Safe Return Doubtful

There’s about ten centimetres of snow here which fell yesterday morning. It then turned cold, several degrees below zero, so it’s dry and powdery, and clearly puts most local people in a really good mood. Almost everyone I see stops to chat, about happy topics, children are out playing in the snow, as there’s no school, and I found several adults, without children, playing similarly. I’m parked in the Chateau, and when I was out with Roja yesterday afternoon, a middle-aged woman spent more than an hour making large shapes in the snow.

Faing Castle, or Château du Faing, was built around an original 12th century fortification, and has several other claims to fame, not least, that Lord du Faing entertained Nostradamus, the French astrologer, here in 1539. Its had many purposes over the years, after its defending days were over. After falling into disrepair in the late 1800s it was renovated by the Sisters of Mercy, who ran in as an orphanage. It is currently is the municipal administration centre of the region, Chiny.

Way back, it seems now, in September I met a Belgian couple in a torrential rain storm in Krn in Triglav National Park in Slovenia. We got on well, and in the evening had a couple of beers together. The guy was appalled to see me with a Leffe, and gave me long lecture on how I should be patronising the smaller micro Belgian breweries, rather than the huge corporations. I haven’t forgotten his words, and the little tour I have planned in the next few days, is an attempt to put that right; a journey of discovery.

It began yesterday in Jamoigne, which has a bar that stocks the beers of the local breweries, which include Rulles, which is the beer the Belgian guy, back in K Van rn, gave me. The supermarket chain, Delhaize, is something like Booths in the north west of England, in that it makes a point of stocking the local breweries. I called in there today, and it has a very impressive selection.

Today I’ve moved an hour north, still in the gentle forested hills of the Ardennes, to Eprave, a small village on the Lesse river, and am parked up at the Brewery de la Lesse, just attending to a bit of administration before it opens at 5 pm…

…Unfortunately the Brewery at Roulles didn’t have a tap room, just opened for group tours in the season. Fortunately, the Brasserie de la Lesse does have. It’s basic, awaiting refurbishment, as this small operation has achieved a lot in a short time, it only opened 8 years ago. I was the only visitor, but the young barman was keen to chat, so, even though he didn’t drink alcohol, we had a good chat. He is a history student at Namur, training for tourism. Though his future work is likely to be history from the World Wars, he prefers ancient history, and was interested by my tales from Greece.

Enough.. it is brewery, what was the beer like.. and the answer is, excellent. I chose two of the eight available, the Amber and the Brown. This brewery had been recommended to me three times now, and I can see why. It’s cheap also. In the end, with my takeaways, I purchased 26 beers, for 53 euros. Last night at the bar which the Rulles brewery recommends, the beers were 5 euros. The whole atmosphere, the old farm building, the history of the area, the simplicity of the production and the operation, made it a memorable visit.

It’s possible to stopover just by the river Lesse in an attractive setting, but not tonight with the snow. I moved on a couple of kilometres to Han-sur-Lesse, which is a picturesque town that attracts a lot of visitors, with two campsites and a free aire. There are several restaurants, and the aire, with the campsites closed, is fairly busy, with four motorhomes.