Bonjour France, but What a Hotel

The prospect of a shorter ride of around 60 km, meant that our backsides would not be punished quite so cruelly today. The weather also came to the party by giving us a cool, but fine day that would be ideal for riding.
We divided the riders into two groups, one led by Pascale and the other by Gordon. We have discovered the huge advantage that having a GPS can be on these rides, as compared to trying to follow the route with paper maps. Fortunately quite a few of our riders have come electronically enabled, and we have generally been able to find our way with a minimum of fuss. (Off course having a huge river like the Meuse to follow, also has some advantages).

After winding our way back through Namur, we joined the riverside bike path and happily made our way towards Givet. We hadn’t ridden far before we found a trailside booth selling fresh strawberries. That seemed like a heaven sent opportunity to stop. We all contributed to increasing the proprietor’s retirement fund, and then sat down to feast on the lovely red berries. It is this type of unplanned highlight that really make such rides so amazing.

For Carol, the strawberry stop was memorable for another reason. In spite of all our loud warnings she somehow managed to stand in a large, fresh dog turd. The next few minutes were spent trying vainly to remove the foul acretion by wildy rubbing her shoe on every blade of grass in the area.

After the strawberry stop, we continued on our way in search of the next highlight. The notes told wonderful stories about a fantastic garden that featured cascading water fountains. They were supposed to be around 17 km from Namur. When we reached that location we found Allan and Sarah standing by the trail. They explained that the &%$@% garden was at the top of a huge hill, and so they had deserted from group one and decided to join us instead.

With the information provided by Allan and Sarah, we quickly made the decision that we were not that interested in gardens after all. It turned out to be a great idea, as we soon stumbled upon a lovely café that specialised in making decadent crepes. It was obviously meant to be.

After further filling of our faces and stomachs, we climbed back on our bikes to continue to the next significant city of Dinant. The timing was perfect, as we arrived just as a passing rain shower hit. We settled down at a popular riverside café precinct for lunch. Since dinner tonight was not provided, we all knew that we needed to have a significant lunch instead.

The final section of the ride took us to the smaller town of Givet.

Accommodation in this town was very difficult to find, and that is why the trip operator was somewhat apologetic when they explained that the only place that would take such a large group was the aptly named “Budget Ibis”. Budget by name and even worse by nature, this place really was a shocker.

We entered into a dark, depressing and very hot foyer, where we were greeted by a vending machine. Our bikes were bundled into about half a dozen different guest rooms (although the hotel was quite large, I think we were the only guests). When our room keys were handed out, several rooms turned out to have been completely unprepared – unmade beds, dirty towels, etc.

Maggie and I opened our door and found our room to be about the same size as a phone box. It was hot, so I decided to open the window. It turned out to be a bad move, as when the window was opened, it allowed a cascade of bird droppings to fall down into the room. It did not look like the window had been open for some time.

What about the rest of the room ? Well the AC did not work, the pillows were the same size as hot water bottles, the bathroom was minute, you had to step out into the corridor to turn around and the towels were the size of place mats. Apart from that, it was pretty satisfactory. I was certainly glad that we would only be enduring one night there.Read more