See here for Day 5.
This was an excellent day for a number of reasons: great weather, great scenery, nice climbs and descents and lots of quiet roads and tracks.
I was still a bit apprehensive about getting away late so asked the B&B owners the previous evening if I could have an early breakfast or even leave without. The latter suggestion did not go well and we met halfway between their suggestion of 8am and my suggestion of 7:30am for breakfast. It was just me staying and the breakfast they laid on for me was well worth staying for and I understand why they weren’t going to let me go without: Local cheeses, local meats, local jams and honey, fresh croissants and bread. A huge buffet just for me! Thank you to Magali and Georges from the Squirrels B&B.
Today’s route would see me travel along the Meuse and Semois rivers in the Ardennes National Park before heading south and traveling upriver along the Meuse River in a much flatter area of France. The route started in France, goes into Belgium and then returns to France.
In the Ardennes National Park the 2 rivers wind through deep cut valleys. If you look at my route map I could have taken a much more direct route for the day but that would have left out the Semois and some of that was well worth travelling through.
It is worth noting that both rivers have great cycle paths running along them which makes cycle touring in the area really easy. They are known as the voies verts (green routes) which exist in other parts of France too. Here the routes are the trans Ardennes, trans Ardennes Sud and Trans Semois some of which are just being completed. These routes are all pretty flat which means you’ll have to look up at the scenery. I chose to go on the road in places which would take me over the top of the valleys in places and allowed me a view down. The area is spectacular and an area I am keen to go back to for cycling, hiking or mountain biking (which seems to be popular there too).
For several days now the forecast I was looking at had promised warmer weather than it ended up being. Today the weather was forecast to be in the high 20s and it definitely was that warm. Initially though (and there is a theme here) it was a misty morning – third misty morning in 6 but this burnt off pretty soon to reveal some stunning landscapes and nice towns.
The route for today was a bit shorter than the previous 2 days with roughly the same amount of climbing as the previous day and although in my head the majority of the climbing was in the first half there were three climbs late on to be mindful of. As usual I was aiming to get to Dun by 6pm.
Climbing out of the valleys was good for the scenery and shortened the route as it cut off some of the winding the rivers were doing but I don’t think it actually saved me any time as every climb of 150-200m was pretty slow versus a reasonably fast ride along the valley bottom. There were a couple of occasions though were the cycle route included tunnels (formerly railway lines) and that definitely made a difference.
I stopped for lunch in a small hill top town called Rochehaut overlooking the Semois valley. You can tell that the weather was nice and that I felt I had a bit more time as I had a proper lunch break – stopped for more than an hour. On the previous day (and some others to come) I just kept going and snacked along the way.
Just looking back at the map I noticed that I cycled through Madagascar (a small village on the Meuse River) which I remember made me smile at the time.
I followed the Semois on and off until the town of Saint Cecile where I joined a disused railway line which slowly descended down to the town of Carignan. From there I climbed over a small hill range to return to the Meuse valley. A much broader valley now but with a narrower river. As I was heading along the flatlands, through villages and fields there was a sign saying road closed in 5km which I ignored. When I got to where the road was closed and they diverted the Eurovelo Cycle Route there too. I grudgingly accepted the 5k detour. The crossing of the Meuse there was impassable. The benefit was I got to see a very impressive (big) church in the countryside.
The worst climb of the day was up to the accommodation in Dun Sur Meuse. The Airbnb was in the ramparts of the old down and as a result I had to climb up to it. Probably about 1km in length it got steeper and steeper as it neared its high point. It had been a very warm day anyway and I’d already had a farmer refill my bottles for me at one point. I arrived at the accommodation a bit of a sweaty mess. The accommodation was lovely though any food options were in the new town below!
The daughter of the host gave me a couple of restaurant suggestions to get dinner. I called both. One was on holiday, the other was full and that was the full choice of restaurants in Dun. I decided to walk down and take my changes. Found a takeaway and a pizza machine and decided to give the pizza machine a chance. So dinner was pizza machine pizza with local beer from the Airbnb. The pizza was surprisingly good and the beer was great. After this I regularly spotted pizza machines in French towns.
Had a nice chat with Fiona to end the day and also got my washing done. The following day was going to me my ‘easy’ day of the trip.
Planned Distance: 142km
Actual Distance: 145.75km
Trip Distance: 796.59km
Ascent for the day: 1642m
Ascent for the trip: 6511m
Riding time: 7:54:41 hrs
Riding time for the trip: 39:25 hrs
