in WWI and WWII.  Before completing our journey, we will make a stop at a local cemetery in Aalst, East Flanders to visit the burial place of Hello Girl Melanie Marie Van Gastel (1887–1978).  Our goal is to ensure Hello Girls such as Melanie’s remarkable stories are preserved and shared, wherever their final resting place might be.

Stay tuned!!

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