August 30, 2012
To Dinant: The train to Namur then a lovely ride along the Meuse
It was an excellent idea to stay two nights in Ieper. We began to feel the place was very familiar and could rip around the cobbled streets on our bikes like natives. Last night at the Last Post Ceremony there were even more people, well over a 1000. I think that one thing that happens in Ieper is that tourist buses come on around 5pm, everyone has a look around then to the Last Post at 8pm – probably the next day they drive around the sights we visited on our bikes yesterday.
We got up early and went to breakfast, we were feeling a bit nervous because we were catching the 8.39am train to Namur with a change at Brussels Nord. However I am pleased to report that the trip went relatively smoothly with our bikes in the proper places and the forms filled in correctly and in the proper place. We had chosen Namur to go to because it is on the Meuse River (called the Maars when we last saw it) and there seemed to be a cycle route beside it leading into France. Namur proved to be a very nice town and it was a great relief to hear people talking French rather than Flemish.
I called into the tourist information and got excellent directions for the route we needed. It is so beautiful going along the Meuse, we passed several locks, these were huge and capable of taking really big barges. There were a few pleasure boats mixing with the big boys as we went along the gorge. Geese seemed to have adopted this part of the river as their home and were so unphased by bikes that they didn’t move as we approached and it was necessary to weave your way between them to avoid a collision. There were some spectacular looking houses and other buildings high up above us and every now and again we came to small towns devoted to people having fun. The quality of the track for most of the way is excellent but there were long sections of cobbles which are appalling to ride, I am proud to tell you that I am better and faster at riding cobbles than Ken! At about 3.30pm we arrived in Dinant, an interesting looking town with lots of activity and knowing we could find somewhere to stay decided to stop. Probably only about another 15km to Givet (in France) but we were unsure of what the track would be like, may be lots more cobbles, they seem to love them around here.
One thing that is concerning me, and those of you who know my scientific background will smile. We are travelling relatively slowly and have been doing so for only three weeks but have been in countries where the language spoken by the people is Danish, German, Dutch, Flemish and French. Some of these in particular Danish and Flemish (and to a smaller extent Dutch) have only a small number of native speakers. With such international movement (and not everyone is on a bike!!) surely there will have to be a big effort to maintain these as living and growing languages. In NZ of course we have Maori Language Week in an attempt to preserve the language of our indigenous people. I am ashamed to say I have always been dismissive of it. Now however I will be supportive as my conviction now is that diversity of language is important.
Today's ride: 43 km (27 miles)
Total: 1,626 km (1,010 miles)
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