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| The Aire at Walscheid |
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| Walscheid lake |
1st August. After ending July with a gloriously hot and sunny day we were surprised to wake up to an overcast day today. As the forecast was for thunderstorms we decided to move on from Walscheid but will definitively come back here again. We drove to Bitche which had a very nice spacious Aire. After lunch we explored the town and were surprised to find a tired and dated centre with many of the shops vacant. We decided to carry on so headed to Saarburg in Germany and found a lovely stellplatz on the edge of the river Saar. This would definitely make a nice stop for a night or two.
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| Saarburg Stellplatz |
2nd August. We awoke to low cloud obscuring the hills the other side of the river but the sun soon broke through and it was pleasantly warm as we set off to cycle to Trier. It was a really funny start to the ride as we started to follow the path along the river. We saw a mother duck with her babies so we slowed down and took a wide berth but for some reason the mother seemed to think Glynn was a threat to her babies and suddenly tried chasing him. I nearly fell off my bike I was laughing so much at the look of panic on Glynn's face as he desperately tried to speed up. The incident kept a smile on my face for much of the ride and rest of the way to Trier was much less eventful. It was a very nice easy ride as we shadowed the river all the way and it was a very scenic route. As we had visited Trier a couple of years ago we didn't bother with the whole sightseeing tour and opted for a quick coffee break before we cycled back for lunch. We then headed in to Saarberg itself to get some shopping and in spite of the fact that it had been a very pleasant and easy 55 kms we decided to spend the rest of the day relaxing although I did find enough energy to beat Glynn 3-0 at crib!!
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| River Saar |
5th August. We've spent the last 2 days slowly working our way west with the first night spent at Heiderscheid in Luxembourg and last night was spent at Han-sur-Lesse in Belgium. It has been very hot so we've left the bikes alone and opted for a couple of nice easy strolls instead. Today we arrived at Thieu which had a lovely large spacious Aire on the edge of the Canal du Centre with cycle lanes running in both directions. The temperature had dropped slightly today so we got the bikes out and cycled to the nearby town of Mons. Being on the canal the route was very flat and we did a nice easy 35 kms.
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| Glynn and Michel in 2011 |
6th August. 7 years ago, when we were first taking cycling more seriously, we booked a cycling holiday in Majorca and met a lovely man named Michel, a French speaking Belgian. The week involved 4 big rides with Wednesday a designated day of rest. We spent a lot of time with Michel that week conversing in Franglaise and he even helped me up a couple of steep hills by steering with one hand and pushing me up with his other. I was seriously impressed by this!! We've kept in touch ever since that holiday but have never had chance to meet up.
We had originally planned to visit him last year but when Lisa had her stroke we had cut our travels short to rush home. This year we had arranged to stay a night on our way back to the Eurotunnel. He lives near Geraardsbergen which is why we had driven back in to Germany and across Luxembourg to Belgium rather than staying in northern France. Michel's wife Michelle speaks excellent English which made it much easier to communicate as we have been so busy learning Spanish that our French has not progressed at all. We had a really lovely day catching up as we reminisced over the fun we'd had on that cycling holiday.
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| Celebrating a good day's ride in Majorca, 2011 |
7th August. Well what a way to start the day. Michel used to be a chef before he retired and he had got up early to bake us a selection of croissants, buns and crepes that were absolutely irresistible!! This was definitely not a day to be sticking to our low carb way of eating and it would have been rude to refuse so we tucked in with gusto. Well I think that with Michel's encouragement we ate enough for breakfast to last us all day, actually make that 2 days!! After breakfast Michel took us out for a spin in his pride and joy, a really beautiful red Audi RS5. Glynn's face was an absolute picture when Michel decided to show us the acceleration potential of the car as he is not good with speed. While myself and Michel were laughing Glynn was bracing his feet and looked decidedly relieved when we got back. It was sad to say goodbye to Michel and Michelle so soon but we had to get to Calais and stock up on some essential supplies (wine!!) before our early crossing tomorrow so we thanked them for a wonderful stay and set off for France with the promise to have them over to England to stay with us.
8th August. The end to a really wonderful trip. We have been away for 15 weeks and I have to say it has been absolutely fantastic. I was particularly excited at finally getting to do some cycling in the Alps and seeing Lake Constance as they had both been on my wish-list for some time. They both exceeded my expectation and the fairytale castles near Füssen were incredible. I have also discovered that I'm not a poor climber, I just lacked the practice. I've seen a marked improvement in my cycling ability just by getting out and tackling the climbs as best as I can. We have cycled 1661 kms this trip and I have loved every kilometre of it. We are seriously considering getting road bikes again so it will be time for some research when we get home. After being 15 games behind Glynn at crib at one point I managed to pull it back to 97-93 so not too bad but as I beat him at brag 10-8 we've called it quits. We now look forward to getting some more decorating done over the summer and we have booked a camping weekend away in Kent with Darryl and Lisa at the end of August so fingers crossed for some good weather. We will be heading to Goa at the end of October so we have plenty of time to make some progress with the bungalow before we go.
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| St Waltrude Church, Mons |
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| Belfry of Mons |
