Yser

The region’s governor Carl Decaluwe on Monday banned water pumping from streams running off the Yser river, after levels fell below 2.9 metres.

This photo, from the same year, was taken by an anonymous soldier of the men of 1/5th York and Lancaster Regiment near the Yser Canal north of Ypres.

The museum, until recently called the Yser Tower, is a 275-foot-high tower that looks both drab and regal and reigns as Flanders’s most nationalistic symbol in its struggle against the country’s French-speaking Walloon region.

The next day was more about battlefields than beer as we visited two fascinating spots in Diksmuide — the Museum on the Yser and the hauntingly titled Trench of Death.

Far below, a show of sparks flickered and died out in the Yser River.