Out of France and into Belgium: Haybes to Dinant

Tues 22 Aug

Very good day. Temperatures quite warm: mid-20s. Lovely relaxing riding along the Meuse. We will continue to follow the river to Dinant in Belgium but the voie verte bike path ends at Givet on the French side of the border. Felt sad about leaving France: we have found the people to be generally very friendly, polite, helpful and respectful.

We stopped at Chooz before Givet on the lookout for La Poste to send money to the accommodation in Verdun who have posted David's jacket to Gilbert and Sabine in Switzerland.

Also on lookout for boulangerie and we were lucky to 'snag' the last 3 filled baguetttes. The baker was busy getting stuff into the oven; she was nearly all out and it was only mid-morning.

Lovely ride into Givet dominated by the Charlemont Fort built by Emperor Charles V on the other side of the river as we approached; also imposing round towers on either side. In World War II, Givet was occupied by the Germans on May 12, 1940; and was liberated September 7, 1944.

Givet was incredibly busy with traffic and the girl at the Tourist Office was very helpful but she had no decent maps. Coming in along the bike track, we met this truck which turned in front of us and completely failed to negotiate the turnoff into the farmyard. I thought to myself: 'I know what Jenny B. would say!'.

We had a very expensive coffee near the river (€3.50 each! We've been paying 1 or 2€ at the most!!) - AND he didn't bring back the change from the €10 note; I went and asked for it anyway. I don't mind tipping but not at THOSE prices!

A guy at a bike rental nearby gave me some very good directions out of town. And as we left, the town shut down for lunch (it was by now midday); we cycled 5-6 kms to Heer and crossed the border.

There was a bike path here at Heer (!) and we stopped for our lunch by the river. Good easy riding to Hastière. I couldn't believe it as I had read such dreadful reports of the ride from Givet to Dinant on terrible roads. The bike paths here in Belgium are called HAVels.

We had a lovely ride although we had to negotiate some road works and it was tricky trying to find the path through Hastière. Still, we did it - without disagreement and little in the way of detailed maps.

There was a terrific little pop-up cafe along the way where people were hoeing into meals - and HUGE servings of frites! We settled for a couple of Belgian beers between the 3 of us : one was over 9%. One was made by Trappist monks (Chimay) and the other by Benedictine monks (Maredsous).

Alas, we then DID have to go on the road - but it wasn't too bad and we made our scheduled stop at the castle and gardens at Freyr-sur-Meuse. Pretty hot by now. The two MFs went in while I was on bike watch. We have always done it this way when travelling but we are particularly on alert as friends travelling recently have experienced theft of their panniers and we have heard other reports of thefts.

Absolutely gorgeous - just loved this place! We did not get away until after 4 p.m.

Continued along N95 - busy but not too bad. Passed the canal port as we came into Dinant - very pretty.

Dinant was the home town of Adolphe Sax who invented the saxophone; the abbey where the Leffe beer is made is here too; and in the First World War, Charles de Gaulle was wounded on the bridge here in Dinant.

We had to find our auberge which I knew was out of town to the north. The road was a nightmare!!! Couldn't believe there was in fact a bike track along the river we could have taken! Anyway, we survived and Vincent gave us a welcome drink and we settled in on his verandah to discuss the major issues of the world before he drove us into town for dinner.

Moules (mussels) and frites is what we have been told is 'the thing' in Belgium. The boys 'hopped in'. I had Meat Balls in Tomato Sauce (Boulettes). This is very serious work!!

Then a lift back to our auberge with Vincent.

Ride: 55 kms