Day 5: low blood sugar and high life

Today was an easy day but a hard day too. And a day for learning. One of the things I like so much about this kind of vacation is that there’s so much time for reflection, and self-reflection. I’ve learned through these trips that if the motto isn’t “everything’s going to be alright,” then it should be. Because it’s true. 

And I’ve come to learn that you have to eat. 

Even though we don’t cycle fast, we still do an average of 50 kilometres per day. For me—1.88 m and 90 kg—not to mention a bike that weighs 14 kg and panniers totalling about 15 kg, that means I’m probably burning an extra 1500 calories per day just in cycling mileage, not including  the kilometres we spend walking around each town. Yes, the mid-morning pastries help, but the fact is, when you’re exercising, even as gently as we are, you don’t necessarily feel hungry, so it’s easy to under-eat. I suspect I’ve already lost a kilo on this trip, which is great, but you still have to make sure that you have enough glycogen in your system, or you start getting tired and grumpy. 

So today was a learning experience, but really, one could have less beautiful learning experiences. The Meuse was at its loveliest this morning, acting as a mirror for the blue sky, the breathtaking Ardennes, and various human-made structures. The weather was ideal. And the path was baby’s-bottom smooth. The signage could be better at time, but I quibble (probably due to low blood sugar). 

After our 67 kilometres yesterday, today’s 45 seemed quite easy, though our legs did complain a bit at the outset. We rolled in to Charleville-Mézieres at around 2 this afternoon and were greeted warmly by our Airbnb host with a freshly baked tarte à suc, a regional specialty. It’s so nice to have a comfortable space to relax in (the hotel in Revin last night was so-so). 

We rested, showered, did laundry, and then went out to explore the town, founded by Charles Gonzaga and the birthplace of Arthur Rimbaud. 

Day 4: Dinant to Revin

If today’s ride had been on yesterday’s trails, we’d be pretty tired right now. Thankfully, the path today was among the smoothest we’ve ever ridden, because due to a miscalculation on my part, we did 67 kilometres today—a bit more than we normally like to do.

We set off from Dinant about 10 am. Some singing drunkards outside our window at 5:30 this morning woke us up much earlier than we had hoped, but once they moved on, we managed to sleep in to 8:30. The weather this morning was cool and overcast with a slight headwind, but nothing we couldn’t deal with.

Just south of Dinant, the Meuse route took us onto the “highway” for the first time, but it was so well paved and had so few cars (and those that passed us gave us a wide berth), it was actually quite pleasant to be riding on smooth pavement for a change. In any case, it was only a short stint, and the route soon turned back to a bike path.

After 15 kilometres, we came across a small bakery that, judging by all bicycles in the courtyard, was clearly a favourite spot for cyclists, so we stopped and refuelled. After that, the route went gently up into the hills above the Meuse via a rail trail before coming back down into Givet—we were now in France! As is so often the case, even though there was no tangible border, it’s striking how different one country in Europe feels to another. Architecture, road construction, garden style... all of these contribute to a je ne sais quoi that gives each country its own feel.

One such thing was the state of the Meuse route. Once we got past Givet, the bike path turned into this wide, perfectly smooth path that was a joy to ride on. The signage was quite a bit smaller and less clear, but we soon figured out what we needed to be looking for.

We had lunch at a picnic table alongside the river and then another rest in Haybes before pushing on to Revin. We did get sprinkled on a few times, but nothing serious, and the weather cleared up throughout the afternoon. As I write this at 9 pm, the sky is blue and the forecast looks great for tomorrow. We had hoped to picnic again for supper, but all the grocery stores were either closed or closed early today, it being the feast of Ascension. So we picked up a burger at the friterie down the street and then toddled back to our hotel room. A long day, but all in all, a good one. 

The town hall of Haybes

Givet. Clearly a very old town. 

On s’amuse sur la Meuse (second edition)

Today was, in most respects, one of those days we cycle tourists live for: varying scenery, wonderful weather (mostly), good food, and good company.

After a slow start to the day, owing to indifferent sleep—we tend not to suffer overly from jet lag on these trips, but lingering effects in the first few are not unexpected—we hit the road just before 10 am, a cool morning but the sun shining brightly. We wandered through some farm roads (in better condition that 90 percent of Quebec roads!) and eventually hooked up with the Eurovelo 5, which took us into Namur. A good chunk of this was a beautifully paved rail trail with a pretty good grade down into the Meuse/Sambre valleys—coasting down kilometre after kilometre made a nice change from the up-and-down of the past few days.

Namur is lovely, with a very quaint historical district. We got off the bikes and walked around, enjoying the bustle of the restauranteurs putting out tables and chairs for the lunch crowd. We found a nice little bakery, where we had our traditional mid-morning pastry and coffee, then found a grocery store to pick up the few items we were missing for lunch.

