clairedavieswriter

As is often the case after a hiatus, I was excited about getting underway again, but nervous at the same time. As it turned out, I needn’t have worried. Despite the distance, the hills and the heat, the ride didn’t feel all that strenuous.
This may well be down to the exemplary R&R on offer chez Porter, which, among other things, allowed me to remind Nikki and Martin that, more than 35 years after I first claimed the crown at university, I remain Champion of the Afternoon Nap. Thanks to my understanding hosts, it wasn’t just sleeping dogs who were let lie.

After my white knuckle ride into Brussels, for my departure, the city seemed intent on making amends. Traffic-free doesn’t really do it justice: for the most part, it was a cool, bosky, bike-riding delight

And in the midst of all these trees, we were led unerringly (by cycle node signs, not by Guillaume, who was having difficulty finding his satellites under the thick canopy) to the EuroVélo 5

Also known as the Via Francigena, you may recall I last encountered it on my way to Dunkirk. Starting in Calais, it passes through Lens and Lille before swinging north into Belgium, and then south east through Luxembourg. Switzerland and down to Italy. Today it took me virtually all the way from Brussels to Dinant, through small villages…

Into open country…

And even to the geographical centre of Belgium, at Walhain:

At Namur, we crossed the Sambre just before it joined the Meuse – if you look closely you can see the cable car coming down from the castle.

From there, for 30 glorious traffic-free kilometres, we pedalled beside the Meuse

Passing the odd bijou country retreat…

And several (presumably hydroelectric?) weirs with lock gates for river traffic (word of the day: écluse):

Dinant looked attractive in the late afternoon sun, and had I realised that my accommodation was out of town, and at the top of the local equivalent of Cheddar Gorge, I would have stopped to look around before going to check in. Too late now! It has joined the list of ‘places to return to another time’.

As always, there were sights that caught the eye, from the political:

To the architectural (check out the chateau nestled in the woods on the skyline):

To the floral:

And of course an end to end of Belgium would not be complete without riding on cobbles, but after a kilometre of this, Bernard made clear he would never, in any circumstances, be available for the Paris-Roubaix

And when the locals tried to make a joke of it, he did not see the funny side:

But cobblestones or not, it was great to be back on the road, though I confess having experienced the beauty of the EV5, I’m now questioning my sanity at voluntarily leaving it tomorrow and heading into the Ardennes with only the mercurial Guillaume to guide me. Wish me luck!