Day 5: Aachen to Flemalle

August 31, 2023

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We had a pleasant surprise first thing today as we walked into a legitimate ten jammer breakfast at our otherwise not so glitzy hotel. As has been established by lots of Cycleblaze bloggers, a ten jammer breakfast does not actually need ten jams, no would ten jams automatically qualify for a ten jammer designation. Rather, we look for a wide variety of quality bread, cheese, egg, bacon, cold cuts, and cake offerings. I liked this breakfast particularly for having fried as well as scrambled eggs, lots of soft cheeses, and lax.

Cheeses, lax, and one of Dodie's favourites - mozzarella and tomato with balsamic vinegar.

Our next pleasant surprise came as we arrived at the old town centre of Aachen. Aachen's main claim to fame is that it was the headquarters of Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne, who ruled from about 768 a.d. until his death in 814. The town has a kind of Charlemagne trail, joining a Charlemagne museum, the rathaus (which I think was a Charlemagne banquet facility), and the Dom - a Church of St Mary that he started in 800. The town centre is really beautiful, with these ancient structures standing around, and the church interior is spectacular, with very attractive mosaic ceilings and walls.

One view of the Dom. The octagonal bit on the left is the original church, the first such building north of the Alps.

This golden box contains the actual remains of Charlemagne, and numerous subsequent kings.

There are several Charlemagne images about town, though I don't suppose he posed for many photos in 800. Typically he has long hair and beard, which figures.

The church and therefore the town has long been a major pilgrimage site, and naturally a stop on the Santiago Camino route, as you see below.

Another feature of the town is the area by the rathaus, which is basically car free and has a small but excellent outdoor market.

I thought this lady in the flowered dress, bringing out the flowers, expressed the spirit of the Aachen old town.

The market had several cheese and meat trucks, plus fruits and vegetables, as we see below.

I took a picture of the muhn (poppyseed) squares at the bakery truck, and rather than give me grief, the lady behind the counter thanked me for the publicity. I also came back and bought one, which was huge and just 3.89 euros. I have lugged it in my handlebar bag all day now, but not yet tried it.

The rathaus:

We left Aachen and headed toward the area known as the drielandeseck - the three countries corner, comprising Germany, Netherlands, and Belgium. We found that our route planner, which was Google Maps, properly put us on EV 3, and that EV 3 had perfect signage as well as generally following a rail trail. This made for an extremely pleasant ride. The surrounding lands are very green and lush, featuring dairy cows and corn fields, and buildings that started off with German quality and precision and seeming to evolve toward a bit of Dutch cuteness.

Riding by corn fields, still in Germany.

We passed through a park, close to Aachen, and watched waterfowl, including the fancy Egyptian geese. The ones pictured here were either chilly or sleeping, as all had their bills tucked away.

We climbed gradually, and as you see from the sign, eventually reached the exalted altitude of 323 meters.

The trail continued, offering us throughout great signage, green paint on the trail , and well marked road crossings.

This cat was hanging out with a flock of sheep, and I took out my camera to show how chummy they were. But the cat decided to move, so his sheep friends are not in the shot.

One of the cat's lamb buddies did come over to see what I was up to .

Another animal type in this area is the badger, and we assumed this sign was just generally telling us about it. But in fact we quickly realized we were standing in front of a badge inhabited hillside. See, one of the many badget holes.

All in all the ride had been superb, and the countryside so pleasant. The nearby town (of Herve) thought so as well, and put up a picture frame to help in the appreciation of the rural scene.

Our state of satisfaction and happiness lasted for about 3/4 of the day. But things went downhill (literally) when we came to a long 18% descent, which eventually led us to the Meuse river, and the outskirts of Liege. Down in the valley, the brick buildings that had been "cute" earlier subtly and then dramatically changed to "gritty". It's strange about brick. It's a material that can be so nice, and artistic, in Netherlands, but in other places can be the essence of old factories and barns that are not attractive at all.

As we descended, this "gritty" appearance came to dominate, and we found ourselves in industrial and rail surroundings, that also had many roads going this way and that, resulting in confusing intersections. It had a real sort of wasteland feel, so different from where we had been.

By this time also, very unusual for me, my legs were getting really tired. I remembered now from past trips with this large German bike, that e-assist or not, the weight and solidity of the darn thing made cycling it rather a slog. I assume I will grow stronger in a few days, but right now my knees were hurting and I was boosting the assist. I looked ahead to Dodie, and was impressed that with a similar bike she was just trucking along.

At the bottom of the 18% we reached a river, that we assumed was the Meuse. It may well have been, but there are others here as well such as the Ourthe. That's the one that ended up in our picture:

We continued to pass through uninspiring, light industrial landscapes. I took a few random snaps, in hopes they would convey the general idea:

We did come to some bits that had something of a neighbourhood feel, such as is shown below. You can also see in the photo that the shop on the far left featured African food products. But although there were other exotic shops and restaurants, and people that looked like they could be immigrants, there was no one ethnicity dominating the people on the sidewalk. With that, there is no group to either praise or blame for the way the place is. It's just Belgium!

A neighbourhood on the outskirts of Liege.

As we moved through this rather grim environment, I did not see anything that looked like a hotel, or other place where we might stay. But sure enough, Booking had found what turned out to be a large room above a restaurant, actually with a river view. Now very tired, we pulled up to the restaurant and found it locked tight. Signs in the windows revealed that it was quite a pricey place for food, though the room had been a reasonable 85 euros. As so often happens when the place is not a hotel, with a front desk, it becomes necessary to phone, so as to get someone out to the front door. We did that, but only got a taped message from the restaurant, saying leave a message. I did that, but then took a walk to circumnavigate the large building. Aha! I found a back door open, and walked into the large kitchen. No one appeared to be about, so I did some calling out. After a bit I raised a young woman, who was no doubt playing on Facebook, and was sitting in an odd corner of the restaurant. Her initial gambit was "What the hell are you doing in here?" and mine was "I have a reservation to stay here, and the message from Booking here on my phone, says check in time is from 1:00 and it's 5:00!" The woman came back with "why didn't you knock on the front door over there" and I "I phoned the number on the sign. Anyway, ok, I'm going back around to the front door".

I assumed that this was all cleared up and that the woman would now come and open the front door. But after a decent wait out there, nothing. I went back around the building, and found that one thing she had done was to lock the door I originally came through. Back to the front, I tried the "Bam, bam bam". Quite quickly then the young woman came and opened the front door. But this did not mean that the usual procedure was initiated - such as with customary bits like "your room is over here" and "here is the key". No. Somehow it seemed more vague, sort of along the lines of what it had taken to open the front door. But yes, the room is ok and the wifi works. One problem, they had never answered our standard enquiry about a safe place to store the bikes, and indeed the bikes had to be locked out in the back alley. So if you are a criminal reading this and interested in two rather clunky ebikes, they are out behind restaurant Le Bocafino, in Flemalle, Belgium, wherever that is!

Today's ride: 70 km (43 miles)
Total: 72 km (45 miles)

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Carolyn van HoeveHi Steve & Dodie - good to read your entry as we will be following your path in a few weeks in a more circuitous route to Liege from Aachen. Though your description of the outskirts of Liege hasn’t made me too excited. Hopefully more inspiring in the centre! Will enjoy following you along.
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