September 3, 2014
Maastricht - Sourbrodt
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Another fine day, over the Maas bridge and now, after three days on the flat, we had to climb, through part of the Netherlands' hilliest province, Limburg. Limburg contains the country's highest, the Valserberg, at all of 322.7m or 1059ft above sea level. That was out of our way, but, on the other hand the highest point in Belgium was right in it. It was a long drag out of Maastricht, nothing too strenuous through Limburg NL, but over the border,in Belgian Limburg, the hills were a little steeper. I must have slightly overdone it. Overlooking Aubel, I succumbed to a mild attack of the knock. I stuffed nuts, raisins and Dutch licorice down my throat to get back some energy.
We climbed up to the American war cemetery at Henri Chapelle, then a few km later, through the eponymous village, from where the road plunges downhill to Welkenraedt. Now in Liège province, mainly French speaking, we were in that small corner of a small country, where around 60,000 people speak German. Eupen is the principal town, a busy place with German business signs all over it and an attractive town centre, beyond the strip mall development on the way in.
We had to exert ourselves to get out of it, no car showrooms or DIY warehouses here. The road then flattened out a little, but for around 10 miles we were climbing all the way. The road, at first in forest, was not too busy, but what traffic there was, was unnervingly fast. Before the summit at Le Signal de Botrange, the highest point in Belgium at 679m, we passed over the High Fens plateau, an area of bleak wetland, a Natural Park [Naturpark Hohes Venn, Parc Naturel des Hautes Fagnes] ecologically unique, which straddles the Belgo-German border. To me, with little interest in the science of 100,000 year old peat bog, it just looked bleak.
After leaving the now busier N68, I stopped at the first hotel we saw; a mistake, there were better down the road. The girl who booked us in, only spoke Dutch [more confusion, she was Dutch] We shared the dining room with 14 train drivers from Antwerp on a sort of overnight works outing, some on motorcycles, some with bikes, some just there for the fishing. The food was poor for Belgium. There was plenty of powerful Belgian beer though, for me it numbed the disappointment, not so for Barbara.
Today's ride: 66 km (41 miles)
Total: 362 km (225 miles)
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