Battling The Bulge!

---

Geo: 50.0055, 5.72149

0450: woken by a noisy family setting off from the car park below....who have obviously taken their kids out of school without permission?? YAK YAK YAK......CAR DOORS SLAM....MORE CACKLING SOUNDS...a pleasant prospect for the poor citizens of whichever resort destination they are heading to......

0515 up...coffee (instant).

MISSION: 0750 shuttle and drive to Bastogne (Ardennes area in Belgium). Distance some 345km via Mons and Namur. The area is infamous for last desperate fightback by Nazi Germany in 1944/45. The Battle of The Bulge cost many thousands of lives. "Band of Brothers"made it famous to the modern generation. If time permits,we will visit the 101st Airborne Memorial and Museum.....a special treat for Cathy.

OPENING MILEAGE 81:

0745 THE SHUTTLE GLIES OFF

IN FLIGHT ENTERTAINMENT: I have put together 4 CD's of the latest cutting edge music for our journey......4 hours of front line Ibiza electro funk acid house....yo dude rap. We trundle off the Le Shuttle and in goes to my CD player "Czech Mix CD Disk 1"...........The Carpenters! Yeah!!!!...Rainy Days and Mondays.....followed by Neil Diamond and "Cracklin Rosie"!!!! Dangerous stuff.......Cathy knows all the words and signs into her hairbrush as we buzz along the E42 towards Mons.

"NEDDY" is in full stride as he overtakes a Lithuanian Car Transporter. I glance up at the cars and spot "Neddy look a likes"" from the UK. An old Volkswagen Passat and a 53 plate Ford....all being taken east for sale Not good enough for the "keep up with the Jones" UK market but will be put to good use in the East.

Lorries Lorries and more Lorries. The Motorways in The Pas de Calais are chocker with Lorries from all over Europe......mostly Eastern Europe. "Tight knuckled" I ease past each one only to see another a few hundred yards away.

We pull in for Breakfast not far from Ypres and chomp on a Crocque Monsieurs whilst a group of ageing British Bikers arrive on gleaming Harley Davidsons. We head on past Mons and Charleroi making for Namur on the E92. The sun is shining as we wizz past hop fields and corn fields. "Tiny Dancer" blares out and we feel pretty pleased with our navigation efforts until I take the wrong turn off...Sat Nav to the Rescue.

BASTOGNE: Set amongst rolling countryside and dense forests there is little to betray it's violent history except an American Tank in the main Square. The town is a strategic crossroads and is very close to Luxembourg, Belgium, France and of course Germany.

We settle into the well appointed Melba Hotel and head off for a quick recce..........

---