Hotel Moderne Sedan

Nice country drive throughout the Verdun region to the little village of Stenay, where there is a council platz with washing machines etc, in a picturesque setting next to a canal. The whole area is scattered with monuments to the Americans, and with a large cemetery. It seems as though no Frenchman would need to mouth off at the ...

(47 miles) Today we were definitely slowed down by the rain. I guess it's just not that fun to ride a bike in the rain. So we stopped in Sedin. A town with the largest medieval castle in Europe. We ate an Americain, which is a sandwich eaten in Belgium and the north of France. It's hamburger patties and french fries stuffed into a Baguette with some tasty choices ...

... had small papers to write a quality about us that we don't like, and then we burnt it to signify it disappearing. I said to antonio, I dont know what to write (his english is good) and he said, ok, you want to fight? That made me laugh. I also laughed when I saw Augustin making a tower of postcards he took from the mosque and when Thibault had a little bit of gas. You just cant keep a group like that quiet for that long...if at all Friday: Took train home, met Marc ...

... during and after we raked, sang and walked could indicate just how hot it was! we took it in turns to rake the coals from a blazing wood pile to a rectangle of glowing coals about 4x5 metres. i was sure that i had lost my eyebrows to the heat as I raked the coals. As it was a ceremony we didn't take any photos that evening but I did get a shot of the charred remains of our once firey coals. Left aligned photo tag:

The best hotel in town, especially as we've been on the road 12 hours! Looking forward to a shower, as we are all soaking already from the heat. Sampling the local beer first though :-) Le Relais

... Since there is a god, the sun started to shine around 11AM, strong back wind and all. 120 km, with quite a few hills in 5 hours. Not bad for a fat ******* like me. Nice campground again! on top of the hill, amazing views, and french bread and croissants from the local bakery....even the French campgrounds are civilised! Sorry, but my internet time is up. I'll update this day ASAP. Cheers, Bart

... Flamande (Parlent Neerlandais, ou tres pres de...) et la partie Wallonne (Francais). Je trouve les Wallons beaucoupo plus accueillants. Il faut dire que c'est ma langue aussi, donc......Une particularite aussi des Wallons. Ils prononcent certains mots en francais pratiquement de la meme maniere que les Quebecois. Plusieurs fois, je me suis surpris a me dire "tiens, un quebecois". Apres une phrase ou 2, je m'apercevais qu'ils etaient Belges! Oups ...

... suis justement en train de lire un livre qui se déroule à l'époque des croisades et j'ai toujours adoré l'histoire ! Le village de Bouillon est de taille modeste et le château, loin d'être un des plus gros ou plus beaux, mais tout de même, il donne un cachet historique à l'endroit. Le village est assez mignon et l'architecture des maisons diffère de celles des alentours de Bruxelles. Après Bouillon, nous faisons ...

After I left Felleries the rain didn't abait. Everything I owned was soaked through now. I woke up in a damp sleeping bag, put on my wet cycling clothes, and took down my wet tent. The only thing that had changed since yesterday was that now I was in the Ardennes region of Belgium so there were plenty of hill. The day turned out pretty good in the end though. 120kms through ...

Although February was busy, we haven't done quite so many glamorous trips as at the end of February. At the beginning of the month Melanie had a 2 day meeting in Maastricht, in the southern tail of the Netherlands. Chris came along and spent one day visiting the Orval monastery in Belgium and the other day exploring Maastricht. The following two weekends our friend LeeAnn came to visit (she had a class here during the week) and ...