If you haven't already done so one of the first things you will need to do is to get yourself equipped with suitable maps and guides to support your visit and enable you to navigate the area. It is very important that individual first time group members have maps, to which they can refer at any time, which show where the Western Front was and where, upon it, those people are today. There is almost no point in going without either maps or guidebooks. Trench maps produced by the military authorities during the war are often the key to understanding. Such maps are usually of a 1:10,000 scale although other scales were produced. Trench maps were originally produced in colour. Reproductions (in slightly less revealing black and white) are available from the Western Front Association to its members and from the Imperial War Museum (Tel: 0171 416 5000). Many versions of each map were produced. You should note that each area covered often has relevant maps from different periods. Some have trenches named - some are of limited value.

The French equivalent to our Ordnance Survey is the Institut Geographique National (IGN). Their 1;25,000 "Serie Bleue" maps are superbly detailed and will help you navigate with ease. For larger areas try the "Serie Verte" which are 1:100,000 scale. Sheets 2 and 4 cover most areas in France and Belgium that we are interested in. The Belgian equivalent of the IGN is L'Institut Geographique National (het Nationaal Geografisch Instituut). Their 1;25,000 maps are excellent Sheet 28/3-4 covers Passendale (Passchendaele) as well as Zonnebeke and Geluveld. Sheet 28/1-2 covers Ypres and Poperinge.

You will find that the 1;25,000 maps show that very few of the pre-war tracks and roads have changed in the devastated areas around Arras or the Somme. If you take a map with you - take a compass to ensure that the map is correctly orientated when you use it! A brilliant source for these maps is The Map Shop in Upton-upon-Severn (Tel: (00 44) 01684 593146). The shop maintains a great array of maps in stock and will post to you very speedily. Their web-site is equally helpful. Try:

http://themapshop.co.uk

One alternative, and equally effective, solution is to take a copy of a Battleground Europe guide with you. These books are packed with maps, both contemporary and modern, which will enable you to navigate most important Western Front locations.