A new day.
Down to breakfast at 7 am, the place was deserted. Most food was out, but just no one to be sighted. I called out ‘Bonjour’ lots and in the end, we just started eating.
About 15 minutes later the wine supervisor from the previous evening arrived and all he said was ‘coffee’?
That was his only communication with us. No offer of omelette or pancakes (per the info on our table), no students, no one.
It was weird and for 25 euro each, could have expected more.
We decided to take four slices of their nice whole grain bread, add the Liege white honey and make sandwiches for our day.
Mr wine man would not know as he had his back to us.
Later in the day retelling the story to our next host, he said, “ah, the Wallonia French, some we call French Loonies. They think they are better than us.”
It was a cold start at about 9C and we rolled down the wet roads into the city. It had rained overnight but the day looked fairly clear for us.
A few photos of Namur as we crossed the river Meuse.
The first section following the river was lovely. The Meuse is a major European river, starting in France and ultimately flowing into the North Sea, via the Rhine.
Fairly typical pathway today. It did vary, and we also weaved through a few villages and towns and the big city of Liege.
There were barriers, mud, climbs up and over bridges, but overall a pretty good path.
We weaved around a lot as the river weaves, so sometimes we had tail winds, other head or cross, but wind was not an issue today.
It was cool though and we added more clothes as required.
This was interesting. The path took us into the town of Huy, with a citadel sitting high above the river.
We decided to deviate to a cycle cafe, maybe 50 metres off route that we noted on our bike computer. We were 40 km in, and would seek a warm drink.
A few photos as we rode into town.
I ordered two hot chocolates, no cream (slag). This is what we got.
Sitting at the cafe, looking up at the Fort behind the church.
The current fort was built in the 1800’s, but there has been one there since the 9th century.
The German’s housed prisoners there during WW2 before transporting to concentration camps.😓
There is a cable car option for getting to the Fort.
The path eventually ended up back along the river. It became heavily industrialised for a significant portion.
There was a massive nuclear power plant we went around, with the most incredible security. The various levels of fencing deterrents, signage every 25 m or so advising no photographs, the cameras just everywhere.
There were interesting villages and cliffs in parts.
Our constant companions.
A mixture of both.
Liege was to be our largest city of the day. I knew nothing much about out the city except for the famous one day monument bike race, Liege-Bastogne-Liege.
What I know now, is not a lot more, but on the outskirts it has a heavily ethnic community. I went into a small shop to buy a bottle of drink and felt I’d walked into the wrong store. Five men sat around the small fridge and I felt quite intimidated and walked out.
We rode on and found a Lidl supermarket. I was the odd person out in a long queue, but had found drinks and some food items.
The trams run along this side of town which was super quiet. Eerily so. Grass grows between the tram tracks, and they mow it.
In the city, traffic was gridlocked. Just no one moved, backed up for long distances. We were not deviating to head to the more historic parts.
Photos as we made our way through.
Safely out of town, we noted this old Fort Navagne sign. The site of an old citadel.
Green grass fields now.
The latter part of the ride we crossed back into The Netherlands.We did 19 more Dutch km, and two registered climbs.
I was flagging energy wise by now, still not having my nutritional intake where it should be. I can still only eat smaller amounts without feeling nauseous. It’s improved heaps, but not enough for today’s 108 km energy requirements.
Me on one of the climbs.
Note the road markings. There are three lanes. One for cars, two for walkers/cyclists. The Dutch do it well.
Bit further one, the lanes are different colours. How do cars cope? They are patient and wait to cross and move on.
We pass through a few small Dutch villages.
Such a pretty area.
A Dutch flag flying high above a tall, spindly tree.
With 2 km remaining, we cross back into Belgium. One more small climb and we are in a small village, Teuven.
It has a decent sized church, a few cafes, pubs and our hotel.
The owner was outside doing some paving, and ushered us into the garage, where there were already guests bikes.
Apparently I booked the spa package? So we had the use of the spa room, so I did enjoy a nice spa, after a lovely meal next door.
Another 108 km done, 2500 km in total.
A confidence booster after the last few days. I just need to nail the food better.
We have a big few days coming up. Weather forecasts are somewhat contradictory but, what will be, will be.
Our route map, overall a NE trajectory but it’s going south quickly, as we enter the last 9 days and have to end up back in Switzerland, not even showing on this multi country map yet.
yakkablog 