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Published: November 16th 2010
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Europe by Bicycle: Part II
Belgium
From Maastricht, The Netherlands, I headed south into the Belgium Walloon region along what started out as a fair bicycle path.
Then the path degenerated into poorly maintened paths cluttered with broken beer
bottles. The bicycle path signs became fewer then non existent along with the path itself.
That's not to say that there
weren't some beautiful parts along the route.
The bikers in Belgium are more of the racing type. It's common to see a group of half a dozen brightly coloured
lycra clad racers with their heads down whizzing along the roadways. There aren't many long distance touring types
like in Holland and Germany.
Because of this they aren't very familiar with long distance bicycle routes.
It became very frustrating especially when a bicycle path would end at a highway overpass. see photo.
I followed the River Ourthe.
At one point the bike trail indicated was more like a horse-back riding trail. Very rough.
It was here I broke my first spoke. I had extra spokes but they were bought for the
front wheel. I discovered the rear wheel had a different size spoke.
So there I was
with a file trying to make the spoke one centimetre shorter. Finally it worked.
I've really got to be better prepared.
The map from a tourist bureau indicated that Luxembourg, my destination country,
wasn't too far off. As I closed in on "Luxembourg" I realized the indicated area
wasn't the country, but a province in Belgium bordering the country.
It was difficult to find a flat piece of land to camp on along the route. It's as if every
piece of flat land was made into a farm. Everything else was steep hills.
Thursday August 12th: I saw a path leading from the main roadway
and it ended in a farmers field. This narrow part of the field was mostly surrounded
by bush but there was a small tower-like chair off to the side. This could be seen from the
roadway. I leaned my bike against it and set up camp. At sunset I heard a car
stop on the roadway then voices speaking French. I came out of the tent and they
asked if I had permission to camp there. I think one was the owner. I really didn't
want to go
American tank
Tank left behind at La Roche-en-Ardenne from the Battle of the Bulge looking for another site at sunset. Finally they said I could spend
"une nuit seulement!". Then they told me the tower was for shooting wild pigs at sunset.
"Big ones!" they indicated with their hands.
I immediately thought of the man-eating pigs in 'Hannibal' .
I could hear them chuckling as they walked away.
Friday August 13th, still following The River Ourthe I arrived at La Roche-en-Ardenne a popular tourist destination.
It's very picturesque and there's a castle on the road entering the town. This castle
was originally a protector of what was originally part of the Duchy of Luxembourg.
Tourism is based on hiking , camping and outdoor sports like kayaking down the river.
I camped along the river the first night not too far from one of the many official
camp grounds. Lots of garbage about.
Saturday August 14th.
I looked around the town and relaxed.
A prime tourist attraction is the based around the history surrounding the Battle of the Bulge.
In World War II, the town suffered severe damage. Having been liberated by the Allies in September 1944, the town was recaptured by the Germans in December, during the Battle of the Bulge. The subsequent Allied bombing raids resulted in the town being liberated once more in January 1945, but left much of the town destroyed, and many residents dead from Wikipedia.
There's a museum based on WW II . One exhibit is the The Harley-Davidson WL model which was adopted by the American and Allied armed forces during the Second World War designated the WLA model. see photo. For the Canadian armed forces Harley-Davidson produced a variant designated as the WLC model.
The WLA and WLC models remained in service throughout the war, during which time almost 80,000 were produced.
That night I went back to last night's camping spot.
A group of bikers had pitched tents where I stayed the night before.
I found another spot then after sunset a blue van pulled up. I thought it was someone
who owned the land, maybe the pig-shooter from the farm but it was a couple who had camped there the night before. They asked me if I was the owner of the land.
We talked and they went to find another place.
The next morning I was leaving but as I pushed my bike
Bike Paths
Often follow the most picturesque routes. out to the road I got a flat tire.
It looked like a seam in the tube so I replaced it with a new tube. Now to get some air.
I went to a mountain bike shop. The girl put the air hose on and it blew my tire to smithereens.
To top it off it was pouring outside. I managed to patch up my old tube but it was too late to go on.
That night,Sunday, I went back to the same camping site.
A party group with loud boom-boom music was nearby. Didn't sleep well.
But the weather report wasn't good and I was determined to leave early before
the rain started and try and reach Luxembourg.
I road along the hilly road until I reached Bastogne. This road is the same one on
which the Liège–Bastogne–Liège professional racing circuit takes place.
It's hilly through farming country.
The first statue I saw in Bastogne was that of a werewolf.
The bike path between Bastogne and Wiltz, Luxembourg was the most pleasant portion of the
whole European trip. The asphalt didn't seem over a year old and the route was so gradual that
I
To The American Forces who...
.... fought here. Lt Bryson's action was decisive on 22 December 1944 during the attack of the 116 Panzer division and stopped the German attack to capture the bridge over the Ourthe River. could have gotten from one end to other with about a dozen pedals. It had park benches for
resting along the way and tunnels with lighting. A sign before the tunnel seemed to apologize
for low luminosity. I realized that it must have been a railway line converted to a bike path.
Beautiful job.
And welcome to Luxembourg.
Trivia:
There are 400 beer brands in Belgium. The most in the world for one country.
The major Canadian brewery. Labatts, is owned by the Belgium company InBev.
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grace
non-member comment
bridges
I love bridges. I went to Belgium: Brussels and Brugge.