Stage 2: Namur - Virton

Stage 2: Namur -> Virton

6:30 in the morning. The room is still dark, the curtens are very good. Opening them, proved, that there is a bit of rain today. I remember, that the two other guys in the room already left. Very early actually. Starting to drop a couple of line onto the blog, knowing that it would be late in the afternoon, before we will be able to post something again.

07:00 the alarms goes, time to get breakfast. If you ever travel by bike to somewhere, book-in to any of the Auberger Jeunesses, because they are fully equipped for guys like we.

A very good breakfast we went on the bike, heading to Virton. First refilling of the bidons. Picture of the depart in front of the hostel and then we started to Dinant. There we met Rares at the beautifull Citadel on the rocks.

In the middle of nowhere, we have our lunch. Yes, we are prepared with everything. The car is ful of food, drinks and stuff. Rares, our driver if fully in his role. Following us through the hilly scene of Les Ardennes. Climb after climb, we “eat the kilometres”. So Arnold, our cook prepared the Dutch famous Unox Tomato soup.

After the lunch, we continued the route. The first half our, we had to recover after the cooling down. This stage is pretty hilly. It’s climbing after climbing, every like 2-3 kilometers. The route program initially said 1.200 altimeters, finally we measured 1.800.

At 17:00 we arrived at the chalets of Vallee de Rabais in Virton. What a nice house. Plenty room, where we can clean the bikes, prepare our stuff for the next stage.

Now we are having a bear, and in about one hour, we'll start cooking.

Tomorrow we will continue to Crezilles, in the first 10 km we will cross the border from France. “Vous parle de Francais les monsieur et les madames?” Non? Pat problem. We will stick to English in that case.