Day 5: Namur, Belgium to Givet, France: Tres a-Meuse-ant!

July 26, 2015

Dodie cooked up some scrambled eggs, oatmeal, and coffee on the window ledge at the Ibis, saving us the 15 euros each they were asking for breakfast. Eggs are a luxury because we have never succeeded in carrying them safely on the bikes. They are also a luxury because you seldom find them at breakfast in France/Belgium.

As we were putting our bags on the bikes in the parking lot, we spoke to a German couple who were loading up as well. Naturally it was all Ortliebs. Their route lay north along the Meuse, back towards home in northern Germany. This was the first that I recognized the Meuse as a highway from Netherlands/Northern Germany to the South, just as the Rhine is. Very shortly we were to see the truth of that, as we encountered numbers of Dutch heading up and down the Meuse.

Seconds out of the hotel gate we ran across the restaurant Les Must, which we had read about in Jim Hillis's current blog.. Jim is about ten days ahead of us, and is currently in Metz. The proprietor, who Jim had written about, was standing in the doorway. Jim had praised him for making a rare omelette. However, of course, we had already breakfasted on eggs in our gourmet dining hotel room!

Fellow travellers. They are heading north on the Meuse.

Heading up the Meuse was a real change and a revelation. Where we had fought our way along the industrial Sambre in the rain, we now cruised the pleasant Meuse in the sun. Both short and long distance cyclists flitted by, walkers walked, and leasure boats glided past. All around were unique and beautiful houses. I tried to put a finger on the style. The summary would be brick, three story, with a tendency to pointy roofs or turrets, and big.

Up at the citadel was this astrange statue

Strawberries are still available here. In typical fashion, they were from Wepion (where we were) and marketed a guaranteed origin Wepion.

Dodie thougfht this place would not be good because of too many rooms to clean. It's nice though!

Things got even better as we arrived at some locks beyond Wepion, It was "lock celebration day:" or something, and the first thing we encountered was the end of a run. Not sure of the distance, bit no one looked too tired. The runners were welcomed in by an honour guard of women and girls. Just beyond, sausages were being BBQ'd. 3 euros bought me one on a half baguette, with onions! This was as good as, equal to, just the same as - the great bratwurst we expect at German markets. What followed was a flea market strung out along the bike path. We had to walk our way through the throngs. The stalls extended for a km, or more, and cost us an hour.

There was a stiff south wind, but despite this, a late start, and the flea market we arrived at Dinant in the early afternoon. Dinant immediately gives a more scenic presentation than Namur, In fact, it is gorgeous, with it citadel as a backdrop and a large church plus handsome houses in the foreground. All along the river were outdoor restaurants, and the whole place was more vibrant than Namur. What's more, the tourist information was right off the path, and they provided us with a lovely map covering a good chunk of our route ahead.

(Editor's note: I was reading Dodie this blog as a bedtime story, to save battery on her smartphone - which is loaded with stories. After reading the above paragraph, I gave her the quiz: "what did we get from tourist information?" No answer. Dear readers, stay awake, we still have some exciting riding to do:)

As we have learned from others on Crazyguy, Dinant is the 1814 birthplace of the man who invented the saxaphone, Adolphe Sax. Sax relocated to Paris in his 20's, and did his main inventing there. He also invented a lot of other similar instruments, that obviously did not catch on. We did not spot any Sax displays or museumsn Dinant, but then, we blew through rather quickly. Mostly we took photos of the saxophone statues on the bridge. I think the one by Jim Hillis is better.

We have been getting advice from Trish Graham, Jim Hillis, and tourist information about on road sections of the ride in this area. But we had no advice to fall back on when right out of Dinant we were presented with a choice of two poisons for getting to Givet. Choice one was 10 km of serious traffic and choice two was 7 km of normal traffic, but on narrow road. We chose the 10 km.

As it turned out, the traffic was not too serious and the drivers were excellent. Over and over they slowed down, and waited until oncomig traffic allowed them to pass us safely. Occasionally, as we had seen often in Britain, they pulled into the oncoming lane to give us a wide berth, and then cut back in to miss the head on crash. Because of very few cars, none of this was as risky as it sounds. However I did snap a shot of those pesky Grampies, back riding the white line.

This warning came a little late, as you see below. It says "I like to play, but not with my life"

Here is a Grampie riding the white line - again?

The route allowed us to frequently be on a bikeway by the river, and just as Jim Hillis had done (but without remembering what he had written) we ignored repeated and clear signs that directed us up into the hills, and stuck by the river almost all the way to Givet.

Finally, we nipped up off the path and stepped into a restaurant. The cook and kitchen were just by the door, and I began by asking him where I was, and if this was anywhere near Givet. This would be more or less equivalent to an alien stepping out of a saucer with the same question. With my yellow hat and helmet and vest I probably was about the same thing.

We had earlier spotted an Ibis Budget hotel in Givet and I asked about where it exactly was. (It was raining by then, and Grampies hate to get their tent wet.) The cook bravely undertook the directions, which involved at least ten turns to remember. One of the clients joined in, and Dodie came in, so we actually made a jolly party of it.

We followed the directions quite successfully, until we lost heart just at the end. Then we pulled out our special weapons - GPS and 3G Internet, and nailed the location down. It is actually maybe 3 km out of Givet, and right opposite a McDonalds - which Dodie will not patronize.

The quoted price was 52 euros. I seemed to remember a lower number quoted on booking.com, but I was converting currencies in my head when I glanced at it. So I made the Ibis lady wait until I had fired up the tablet, got the "real" price in $US and converted. The answer: 52 euros.

It was a deal, and we have just finished our non-McDonalds supper, cooked on the window ledge. So all is well.