Belgium Road Trip Part 1

The A'Chouffe Brewery

On Saturday we started Belgium Roadtrip Part 1.  Both very nervous about driving on the right side of the road (but Avis hired us a car, nevertheless), Sam built up the courage to drive the first length of the trip - Brussels to the A'Chouffe Brewery.  Here we had a nice lunch (apologies to the waitress who had to 'moo' so that I could undertstand what beef was on the menu - my French is poor) and then took a tour of the brewery.  Unfortunately we didn't understand much - they gave us a few photocopied sheets in English but the tour was in Dutch, however we met a nice Dutch/French couple who helped us along.

Who can go wrong with a number plate like this?

At this stage Sam had quality tested a few beers, so it was my turn to drive (our number plate - AOK - gave me some confidence).  From A'Chouffe it was only a half hour drive to Fantome, a brewery named for its apparent hauntedness.

Dany gives us a tour of Fantome brewery

Thankfully, there were no ghosts here, only Dany - the brewer, who was very kind and gave us an impromptu tour of his small brewery, despite his small grasp of English (which I note is 100 times better than my French).  Fantome make a number of good beers, including  a Green Tea beer which is also made with spinach to give it the green colour (no articificial colourants here!).  Truely worth a stop in.

From Fantome we drove onto Rochefort where we spent the night.  The next day, it was onto our next destination - Orval.

Yes!  We are on the right road!

Orval is a Trappist Monk brewery in southern Belgium.  You can visit the Abbey for a small admission fee, then sample the beers at the cafe down the road.

Sam outside the Orval Abbey

Ruins of the old church inside the Orval Abbey

The grounds of the Abbey are very beautiful and include the ancient ruins of the old church, the medicinal garden and parts of the new Abbey.  It was great to get an insight into the lives of the monks and the brewing process.

The beautiful holiday town of Bouillion

After Orval, we had a little time before we needed to be in our destination for the evening (Chimay) so we stopped in the little town of Bouillion (above).  Bouillion is a truely gorgeous town set on a river in a valley, with a castle on the high point of one side.  French and Belgian families were paddling along the river in little boats, there were many people eating ice-creams and waffles, and it generally had a very holiday-ish vibe.  Lovely.

All along we had been using the hire-car's GPS system to navigate our way around the country.  We weren't quite sure about the next surprise though - getting to our next destination meant cutting through France.  We had no idea if there was going to be toll roads, checkpoints, strip searches (ok, maybe a bit extreme but we are talking about the French here) or other border control.  The trip to Chimay (also in Belgium) through France was just over an hour, the trip around (remaining in Belgian borders) was around two hours.  So, we decided to take the chance and cut through France.  The good news is that the good old EU has no border patrols at all, in fact, I was driving for a few kms when I said to Sam "we must be in France by now".  Unless there is  sign to tell you, you probably wouldn't even know.

The view from our window at Hotel Chimay

So, onto Chimay it was.  Now, let me stop you here, before you think 'just another abbey and brewery'. As we drove into the beautiful countryside of Chimay, I immediately liked the place.  When we pulled up at the Auberge de Poteaupre (to make it easy, let's just call it Hotel Chimay, because it is owned by the Chimay brewery), this was the first point in our whole trip where I really felt that we were on holiday, where the knots in my shoulders started to unwind, and where a smile started to become a permanent fixture on my face.  We checked into the fantastic hotel/tavern (which was basically a lovely hotel at hostel prices) and looked out the window.  Can you see it?  That magnificent green field?  That happy puppy running around?  People drinking beers in the sunshine?  Yes - the sunshine.  It was the first, and possibly the last time we would see the Belgian sun.  So we made the most of it, and sat outdoors to sample some Chimay beers and cheeses ourselves.

Sam outside the hotel, in the rare Belgian sunshine

The Chimay Hotel quickly became one of those holiday spots that will remain in my mind forever.  We had a great meal and fantastic beers at the Chimay Hotel (the rouge beer being my favourite) and we only had to pop upstairs afterwards to retire.  Those green fields, they totally got me though, and Sam has some contraband film footage of me sneaking under an electric fence (possibly a little drinked) just to skip through the lush green grass after hours. Oh yes.

Tour de France?  We wish!  More like Tour de rural Belgium.

Sadly, we did have to leave Chimay, though we did make time to visit the Abbey the next morning.  As we headed back to Brussels, we were confused to see people standing on the sides of the roads in the little towns, watching the roads intently.  Were they waiting for us to come through?  Apparently not - we were stopped by police cars and non-English speaking volunteers along the way, indicating that there was something else going on (conversation with mature male volunteer "Is it ok to drive to Charleroi this way?" "Charleroi blah blah blah... [5 mins of talking in French]" "But is it ok for us to take this road?" "Charleroi blah blah blah... [10 mins of talking in French]" etc).  Eventually we were stopped and then, suddenly, a procession of maybe 100 cyclists came racing down the main street.  Was it the Tour de France?  No, it was a local tour, obviously of equal standing to local communities, as it held up the traffic  for a good half hour to let the cyclists and promotional cars through.

Later that afternoon, we made it safely back to Brussels, ready for a bit of a rest before Belgiam Road Trip Part 2.