Wheels Around Europe . . . . . . . : Belgium

Showing posts with label Belgium. Show all posts

Friday, 30 August 2024

Ambling through the Ardenne

Friday 30th August 2024

Today we had a leisurely amble through the Ardenne region, dropping in and out of France and Belgium.

We followed the scenic route along the river Meuse, which has a sub title of Canal de l'est (North Branch) which I think references with the canal at Thieu, part of Boneaparts plan linking up Charleroi with Mons.

Our route took us to Montherme in France for morning coffee, Bouillon in Belgium for lunch, and finally Herbaumont in Belgium for an overnight stay.

The weather is much cooler today and we had some light rain overnight.

This morning was couldy with mist and cloud hanging in the forests of the Ardenne, which I think is a fairly typical state of affairs.

Herbaumont is on the river Semois and has a castle on the hill to explore after tea.

The castle was duly explored and has some panoramic views from the summit.

Some partially sighted Belgian bloke reversed his car into us in Bouillon, no damage to Ed, but he broke his rear light cluster 🤣

It's a familiar theme though, in Nazare Portugal a French bloke reversed his motorhome into us on the campsite, but he never even had the courtesy to get out and inspect damage.

Fortunately, again there was no damage to Ed, but he can't have known that.

Ed's made of tough stuff to see off Johnny foreigner 😀

Montherme

Steps to the top of the village in Montherme

The sculpture is a weather vane that was originally on the roof of the Montherme brewery built in the early 1800's on this site. It depicts a Roman Centurian blowing a horn, whilst standing on a cloud.

Motorhome parking in Montherme by the river, we didn't stay overnight
but looks a great spot to park up

Bouillon

Mr Bean in a Mini . . . . .

with HRH Queen Elizabeth ll as his passenger

Health and safety working at heights requirements are
completely ignored in Bouillon !

Bouillon Chateau

Herbaumont Castle

Herbaumont village

Wednesday, 28 August 2024

Thieu

Wednesday 28th August 2024

Not too much exciting to report today, we were up early and left Farthing Common soon after 6am and made our way to Le Shuttle terminal about 15 minutes away.

The train was on time and everything went very smoothly.

First stop was Gravelines for breakfast and water services.

We had a little drama with diesel, there was none at Tesco in Ashford where I'd planned to fill up and driving to and through Gravelines we never passed a filling station.

Now I could have stopped and done a search for one, but I was so sure we'd stumble across a filling station - I didn't, and found ourselves on the motorway with the reserve light on.

The drama was soon resolved when I came off and found a nearby garage, phew.

Tonight we're at Thieu, just across the border in Belgium and close to Mons.

We've stayed here before in 2019, then the place was packed out with German and Dutch motorhomes and we were lucky to get a place on the back row.

Today there's just five motorhomes here and we got a prime spot in front of the canal with great views.

Nearby is the largest boat lift in the world with a lift of 240 feet, or it was until China built the Three Gorges Dam and ship lift.

Closer still is the old boat lift which is much smaller, but I think more interesting.

The destination for our evening walkies.

The canal was comissioned by Napoleon Boneapart in 1888 to help trade and link Charleroi to Mons and then the English Channel.

A barge on the canal at Thieu

The new lift at Thieu

The old lift even has a road through it

Thieu old boat lift

Tonights view at Thieu

Saturday, 1 June 2019

From Home to Thieu

Today has been quite a long drive by my standards and quite tiring.

We left home at 0500 and after stopping for breakfast at Cobham services and we arrived at our destination of Thieu in the Hainaut region of Belgium at about 1500 and after 375 miles of driving.

The journey was mostly uneventful except for two incidents, someone in a caravan waving frantically at me and pointing to the roof, our roof as they went past !

I was at a loss to know what they were pointing at or trying to alert me to. After some consideration I decided that if there was something loose I'd be able to hear it flapping and if it was something like a roof light I'd be able to hear it blowing.

I decided to stick my head in the sand and carry on. Only when we got to Cobham did I realise one of the roof lights was slightly open and probably flapping !

Doh, another lesson learnt. Some have lost their roof lights on motorways when they forget to close them and the wind gets underneath !

I was still very surprised we couldn't hear it when driving though.

The other event on the M40 was a bird strike, not just any bird but a kestral I think.

I didn't get a good look but I'm pretty sure it was.

It just came out of some trees at 90' to the motorway and struck the top of the van, nothing I could do to avoid it.

It really bothered me that I'd just killed a such beautiful bird of prey.

Ah well, on the upside, I suppose some local field mice prey will have enjoyed a better day than they expected as a result of the premature demise of their hunter.

The tunnel crossing was quick and without any delay, straight on the train as soon as we got there and an on time departure.

We're parked up this evening on the dedicated motorhome Aire (GPS 50.47133 4.09005) in the village of Thieu, adjacent to the Canal du Central in the Hainaut region of Belgium, close to Mons.

Thieu is famous as having the second highest boatlift in the world.

It was constructed in the 1990's along with a new stretch of canal next to the old canal where there is a smaller boat lift that works on a balance system – one side lifts and the other drops.

The village of Thieu which surrounded the old boat lift had 250 houses and the town hall demolished back in 1990`s to make way for the new canal, which takes boats up to the new big lift.

There are no services here, just convenient safe free parking.

Fortunately we not in need of any services as we have plenty of water on board and the sun is doing a good job of helping the solar panels charge the batteries.

After tea I went for a walk up to see the boat lifts and below are some photographs.

There is some great cycling around here on the tow paths.

Oh yes, I spoke to two people within 10 minutes of arriving here, I Belgium and a Dutch man. Each separately said " Ahh, you English, you here in Europe while you still can eh? while they still let you come"

Bloody hell, can`t escape Brexit anywhere !