A European Adventure: 19th - 24th April.

Wednesday 19 April

An early start!

It was pretty horrible waking up at 2am this morning as, although I was tired when I went to bed, I found it difficult to sleep!

We were all showered and dressed by 3am, and we decided to drive through town to get to the A45 and M1. Driving at this time through a deserted town was quite creepy and I felt distinctly uncomfortable waiting at the numerous traffic lights... There were a few people wandering around and I felt a huge sense of relief when we finally drove onto the dual carriageway!

The journey down was uneventful, and we made it to Dover earlier than planned. The very friendly DFDS staff member asked if we wanted to go on an earlier sailing to Calais rather than Dunkirk, but we said we would go on our agreed route as I wanted to drive into Belgium. There were toilets near to where we were waiting, but no café so we napped in the car after our early start. The sun had come up, it was a beautiful day and we were the first to arrive in our line!

Billy no-mates

Gradually, more cars joined us, and our ferry docked, disgorging lots and lots of lorries. I could hardly believe so many could fit onto the ferry!

As soon as we were boarded we made our way up to Deck Seven, and the lounge we'd booked. We were hoping for a lounge similar to that on the P&O ferry last year but the DFDS one was a lot smaller and had less choice of food and drink. However, it was comfortable and quiet, and Sophie and Keith had a complimentary glass of Prosecco! We enjoyed coffee and pastries and there were soft drinks and fruit available. 

It's OK for some!

Quiet, relaxing surroundings!

The mad Belgians!

The crossing to Dunkirk is about half an hour longer than Calais, and we were a bit late setting off from Dover, so it was almost midday by the time we drove off the ferry and into France. Trish (SatNav) wanted to take us to our intended lunch stop in the Belgian town of Dinant via Lille, but I wanted to go via Bruges and Brussels. What was the point in going to Dunkirk if we didn't drive through Belgium?

I was shocked by the amount of traffic on the road, to be honest. The right-hand lane was a constant wall of lorries so it wasn't a quiet, relaxed start to the journey! We were soon in Belgium and the traffic grew even busier! Belgian drivers are mad, and the road surface was pot-holed and uneven. I was beginning to regret my decision to take this route!

We skirted Bruges and headed towards Brussels where we took the ring road around the city. We became stuck in several hold-ups, and I kept an eye on the time as I knew a lot of restaurants on the continent stop serving lunch at 2pm. Our first Airbnb this evening was in a quiet village with no restaurants at all!

Sophie slept most of the way, and Keith kept an eye on the map we had, as both of us were reluctant to put our total faith in Trish after the Boughton House fiasco the other week! It was great to have another pair of eyes help me as the Belgian drivers do love to swerve in and out of the traffic at speed!

Most of our journey today was on the motorway and we realised that there were no tolls, hence the busy roads. We turned off when we saw signs for Dinant and instead of carrying on along the road we were on, I thought we had to turn left. I had just made the turn when a mad Belgian driver came screaming over the brow of the hill so I had to wait in a filter lane, which shook me up a little! As I had gone wrong, I had to find a place to turn around, which I did, with a clear view of both sides of the road this time!

The countryside we passed through was hilly with open, arable fields. As we rounded a corner we saw a row of trees with what looked like huge nests in them, but we discovered they were large mistletoe "balls". These were a feature throughout the journeys we made, and I'd never recalled seeing them before!

We were soon in the delightful town of Dinant, which sits on the River Meuse. We parked in the first place we came to and investigated a nearby restaurant, but there wasn't a menu displayed. We were glad we didn't decide to eat there, because, walking further into the town, we found a whole range of places to eat overlooking the river. The weather had been a bit cloudy but as we walked, the sun came out and it was lovely! I began to feel like I was on holiday!

The walk into the town was very pleasant, with the sun shining on the river, and people out walking and exploring the town, or taking pleasure boat rides.

We found a lovely restaurant called Café Leffé and I realised that the Leffé Abbey, which makes the famous beer, must be nearby as the name was displayed everywhere. Luckily, although it was now about 3pm, they were still serving food and people were sitting and enjoying late lunches. We sat at a table overlooking the river and chose what we wanted to eat. Sophie and I had a glass of Leffé while Keith chose Jupiler.

Sophie and I chose the same dish - sliced chicken in a mushroom sauce, served with a delicious salad and French fries. Keith opted for lamb cutlets with new potatoes and roasted vegetables.

The meal was lovely and we were glad we'd managed to find somewhere to eat! Belgium and France are not like the UK where you can pretty much find somewhere open (usually fast food) all of the time.  We all said we'd love to come back to this area and fully explore the town and, of course, the brewery!

Part of the citadel overlooking the town - reached by cable car

Keith sat and waited for us while we went to get the car. We walked through the town and kept noticing saxophones everywhere. We later realised that the inventor of the saxophone, Adolphe Sax, was born in the town, hence the proliferation of images everywhere!

We headed back, collected Keith who was sitting enjoying the sunshine and carried on our journey to our night's destination of the village of Bure, near Tressange, which is very close to the border with Luxembourg. We drove on beautiful, hilly roads to the motorway and the scenery was lovely. It's certainly an area worth visiting, especially if you like Belgian beer!

Once on the motorway, it wasn't long before we were back in France. We filled up with petrol and it cost Keith 80 cents to go to the loo! We hit rush hour traffic and were held up by an accident with a car on its side. It really didn't surprise me after seeing the way some motorists hurtle along the roads!

Are we being watched? 

Although I had asked Renaud, the owner of our Airbnb, if we could check in a little earlier than the 6pm time advertised, we didn't arrive until about 7pm. The house was easy to find, and he'd given us instructions about the key and letting ourselves in. The semi-detached house was on a quiet residential street, and we parked outside at first, dumping our overnight bag and exploring our new surroundings.

I'd known that it was Renaud's house, but we didn't expect the amount of personal possessions everywhere. It was as if he'd left just before we'd arrived! There was even a half-full bottle of wine in the fridge and pots and pans in the dishwasher! Sophie and I were a bit taken aback and surprised that so much of his stuff was about. In the living room, there were shelves packed full of vinyl albums and books, as well as mementoes and photographs of him and his children. We suspected that he was divorced and had his children stay with him every other week. There were even receipts pinned up on a noticeboard and a list of meals on a chalkboard! Very bizarre!

Renaud's collection of vinyl!

The weird thing, though, was that both Sophie and I suspected he had a camera somewhere. We're not sure why, and we both thought it, so that was a bit unsettling. We have absolutely no evidence to support this, but it felt weird all the same.

There was an Aldi supermarket a short distance away, so we locked up and drove over to the store to buy food for breakfast the next day and some nibbles for the evening. It was a small Aldi, and very quiet, so we bought what we needed and drove back to the house.

There were a lot of mines in this region, and the village of Tressange had old mining trolleys dotted about everywhere. It was a pleasant place and the small centre had some shops and a café, but nowhere was open.

Back at the house, we had a drink (beer for Keith and Alsace Pinot Blanc for Sophie and me) and played Scrabble while nibbling on cheesy biscuits, cheese and ham. As it had been such a long and tiring day, we had an early night and looked forward to getting to Alsace tomorrow!