A pathway stretching more than 1,000 kilometres has been opened along the First World War’s Western Front.

Known as The Western Front Way, the route starts on the Belgian coast and finishes on the Swiss border and is marked along the way by flowers of remembrance.

The inspiration for the project stemmed from a letter written by Second Lieutenant Alexander Gillespie, of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, shortly before his death in 1915.

The note, which was sent to his headmaster, described the officer’s vision of what might happen to the front after the war and was later published in the national press.