After three weeks away from the bike I was desperate for a ride; I had a free weekend so I decided to ride down into Belgium and the Ardennes region in search of some winding roads. Saturday morning dawned dark, gloomy and raining but I set off wearing my new waterproofs, iphone mounted on the handlebars and connected via my new bluetooth headset, tom-tom app set to 'winding roads' and music blasting into my ears.The rain stopped just over the Belgian border, although the roads were still flat and straight; then just past Brussels the scenery started to change, became hilly and forested and the roads all twisty - heaven! Shortly after, I discovered the flaw in my plan - after spending all year in Holland I'd forgotten how to ride around corners, the next couple of hours was spent threepenny-bitting down ever-more twisty roads until I popped out in the town of Rochefort. It all looked a bit boring so I carried on to La Roche-en-Ardenne, this looked more interesting so I found a hotel, walked around the castle ruins, had a pizza sitting in the town square - a great day.
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| La Roche-en-Ardennes |
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| a bit of a detour...... |
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| WWI memeorial |
Sunday the tom-tom sent me down more of those twisty roads towards Bouillon in the south; I must admit I only headed there to see why they named a stock cube after the town. When I finally arrived after hours of trying to go round corners, there didn't seem to be much there apart from another picturesque ruined castle and a load of cafes beside the river, so I stopped and had coffee and that famous Belgian delicacy - frites (with ketchup). Facing a long ride home I set off again, the weather by now had deteriorated, with gale force winds and torrential rain so I spent the rest of the afternoon weaving along the motorway. Great ride though.
