Arrondissement de Neufchâteau

The ride out of Charleville - Mezieres was somewhat tedious and circuitous, and when we finally exited the city and rejoined the familiar Meuse River, we could finally relax a little. We knew that we would soon be leaving the Meuse and gradually turning to the East. Ahead lay the challenge of crossing the Ardennes and reaching the easier sanctuary of the Venbahn Rail Trail.

The ride was not a long one, but in cycling terms, was rather "lumpy". After climbing steadily for most of the day, the final couple of km into Bouillon was a steep, and potentially perilous, descent. Bouillon is situated in an idyllic location in a river valley, surrounded by steep mountains on both sides. It was probably the prettiest town we had seen thus far.

Although the location was delightful, we could not help but share a feeling of impending dread. Tomorrow was going to be by far the toughest day of the entire ride. The original route involved three steep and prolonged climbs, with a total elevation gain of over 1200 metres. Before leaving Australia, Maggie and I had spent hours with maps and cycling apps, looking for a more acceptable route.

After a lot of work we managed to find what looked like a better option, but it was still going to include nearly 1000 metres of climb. We really had no idea how it would work in practice. I guess we would soon find out. In the meantime, we had a lovely little town to explore.

At least the going was easy for the first 25 km, as we meandered along the banks of the river and past numerous small locks. Our first stop was at the small village of Donchery. This place was made famous as the location where Napoleon surrendered to the Prussian army in 1870.

We made our own surrender, but it was to hunger, not the Prussians. Donchery has a lovely little Patisserie, across the road from a cafe - the ideal double hit. We loaded ourselves with little boxed cakes and walked across to the cafe for coffee. It is worth noting that we never seem to find the obvious solution of a shop selling both coffee and cakes. It just has not been thought of yet, but when someone finally catches on to this idea, I am sure they will make a fortune.

A short distance further along we reached Sedan, our chosen lunch spot for the day. A convenient cafe offered a Salade du Chef as the Plat du Jour (plate of the day), and it proved to be generous and delicious.

After lunch we rode on to the impressive fort of Sedan, where we met up with the second group of riders. They had just completed a tour of the fort, and were just emerging. After asking our group whether anyone was interested in stopping, the answer was a resounding no. This decision may have been influenced by the fact that the weather looked like it was about to worsen, and we still had a couple of serious climbs to complete.

Because we had been mostly following the Meuse, our riding days have been generally pretty flat. That was about to change. Just past Sedan we left the Meuse and immediately began climbing. Riders discovered new gears that they had hitherto not needed until now. We knew this was just a foretaste of what would lie ahead tomorrow, when the real challenge would come.

We chugged our way up the first climb, and then soon dropped back down again. This is always a bad sign, because you know that you will soon have to regain it again further down the route. And that is what we did. The second climb was longer and steeper, taking us to the outskirts of Bouillon.

The road then crested a rise, before dropping dramatically to a precipitous descent into the town. This situation can be a likely place for accidents to happen, but fortunately all our riders safely made it to the Hotel De La Poste - our magnificent home for the evening.

The hotel was spectacularly situated, alongside the Semois River. Across the river, the small town is overshadowed by the huge Bouillon Castle. It really is a fairytale setting.

The hotel was filled to overflowing with a huge collection of historical artifacts and pieces of furniture. As for character, it had it in spades.Read more