My Friend's fun day: Dinant to Rochefort

Thurs 24 Aug

Today we leave the river Meuse and head east back eventually to the Moselle river. We will pass along the Sûre/Sauer river as we go through Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany but we have a couple of big days cross-country first up.

So we enjoyed nice breakfast at the auberge (splashed out on bought breakfast as Vincent had been so generous in so many ways) and set off down the bike path along the river towards Dinant but walked the bikes (with some difficulty I have to say! not very elegant ...)  across the barrage where the lock is situated before the main bridge in town so as to avoid the dreadful traffic.

We stopped on other side and sent David into supermarket for water while I went into patisserie next door for yummy pastries: apricot, poivre (pear) and cerise (cherry).

Set off then along small road to Leffe (where the beer is made at the abbey); then towards Lisogne and, despite the climbing, we enjoyed it as it was quiet and pretty.

We did well until I MADE A MISTAKE in navigation and we turned toward Ciney but not by the route we should have taken so I was most unpopular, especially as we had the most incredible climbs (3 actually: 2 were of the heart-break variety and one was on an incredibly busy road D936 from Sorinnes) and basically we ended up doing a triangle and it wasn't much fun.

Eventually (!!!) we came close to Ciney at Achêne (having missed Lisognes and Thynes) and turned right for Leignon where we saw a burger bar L'atelier Salé and sat down to order hamburgers when MY FRIEND couldn't find his wallet!

MF2 and I ordered anyway and left MF1 to it on the pavement outside emptying all his bags and basically we just stayed well clear. In my head I was working through a series of Plan Bs. I ordered a beer with my burger to fortify myself then went outside to tell him lunch was ready. STILL NO WALLET.

I texted Vincent at the auberge and heard nothing back. I then asked MF1: 'Have you checked your back pocket?' - voilà: The Wallet. I texted back to Vincent who had been turning his auberge upside down ... Meanwhile I didn't look at MF1; I could just HEAR his blood pressure drop back down about 50 points.

Mind you, in situations like this, I have to say it could happen to any of us and it most certainly is a dreadful feeling. Photo taken AFTER wallet found:

I don't think MF1 enjoyed his lunch much; and MF2 was pretty quiet ...

From here we worked off lunch as we had nice descents but punishing ascents through lovely rural countryside.

We missed the turnoff to Harvesin and took the busy N949 downhill and turned off it into the tiny village of Bouissonville then into Havrenne. I saw a RAVel sign that led off on a narrow unsealed path and David said 'hey, let's take it'.

I was dubious at first but the track in fact improved and we had a delightful ride through the Bois de la Boverie coming out at the Abbeye de St-Rémy, a Trappist monastery where the famous local Rochefort beer is made.

More mountain bike track brought us in the back way into Rochefort and then unfortunately our hotel La Fayette was near the castle at the top of a steep hill (of course!!).

 Pretty town:

Lafayette was a French aristocrat and military officer who fought in the American Revolutionary War and went back and forth between France and America. His connection to Rochefort is that he was taken prisoner here by the Austrian army in 1792.

Showers were popular and we then walked down into town for a look around and then a nice meal at a local 'pub' type place where we sat outside with quite a crowd. I had trout meunière (a French classic) , MF1 a mixed grill and MF2 a planche which is basically a wooden platter with cheeses and meats.

Walk back up to our hotel in the twilight:

Ride: 550m of climbing; 42 kms.