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After Bastogne there was more wonderful cycling, with really nice riding on Ravels through typical Ardennes landscapes and forests.
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As Ardennes as it gets
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This would be a good place for our maybe-one-day chalet... with a huge balcony and a good BBQ
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The scene of our coffee break, it was almost tempting to just pitch our tent
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Gravel roads; it somehow gives a nicer impression of the surroundings when the road is not sealed. I did have a flat tire however when not paying attention to a bigger and sharp specimen unfortunately.
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| "When I grow up, I want to be a Chwistmas twee"; in a pine plantation... |
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The destination for the day: the beautiful Semois valley. We stopped for groceries at the village on the plateau, took a good look at the scenic valley and then descended 250m - knowing well that we'd have to pedal back up the next morning.
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It was well worth it. We stayed at a nice campsite, at the Semois riverside - by far the nicest campsite we had during this trip.
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The view straight from our tent pitch. Not bad at all! There were swans, an otter (or beaver?) and lots of fish in the river, just in front of the campsite
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Morning fog
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Rare picture of the two of us, waiting for breakfast to be served (it's all in the blue bag, and the coffee was brewing already out of view).
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As said, what comes down, must go up! 280m climb in the morning, wake up!!!
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| On this day we crossed into France - yet another country to add on this trip. After the climb out of the Semois valley the road went up and down, and eventually we descended again, this time into the Meuse valley - in France. |
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Briefly after this beautiful stretch of road, we descended towards the Meuse - another 250m or so descent. Once we got down we had a nice picnic, to then climb out of the valley once again. First (as long as we were in France) gradual, once we crossed into Belgium it was quite a steep climb for a couple of kms. After that climb, we had one of the nicest long downhills of the trip, on a Ravel through wonderful forest, into Viroinval. The day ended after 97km in Chimay, a bit further and tougher than we had wanted, but there was just no other campsite... We arrived after 7pm, pitched our tent, took a shower, made food (another pasta pesto evening) and were too tired after that to even go for a Chimay. So, while in Chimay, we did not even enjoy the local brew...
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From Chimay we rode to Mons, final stop. This was still a nice day, but not as much as the other days before. We did ride a bit through France again though, so while we were not going to cycle outside Belgium, we had been to Holland, flirted with Luxembourg, and cycled through France twice... Well, we were rewarded with a great lunch (picture above) with baguette, goat cheese and good juice - in the welcoming shade of a water tower.
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Picnic view
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Riding on a Ravel we encountered this old station with dilapidated train sets. Quite interesting...
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In Mons we stayed at a hotel for a night. We enjoyed a stroll through the (nice) city centre, had a beer at a terrace in the main square, and ate a delicious tajine at a North African restaurant. It rained heavily when we went back to our hotel room in the evening, nice we were not in our tent for a change... And after Mons we took a train to Ghent, via Brussels, then cycled from Ghent to our next house to stay for a week...
What's next? Well, we stay for a week in East Flanders before returning to Leuven, for 1 more week. And then... we're flying back to KL! It's been great to be here so long, but it's time to go back now. Even though we'll have to endure a 14-day mandatory hotel quarantine in KL... More about that later!
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Just to end, a nice picture with wind turbines. We've seen much more of these than we expected and there has clearly been an increase in recent years. Good - but we'll need much more still!
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The above picture is a little prelude to some words about sustainability. With the global covid crisis, especially during the strict lockdown, we saw a lot of temporary improvements: people walking and cycling, much less cars on the road, no planes, and in general people were thinking more about sustainability and the role humans play in this. Many people were in fact, at least to some degree, happy with the situation, as life became much calmer and less rushed. Greenhouse gas emissions even went down in many places, often for the first time in years!
Covid is not yet behind us, at all, but while we were hoping that people would learn from the situation and keep up the good habits, I'm starting to wonder whether that will be the case at all. There are so many signs that things are fast forgotten and even overcompensated - becoming even worse after than before. Yet, things need to change, now, and drastically; Covid has dominated the news for several months, at the expense of the bigger long term problem: climate change. We should - we must - do more! There's so much everyone can do, and I'd really like to appeal to all of you: you can do more! We can do more!
