Day 2 04.07.2021
Day 2 04.07.2021
Our wedding anniversary today, 1998!
Today was also a day to remember. The plan was to get through the Ardenne hills by making use of the valley of the River Meuse. A bit more miles but no climbing.
When I went to Rome I used the shortest way, but there was so much climbing involved that it was a pretty tough day in the saddle. I did not want to repeat this on a heavy tandem. Downside; we had to cut through the industrial area of the Liege region.
After a decent breakfast we loaded our beast of burden. We said goodbye to Edith en Grego and left Valkenburg. We enjoyed the last 17km in the Netherlands, rolling hills and beautiful kept fields.
After crossing the Belgium border the industrial landscape started but the cycling way was very good. Industrial areas can be quite interesting as long as you don’t have to fear for your life in the traffic.
The Komoot sent us through the very centre of Liege where we had to divert because of a Sunday market. This led us onto the central square, and we decided to stop for a coffee.
After this trouble started; a thunderstorm commenced with the heavens opening up. We had to shelter for the best part of an hour and when we were back on the road the tandem suffered a flat within 2 km.
On top of that we had to dig our way through cycling ways covered in wet cement.
The tandem and our legs turned white. Finally we had to do the cement path twice because it was blocked after 5 km without notice.
The question is; did it affect our relation on this wedding day? The answer is; not the least because the stoker is the boss.
Simple concept, great opportunities.
And by the way; things got much better in the afternoon. The sun came back, the roads got better and the last 40 km on the banks of the River Meuse were a pleasure. Our B@B for the night is fine and I had some Liege meat balls for dinner.
