Cycling through Flanders, I learn how Belgium’s beer heritage and its First World War history intersect

The writer and her husband are cycling a route in Flanders. They are on the Poperinge-Vleteren-Ypres loop. The route is one of the Flemish region’s four beer cycling trails. It is also a link between Belgium's beer heritage and its First World War history. Some of Belgium's breweries played a role during the war. Abbey monks in Westvletere made beer for Allied troops. Now visitors are not allowed inside the abbey and must sample the beer at the neighbouring abbeys café. The writer's route also takes them to the village of Woesten, past a Yorkshire trench dugout and along the massive brick fortifications of Ypres.

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