Chimay in Chimay, Success

July 8, 2023

Guise to Chimay

After a bit of a slow start in the morning - Eivind add sort of a poor night of sleep because he was cold from a too-train sleeping bag, and then I had to fix my flat tire still, we got off to what ended up a decent day. I've accomplished my goal of drinking a Chimay in Chimay, and Eivind reports that he has found a warm bed. There's also a lot of forest path today, which was nice because it was hotter and the trees provide shade. And, like I mentioned, they're nice to look at.

Just before lunch Eivind and I met Jeff from Quebec, who has a job working on flu vaccines, that is seasonal such that he doesn't have to work in the Summers so he always goes bike during. Pretty sweet deal. The three of us lunch together and then rode to Hirson together, whence we all parted ways. Eivind had a room booked, Jeff wanted to find a root of the beaten path through the Ardennes, and I had a beer to catch.

Shortly after Hirson I said goodbye to the Oise,

And hello to Belgium, never been here before except the airport

I didn't really know what to expect of Belgian bike paths, these were marked as regional Wallonian bike routes. It turns out that this one at least was basically like a bicycle super-highway with smooth pavement under a forest canopy with lots of amenities like German style covered picnic tables, bivouac sites, at least one in-the-middle-of-nowhere-on-the-bike-path toilet.

Gonna need one of these when it rains tomorrow afternoon

I looked at the bivouac site, but since it didn't have any running water, I wouldn't be able to bathe, and I do not like sleeping covered in sunscreen. So I kept going to the municipal camping in Chimay.

Unremarkable except to the extent that hot water and electricity are both remarkable

At the reception I met a bike tourist, Stephan from Brussels, who agreed to be my drinking buddy for my trip goal:

Now I have to think of another goal. Right now the main thing I'm thinking of is getting to the source of the Meuse river but I may need to try to come up with something intermediate. Anyway good night.

Today's ride: 66 km (41 miles)
Total: 301 km (187 miles)

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