(In fact there was only 1 section of about 3 K's that was on the road and that was because there was a power station in the way!)
Like most mornings it was a bit chilly and I didn't notice it at first but it was kind of misty on the river. The further I rode though the thicker it got. Then it became a bit more solid and it was almost raining, very, very lightly. However as I went along it got heavier and heavier. Finally I had to stop to remove my, now, sodden short finger gloves and change the lenses of my glasses as it was getting quite dark. I stopped under a large stone bridge (which thanks to the arc had a great echo) and then it started to pour. Really bucketing down. So I took the time to put on my Goretex jacket and I ate some of the demi baguette from this morning.
In no time at all it died down to a light misty rain again and I set off. The path was now covered in puddles and I was starting to get damp feet. Fortunately the rain stopped not long after and within an hour or so the path was reasonably dry again. On of the problems I find with long bike paths is that they don't go into any towns, so you have to detour off the route to get into a town. In the end I was getting hungry so I pulled off at the next town to get something to eat. The town, naturally, was on a hillside and in the end I had to ask someone for 'de pain', so that I could get something. A nice lady pointed me in the right direction and I got a cherry tarte and a Fanta. I actually rode a couple of K's until I got to a nice seat in the sun to sit and eat.
Another thing about the bike route is that as it follows the river and rarely detours away from it the path twists and winds its way back and forth. A side effect of this is that sometimes you have a tailwind and sometimes you have a head wind. At times I could be riding along at 20 kph into the wind, you turn the corner and you can almost feel the wind pushing you along and you are suddenly doing 30 kph. Of course the reverse was also true, 30 kph suddenly turns into 18 kph as you hit a wall of wind. Fortunately the wind was mainly with me again today. In fact even though I stopped several times I still managed 75 K's by midday. I reached the town of Givet, which is the end of the bike route, at around 12.30.
As Givet was the end of the bike route, and hence my last town in France I stopped and had a brief look around. It seems a nice town and there was a fairly large market going on, Paul would have loved it. I went to a patisserie and bought a chocolate eclair, my last one in France, and a quiche. Then I rode out of town. The town is actually fairly industrial so it took a little while to get out and when I did I was on a red road, however it was a dead quiet red road so it was not a problem and then, lo and behold, there was another bike path! I stopped almost as soon as I was on the path at a park bench and, sitting in the sun, ate the eclair and quiche. Quiche first of course :)
This bike path lasted about 12 of the 24 K's to Dinant. There is an old railway line that starts about 12 K's along the path so I suspect they are planning to use that one day and extend the path all the way to Dinant. I finally reached Dinant at 1.50 pm, a 107 Km ride. I'd only expected to do 75-80 K's today. Bugger.
Once there I had no problems finding the station and getting a ticket, and there was only a 15 minute wait. More difficult was working out what to do with the bike. I asked someone on the train and they told me that the conductor has a special area, and he did. Right at the front of the engine there is an area behind the engineers with 1 or 2 bike hooks, depending on the train. I then had a rather pleasant 'training' ride to Namur, where I changed for Liege and then I changed again in Liege for Maastricht. Liege has a nice new train station, moving ramps instead of escalators. It's a nice new, bright white, open design. It must be freezing in winter!
I got a ticket at Maastricht for Driebergen-Ziest, bloody long way, three train changes and over two and a half hours. Oh well. I'd have rung Trees to let her know when I was arriving but there didn't seem to be any phones anywhere and then I remembered that her number is stored on-line anyway :)
The first train trip was pleasant enough in an intercity train, mine was the first bike on so just lined it up against the seats reserved for bikes, I even managed to sit next to it. The second trip was on a Veolia train, it was packed. Still there was no problem with the bike, the conductor just told someone to move, and I got a seat facing the bike with no one in front of me, so plenty of leg room and quite comfortable. I even 'read' a couple of the free newspapers that are on the train. The third trip was on an intercity again, hardly any one on it so no problems at all. The final leg was almost an hour so I got the netbook out and made a few notes about the day. The train arrived at 8.21 pm so I didn't get to Hans and Trees' until just after 8.30 pm! The first thing I really wanted when I got there was a shower, I'd been in my cycling clothes for 12 hours. Once that was done Trees made me some soup, of which I had two large servings :) Then we chatted until 11 pm. I was surprisingly not that tired given the 110 Km day I did today, however I had no problem falling asleep.
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