© E. Heijn 2012 Life is like riding a bicycle;to keep youre balance you have to keep moving Albert Einstein
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Monday 14-08-2018
This morning I was in no hurry to get up. The day distance is just about 50 kilometers.
In the course of the night I had neighbors. These apparently thought that the walls of tent cloth would stop all sound. That is why I was not extremely quiet when I got up and rustled and rattled in peace. Even though the sun was already early on the tent, it was not dry when packing. Unfortunately.
Around nine o'clock I still walked the campsite by bike. It was quite a climb to the village; so walk.
From Vodolée I drove to the route again. After Agrimont I came back to the Ravel. Continue cycling over the 'railway'.
That brought me into the valley of the Meuse. At Hermeton sur Meuse I finally ended up in the Maasdal. What a beautiful sight that was! The Meuse lies deep in a valley with steep slopes.
Because they are steep, most are not used for agriculture, but there are many forests.
The rest of the route I followed the Maas.
A Ravel runs along the Meuse. This is the Walloon version of our National Bicycle Routes,.
But as with every route there is / are problems again because someone has thought that something should be done on or under the road. Then a diversion begins, which then has evaporated in terms of signposting. I also did not intend to climb out of the valley again because there was no route near the river. Then just slide with some fences. No work was done so "what the heck".
At Noyon Pré I had to go through dam and lock to the right bank of the Maas. I got into conversation with a couple on the weir. He thought it was pretty what I did: "so many things on the bike and driving such distances for days". Nice conversation in French.
In Dinant I really had to walk, because the quays and therefore the cycle route was open.
In Dinant I crossed the Meuse again to the left bank. I could cycle through there again.
Just outside Dinant two recumbents came to meet me. You stop for that! It was a couple from Eindhoven who rode on Challenge Mistral. he upsteer, she understeer. They also rode the Green Valleys Route, but from Maastricht to the south and then back to the coast. All in all, taken some time to exchange things with each other.
In order to do some shopping I have deviated from the route. At Anhée I crossed the Maas again to be able to do my shopping in Yvoir at the Carrefour. You still want to eat and drink something else, something other than tap water with dry ship's biscuits.
Outside the store, I treated myself to two coffee rolls and half a liter of cold orange juice.
Through the weirs and the locks at Hun I came back on the right side of the Meuse, the left bank. At that point, the slopes were so steep that climbers climbed.
After that it was a short drive to Profondeville.
When I arrived there I still had to climb up, out of the Meuse valley. The campsite was almost on top of the slope. It was a short 40 meter climb up with the loaded bike. It was heavy because my rear wheel now arrived on the right. The force on the chain had tilted the rear wheel. With all luggage on the bike you can not straighten the wheel. The tire is therefore a bit worn. Fortunately, I was already planning to put new tires under the bike after the holiday.
Arrived at the campsite, nobody was present at the reception. So I had to wait again. While I was waiting, three Flemish young men came running with their camping gear in their hands. One began to ask me in his best French for a place for two tents and three people. I answered in French that I wanted to have a place for one tent and one person and then said that we could continue in Dutch!
A campsite guest has appointed us a place where we could stand.
I set up the tent to dry it first.
While it was drying, the campsite boss was hit. I went to pay and arranged a shower. After showering I could use the Wi-Fi and the existing sockets at the toilet block.
I started typing the daily report and in the meantime my phone was on the charger.
After the administration, I went to the tent and started to decorate it. Then it appeared that the groundsheet of the inner tent leaked properly.
The Flemish boys stood on one side of me and on the other side a Dutch man stood up. We have a nice chat with each other. He also appeared to work in education. For him it was just the last holiday week.
When it was dark we went to sleep.