Sutra 5 – July 7th BELGIUM TO FRANCE! (100KM)HOUYET – GIVET – REVIN – CHARLEVILLE MEZIERES : Take
ABOUT CAMPING DE LA LESSE:
Staying with your own tent is not expensive. With 7 euros you can place your tent, and each shower coin costs 1 euro for a quick 5 minute shower. The shower coins I find ridiculous though. Anyhow there is a café/restaurant serving a bit expensive, non-vegetarian friendly meals so that was out of my menu eitherway, and the cheap food you can have there is of poor quality. Having your own food before going up those mountains is strongly recommended. There are some small stores in the village too. The café serves awesome cappuccino,
and has a free Wi-Fi access. If you want to feel luxurious there is a swimming pool as well. Apparently it seems to be an attraction for a lot of young people… that also means it’s a very noisy place. Be ready to wake up during the night from drunk guys n'girls yelling all over the place, coming back from a big night club close by that you can listen to it’s beats during late night hours... I am either getting to old or I was super exhausted and in desperate need of some sleep...
Staff is not really on their best mood and speaks only French and very little Dutch … once more knowing a bit of Dutch saved me from a lot of hassle! Even during summer up here is getting really cold, misty and rainy so be well prepared!
HOUYET – GIVET : The Turning point!
After spending 2 nights in Houyet … getting the mountain-yearn out of my system, I had to study my map and see my direction on how to approach France and cycle down the Ardennes. I was in a big dilemma if I should continue through the mountain network a bit more or not, and this is actually why I spent more time in Houyet, to sleep on it one more night. Something was telling me that if I continued through that part I would be too far gone down the mountain villages and my cycling plan through the green Ardennes would rest in peace. That day I got an SMS from my father wandering about my plans … and after a small discussion we had he told me that according to some National Geographic maps of his, there could be a nice 18 km way to approach Givet from where I was … I checked it on my maps and through google-god and yes, I was in the right spot to take the turning point to Givet. I would just have to endure a lot of steepness (climbing 200m up) in the first kilometres and then the route would get easier. I took his advice, packed and hit the road …
Getting out of Houyet was the most difficult part, not only steep but also off-road. Actually the biggest part of this connecting route from Houyet to Givet is off road. So be sure your bike and tyres can handle it. Especially if you are carrying a lot of weight you might
have to walk the steepest parts. If you are around the area on a holiday trip on your mountain bike … take the chance to check it out, you will love this route! N929 ---> Gps directions for cyclists ;-)
GIVET – REVIN – CHARLEVILLE MEZIERES:
Already from the first signs while arriving in Givet you can spot the one pointing to : ‘’voie Verte Trans – Ardennes’’ …
That is the start of a beautiful (83km) track to walk, cycle, horse-ride and even rollerblade along the River Meuse, full distance between Givet (on the Belgian border) in the north, and the region’s capital Charleville-Mezieres (Montcy-Notre-Dame). There is also a lot
of development of a new track alongside the river, so you can see a lot of ‘’industrial wounds and patches’’ on the riverbanks. The big nuclear power station in Chooz dominating this side of the river ( you can already spot it's chimney's white smoke up from Houyet) creating a lot of industrial wounds and patches at the river's banks, is an obstacle for the path to continue there!It is also very interesting to read about it here: Be sure you exit Givet cycling on the LEFT side of the river … cause it gets really complicated to find the way to cross it afterwards from Aubrives to Vireux - Wallerand as I experienced it!
There is also a very ‘’tricky’’ part right before Revin… if you want to continue further down you really need to be careful to spot the not-so-obvious sign pointing to a little split to the right just before entering the town, leading to a tunnel that
takes you under the mountain and on the way to Montherme back alongside the Meuse river. It is so easy to get mixed up there! Well I lost a good half an hour wandering around Revin ending up to the tourist information office to find my way and continue on further.
In general the whole track is beautiful, ascending in some parts but nothing difficult, enjoying a peaceful ride though green scenery and silence.
That inspired me to share a tiny bit of it with you all in this little video:
The evening found me outside Nouzonville, just 7 km from Charleville-Mezieres, when I noticed that the getting a bit stormy, and I decided to wild camp in an open field I found with two cement pyramid-like constructions. It actually looked like a chemical station…
but it would do for the night. I started setting up my tent behind some trees and bushes fighting against the strong wind to get everything done while the first raindrops were coming down. As soon as I zipped my tent and everything was protected and safe It started to rain. I was so tired that I didn’t even have to count to 3 fall asleep.
