Return to Invictus

I returned to Invictus Brewery in the forest this morning with cash, from the atm in Gedinne, just a couple of kilometres away. We walked the long way round, through the forest on a wonderful winter morning. It had been 7 degrees below zero overnight, and Stephanie at the Brewery told me this had led to problems last night in cars getting out. They were mainly 4WD, but one guy with his family, who had ignore advice and got stuck. In the end, one of the 4WDs pulled him out, but they were having trouble also. Just the slightest thaw of the surface yesterday afternoon had frozen again when darkness arrived, and the gentle hill up from the brewery proved a major obstacle.

I chatted for a while with the owners, who provided coffee, and then drove my purchase the couple of kilometres up to the van in their jeep.

There’s no doubt, this is a tremendous little brewery, with its small ambitions, tucked away in the forest. It may be that I saw it at its very best, in the snow, sat around the fire, but for sure, I will be visiting again, and recommending it to friends.

I then drove a half hour or so to Treignes, a railway town in the French border where I stayed three years ago. There’s a railway museum there, an aire, and what was, a good pub. Unfortunately through, the pub had closed down, and the aire was still deep in snow. I drove on again to Mariembourg, and Fagnes Brewery.

I must have been spoilt by Invictus, but Fagnes did not impress me even enough to step inside. It’s a busy restaurant, especially on a Sunday lunch, and though has brewing on the premises, is more than double the price of the two breweries I have been at this weekend.

We moved on again, to the village of Nismes, where there is an aire in a nature reserve, an excellent place for a stopover, and as it’s a bit lower in altitude, with less snow.