The past 2 weeks we toured through Flanders, visiting family
and friends. We had a great time and it was so wonderful to spend good quality time
with all of them. It was in fact so nice to spend time with them, that I didn’t
get to write about the tour yet… I’ll be doing that in the next few days, first
this post however! Today, we left Leuven, to start our trip down south, towards
the Provence. We don’t have a clear itinerary yet – as it goes – but we know that
latest June 30, we should arrive in Carpentras to join our friends for a week of Perfect Provence Holiday. In between, we hope to meet up
with some of Ellen’s family on their travels through France, and possibly with Jan and Christine towards the last
days.
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| Cobblestones along the way, on the cycling network. Ellen doesn't like these, it makes her itchy... |
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| Beautiful rural views |
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| One of those large old farms |
Our rough plan is to cycle down to Reims, and pretty much
straight south from there, rather than following the European cycling route
through Dijon and the Rhone valley. This would be a very nice option too, only
it’s attractive to try the road less travelled. Our journey would go via Nevers
and Clermont-Ferrand, through the Central Massive – places we’ve never been to.
We’ll see how it goes, we can always go a bit east towards the Rhone if our
route doesn’t work well.
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| The numbered cycling network; you plan your route in advance and all you have to do from then, is follow the planned numbers whenever you come to a junction. |
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| Along the cycling trail, which is also the start of a Ravel track here. |
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| Along the Ravel, closer to Namur. Lush green summer nature! |
So today we left Leuven in the morning, following the marked
and numbered junctions along the Flemish
cycling network – more about that in
one of the next posts. This brought us to below Jodoigne, from where we joined
the Ravel.
Ravels are trails crossing the Walloon part of Belgium, made for safe
and peaceful cycling or hiking. They follow mostly old railroads, or waterways –
so it’s mostly easy cycling too. We were on a Ravel that also happens to be
Eurovelo trail 5. The first part went through rural Wallonia, via small roads
and cycling trails, through beautiful fields, often a bit rough with cobblestones or
unsealed patches but incredibly nice for cycling. After a while we descended in
to the Meuse valley near Namur, and from there – after a nice lunch on a sunny
terrace – we followed the Meuse all the way to Dinant.
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| Still on the Ravel, following the Meuse river, between Namur and Dinant now |
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| River view... |
All together 93 beautiful kms, it’s honestly really nice to
cycle in Belgium and especially when following these long distance cycling
trails. They’re pretty well maintained in most parts, easy to follow,
comfortable to cycle with little gradients, safe, and through beautiful areas. On
top of that, you ride through towns and villages, which is both practical and
often interesting sightseeing as there are many historical places in Belgium. We
also noticed that once you enter Wallonia, people are warmer; you get “bonjours”
and smiles much easier than in the more reserved Flanders…
Tomorrow we’ll enter France, looking forward to that!
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| Arrival in Dinant |
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| A nice campsite at the riverside, with a pleasant evening sun. Yeey, camping again!!! |
