One last ambush
As I mentioned in the previous post, the hospitality at this place was almost impossible to beat. And the breakfast… well, here’s a sample.
Less than 60 kilometres separated me from Liège. This would be the last stage, easy on paper, taking me back to where I’d started. That way I’d have a quiet day to see the city before heading home. On the way back I rode through several villages.
I was surprised to see wheat fields like this one. I thought such a damp region wouldn’t be the best place for cereal… but apparently I was wrong. It’s not something I’m used to seeing and, to be honest, it was great fun riding through.
There wasn’t much worth mentioning on this stage. Paths, villages and not much else.
Until, almost at the end, just a few kilometres from Liège, I took a trail along the river that was fun at first, then got a bit overgrown, and later had the odd fallen tree across it… little by little I was getting myself into a mess, thinking it was too late to turn back because I was so close to the end. And in a way that was true: there wasn’t far to go. What I didn’t know was how hard that short distance was going to be. I should definitely have turned back; that’s easy to say now. But there and then, I saw no way out except forwards. Past what I considered the point of no return, I climbed over a pile of logs thinking it was the end of the trail. But I was wrong. Right after it, a huge landslide blocked my way. I ended up scrambling up the landslide to get round another pile of logs and then dragging myself back down it in total desperation, even thinking I’d have to abandon the bike there to get out. Finally, behind yet another pile of logs, I caught sight of a house. One last climb and I made it out of there. Dirty, bruised and exhausted. But I made it out.
In the end, all that was left was an easy cycle path into Liège to finish this lovely route through the Ardennes. Belgium, I’ll be back!