Thursday sees me cycling in sun but with a chilly wind to Bermondsey to pick up Pete from his work and then onto his houseboat on the River Roding (Barking) then a couple of pints in the bar. Friday morning is chilly but we're in the van and pick up Simon and Jules en route to Dover. Smooth ferry trip and drive to Liege (thanks Pete) and then we hit the hills of the Ardennes. These are worryingly steep and long and busy with cars and lorries as we approach our destination in Spa (the original "spa" from which all others take their name). As these hills are part of my weekend's ride plans both for a day ride and to watch the race I'm rapidly thinking of changing them. Also, since I planned them I have badly skinned my shins, Jules has bruised her back, Simon is fighting off a virus and Pete banged his head on the van and has to borrow my cycling shoes with cleats. Arriving at our temporary home it's a lovely cottage (in London it would be a house) in the garden of a larger house. Milou gives us a friendly welcome and suggests a gentler ride for Saturday. We have a room each which is unusual for these trips (Simon and Jules count as one). The big house is a proper B&B full of serious cyclists who are cycling the etape race route tomorrow the day before the professionals. The race we've come to see is the oldest "monument" and the last of the Spring Classics. It's Liège Bastogne Liège where the pros cycle a direct and flattish (for them!) route from Liège to Bastogne then go back hitting all the steep and long hills that the organisers can squeeze in. As it's the oldest classic race it's nickname is la Doyenne or The Old Woman. Proper Ardennes classic this. Tonight Jules rustles up a delicious pasta dish washed down with wine.
Saturday we're up early and it's a beautiful day gloriously sunny with a nip in the air. I guess we are quite high up. The cyclists have left early and Milou wanders over with unused baguettes and croissants which are the base of an excellent breakfast. We, to be precise Pete, drive up the very long drag out of Spa and up and down hills reaching a plateau which is the local high fens. Parked up we set out along rolling hills which are not too arduous and have very little traffic then we turn off along country lanes past farms and through picturesque villages. We reach a disused railway track although the rails are still there and used by strange pedal driven vehicles which we meet to mutual yells of Allez Allez. The rails stop at a converted carriage serving waffles, beers and coffee where we have a Leffe and eat lunch. It's right at the German border so I pop over it just because. Back onto country roads and then we hit a long traffic free gravel path through a lovely forest. Gravel is a leg sapper going uphill but soon we're back onto tarmac and then at the van. Back home we have a drink in the sun on our terrace then wander into Spa and take the funicular up to the thermal baths where we spend a couple of hours in the warm spring waters (not as hot as Budapest or as I remember the Cross Bath in Bath where I learnt to swim). We have a drink in the bar overlooking the town and I try the waters which remind me of lemonade for some reason and not as metallic as the Bath water. Note the capitalisation. We walk the path down to town where we have a drink in a bar and instigate Chipgate resulting in the axiom from our waiting staff Of course we sell frites. This is Belgium! Back home Jules rustles up another great meal and we drink a little too much wine resulting in acting out Bob Mortimer graveyard jokes on the terrace in the balmy night air.
Sunday is race day. I enjoy an earlyish tea on the terrace in the warming sun thinking it's gonna be hot for the pelotons today. Sunning myself reading Orwell I hear chattering behind me and see a pair of red squirrels scampering up a tree. A lovely sight and such bushy tails. We're also bushy tailed after breakfast and drive into Sougne and ride into the town centre and then along a river path. Pete and I push on along the road following the river with steep cliffs on one side and steep forest on the other. Back in town we rejoin Simon and Jules to cycle up the classic climb of Cote de la Redoute with a few Allez Allez's thrown our way by the fans thronging the road side. It gets pretty steep but just before it kicks up viciously there's a fan zone so I turn off. I could have easily crested the hill without breaking sweat but thought the others would like to stop where we could get a beer and watch the big screen. Honest. I buy a cheap plastic green jersey cyclist which looks like Cav from a store with lots of jerseys and hats. It's scorching hot and after some lunch and a beer we walk up the road a bit to find a good spot. This is the great thing about cycle races you can be inches from the riders as they struggle up the hills. The men's race comes past with Pogačar first having just made his escape bid so we've seen the critical part of the race. See screen shot with Jules' head and my red jersey. By the top of the climb he's well away and finishes with time to spare. Geraint Thomas passes within inches in what is apparently his last pro race and Pete gives his fellow countryman encouragement by shouting his name correctly pronounced in a Welsh accent. After the peloton has passed and then the stragglers (chapeau to all of them) we descend into town mine being slower than I came up due to getting stuck behind a family with young kids who didn't weave in and out of the pedestrians in the road. After a bit of pottering about we watch the women's race (yes, two for the price of one) as they come over the bridge jockeying for position for the climb. One rider is out front by a minute or so but she's overtaken on the climb (I find out later) and the eventual winner is Kim le Court de Billot from Mauritius so an African winner. Excitement and the point of the trip over we drive back home picking up a few race signs on the way (do you still have them Pete?) The evening has a stroll through Spa before a Jules tagine with rice on the terrace but it's nippier tonight and I retire inside to enjoy a glass of red wine in peace. It's been an intense weekend! Monday we are up early to a cloudless sky and after a trouble free drive to Calais, ferry and back to London Pete drops us three off at Kidbrooke and we cycle the 10 miles through the back streets of south London me leaving Simon and Jules at their place. A great weekend and although we didn't put in as many miles or altitude gains as originally planned we all had fun and saw some great racing. Thanks fellow travellers...
No comments:
Post a Comment