Day 1 – 72km, 935m ascent – Heerlen to Waimes
The journey started a little rough, the plan was to go from Maastricht down through the valley to the north edge of Liege and then head east, but train issues meant we started our journey from Heerlen instead, and only were able to start cycling from about 2pm. I had a friend joining for the first day and a half. We had to cycle straight through Aachen, and then struggled to find a good route into the forest trails, juggling various mapping apps. I decide to stick with the fietsknoop network as it's pretty reliable albiet simple. We ride partly through the hoge venen and then climb up into the forest covered hills. Some routes really tested our bikes here, with a detour around an unfinished bridge through a hiking area criss crossed with roots and rocks. At least I have okay all-terrain tyres, my pal has a vintage road bike with narrow slick tyres. I was amazed that neither of us had any flats or other mechanical issues for this entire trip. Descending to the Dam of the Vesdre was a highlight here (pic 2). We stayed at a Vrienden op de Fiets by Waimes, in a lovely little cabin with a fire. The day had been bright and sweaty but the fire was definitely needed once we arrived in the evening, with the air quickly becoming cold and damp.
Day 2 – 92km, 1400m ascent – Waimes to Champlon
My friend would be heading straight to Liege here to take the train back, so we rode together to Trois ponts and to Coo before splitting ways as I headed south toward La Roche en Ardenne, and to my hostel just south of it. This was a challenging day, the longest and climbingest. I ran out of water and struggled to find sources – water pumps in small villages were locked, and a cemetary I checked had no water tap. La Roche was a very picturesque town (pic 4), I wish I could've found somewhere to stay there and not had to ride 15km further through farmland. Again on this day I found myself deep in mountain biking territory, holding on for dear life as I descend down steep rocky and muddy trails, only occasionally seeing other cyclists always on e-MTBs. This was the first time the worn out front suspension on my bike has actually been useful.
Day 3 – 82km, 617m ascent – Champlon to Namur
Some issues again here with the Belgian infrastructure, getting from the hostel back to quiet cycling routes seemed impossible without crossing and joining major roads. This is the day that I spent the most time on 70 and 90 speed limit roads, with a few aggressive drivers. I had considered finding a more efficient route to Namur, as my maps were telling me that I could get there in 70km if I don't go to the river, or I could slightly detour to get the river first and then follow that, adding 12km. It quickly became clear that that was the obviously correct choice, to get out of the hills and to get back to good cycling infrastructure. It also would have been a shame to skip Dinant (pic 5). The route approaching Dinant was beautiful, and the town itself was lovely with the dramatic cliff looming over. Shout out to Proxy delhaize for giving me a free beer when I bought some food for a sandwich. From here it was smooth sailing along the Meuse to Namur, which I was grateful for as my arse and legs were suffering. I arrived to Namur in good time, since there was so much easy descending out of the Ardennes. I was able to clean up and go out to explore, find some good Turkish food, and found a cosy bar overrun with folk musicians playing Irish music. As a half Irish man it was a little surreal being surrounded by French-speaking Belgians playing bagpipes and singing about moors and meadows.
I didn't know much about the Ardennes before this trip, only that it was one of my closest options for a good cycle adventure. I knew there'd be inclines but I hadn't checked exactly how hilly it would be – coming from living in the Netherlands for the past couple years this was a bit of a challenge. Especially on a heavy 90s steel trekking bike.
Having only taken 2 overnight cycle trips, this was my first slightly longer one. The plan was originally to continue on day 4 along the Meuse to Liege or even Maastricht if I had the energy, but once I was in Namur I felt I'd finished my journey and took the train back the next day to where I live in NL. The weather was turning grey and wet, I was exhausted, my saddle has a lot of issues, and the prospect of a full day along a flat river seemed boring at this point (stockholm syndrome for the hills I guess).
In conclusion, I'm so glad I got to explore this part of Belgium and I'd definitely recommend it but maybe with some better preparation (multiple bigger water bottles, better offroad tyres, pannier bags instead of strapping a backpack down, a little bit of training for hill climbing)
by Philliphobia