The traditional morning pastry break

The route up the Meuse, south from Namur, is exceedingly beautiful; it reminded us somewhat of our last trip down the Moselle, minus the vineyards. The bike route is essentially the old towpath, so mostly away from the road, but the quality varies from newly paved asphalt to seemingly centuries-old cobblestones (thankfully not for long stretches at a time) and everything in between.

Beautiful scenery on the Meuse

We had a very nice little picnic lunch alongside the Meuse and were on our way again before long, but by then, we realized that the weather had begun to change. The last hour of our ride was punctuated with the odd shower, at times enough to make us put on our rain jackets, but no where near a drenching.

We rolled into Dinant just after 4 pm and found our lodgings, a wonderful little room overlooking the river. We quickly dropped off our things and went to explore—Dinant is as picturesque a town as any you’ll find in Europe. Then we headed to the grocery store to pick up things for dinner and back to the room and the communal kitchen to make a simple supper. A full day, but a wonderful day to start our run down this beautiful river.

Photo op beside Adolphe Sax

Beautiful. Dinant

Days one and two

I write this ensconced in a very small (but comfortable) room in the town of  St-Denis, just northwest of Namur. Originally, we had thought we might make it to Namur by day 2, but it soon became apparent that this was a little optimistic.

But let’s back up a bit and start at the beginning.

We landed in Brussels on time and without incident (and indeed after one of the better transatlantic flights I have taken in terms of leg room and sleep). That said, even three hours does not a full night make. After queuing for 30 minutes to get through customs, we picked up our bags and bike (all arriving in great condition) and set down to getting everything ready. We were ready to go by 1 pm — 2 hours from wheels down to wheels ready, not bad at all. Maybe we really are getting better at this...

Ready to hit the road!

Before we left Montreal, I had planned out a route to get us out of Brussels using the marvellous system of waypoints they use in Flanders and Holland. This turned out to be an excellent idea (if I do say so myself). Within just a few kilometres, we were cycling through the farmland adjacent to the airport. Thus far everything, including our bike tires, was running very smoothly.

An auspicious first few kilometres.

Our route took us through some lovely farmlands and park. The weather was ideal, so we didn’t really feel the need to stop, even if, in retrospect, it would have been a good idea. After about 20 km, we were starting to feel the jet lag and the mental stupidity it brings. Our original thought was to try and make it to Rixensart, about 30 south of Brussels, but that appeared to be overly ambitious. So we started looking for somewhere to stay near where we found ourselves (in the town of Jesus-Eik). After striking out with Airbnb, we found a guesthouse on Google Maps in the town of  Hoeilaart. Nothing spectacular, but we were happy to have a roof over our heads and a bed to sleep in.

This morning, we set out at about 9:30. The forecast was for showers most of the day, so we were quite prepared for a wet day. But as things turned out, our weather luck mostly held, and we were only seriously rained on for about 15 minutes. At some point, we had thought we might make it all the way to Namur, but after the first day, we knew that was a pipe dream, so this morning, we booked an Airbnb here in St-Denis, which turned out to be quite a good choice. The room is small, but the hosts are really lovely, and they helped us book a place for tomorrow evening in Dinant (birthplace of Adolphe Sax) where they had stayed previously.

After a lovely morning ride, we found ourselves in Louvain-la-Neuve, we we found a lively little university square with a lunch market. Perfect. We picked up some provisions and picnicked with the students. Then it was time to get Sonia a Belgian SIM card and me some more coffee before heading toward St-Denis.

Belgian cows not following the instructions (French cows say “meu”  not “moo”)

Today’s cycling could not have been more varied, ranging from dirt bike paths to quite busy secondary roads (though with a cycle lane) to very rough cobblestones. Overall, the countryside is quite hilly,  reminiscent of Luxembourg, so it’s a bit more challenging than much of the cycling we have done before. But it’s as if all our previous trips have prepared us for this; cycling on roads is not nearly as intimidating as it once was (though to be sure we don’t really enjoy it), and we’re dealing with the hills pretty well. And after a really good night’s sleep, we really enjoyed the ride today, even if it was a bit moist...

Test post for #cycletour2019

In a few hours, we leave for the airport for our latest cycling adventure — a trip from Brussels to Basel via the Meuse valley and Ardennes forest then across the Vosges Mountains to Strasbourg and south through    Alsace to Switzerland. 

After every trip, I swear that I have to do something to cut down on the weight, so this time, I’m leaving the computer at home and travelling with only an iPad and a folding Bluetooth keyboard. This post is a last-minute test of the setup. Thus far, it’s pretty cumbersome, mostly getting used to a different keyboard layout.  I may try to test some blogging apps for iPad, but for the time being, I’m typing this into Blogger’s browser interface... 

If all goes according to plan, the next post should come from somewhere south of Brussels. 

Here we go. Weeee...

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