Safe Return Doubtful

I found a really good place to stop for Saturday about 80 kilometres east of Frankfurt, in the state of Hessen. Ramholz Castle was first mentioned as a Manor House in 1167. In 1501 a new building, called the ‘Old Castle’ was constructed on the site by one of the Lords of Steckelberg, and a large part of that is what survives to today. There was a while when the owners tried to make it work as a tourist interest, with a restaurant and guided tours, until 2014 when, the now 115 room castle and surrounding gardens and orangery, sold to a Chinese investor for 7 million euros. 

There was no sign of life whatsoever though in the day I was there. It has a car park well away from any road, which attracted just a few visitors for the 8 kilometre walk that gives a splendid view of the castle and its grounds before ascending the north side of the Ramholzer valley for a couple of hundred metres to the extremity of the circuit trail at another castle, this time the ruined Steckelberg Castle, dating to 1121. The ruins have been made safe, or renovated, and open to hikers since 2013. 

The circular hike, through a real variety of terrain, makes this an excellent stopover option, and, crucially, has a good 4G signal for watching Saturday sport. 

We took on the hike on Sunday morning before driving for four hours through the industrial heartland between Frankfurt and Bonn. No doubt there was less traffic on the motorways than on a weekday, and we snuck across the border into Belgium in the early afternoon. 

Those familiar with my courses over the years will know that I do like a few days in the Ardennes before returning to the UK. The Ardennes, of Forest of Ardennes, is a region of extensive forests, rough terrain, rolling hills and ridges primarily in Belgium and Luxembourg, though it does extend into France and Germany.  Though relatively low-lying, it does interest me outside of the high season; the hiking and cycling is good, it has a wealth of history that dates back to Charlemagne in the twelfth century, though it is best known for the three major world war battles, Battle of the Ardennes 1914,  Battle of France 1940, and the Battle of the Bulge 1944. And then, there’s the beer.. small breweries in places you wouldn’t expect them.

It’s usually outside summer when I’m there, last time was in January. At the start of my last course I had met a Belgian couple at a campsite in Slovenia who strongly recommended that I stopped patronising the bigger Belgian breweries and investigated some of the smaller ones. In January I was able to visit three, and hope to see a few more in the next few days. 

My destination this Sunday was the Belgian Peak Brewery just a couple of kilometres from Belgium’s highest ‘mountain’, the Signal de Botrange, at 694 metres. Unfortunately though, this doesn’t require any great effort to summit, as it is only about 59 metres away from the road. 

Peak Brewery is one of the larger micro-breweries, and from a very small beginning, is now employing 10 brewers, as well as 50 other staff in the bar and restaurant. I prefer the really small operations that employ just the brewers, don’t have a restaurant and are usually family businesses, but they do have to survive financially, so for some, a restaurant is the answer. 

Being a weekend, the place was really busy, both car parks full, as was the restaurant and bar on both of its floors. I had expected this, and hunkered down in the van and watched Harlequins beat Saracens, and then took an hour out to summit Botrange, before venturing into the bar at 7 pm, in its last hour, when they had stopped doing food and there were only a handful of other customers. 

There is good hiking right from the door of the brewery, so it is a really good visit. Campervans are not allowed to stay overnight, but that’s regulation is in place for high season and Friday and Saturday nights. After complementing the Head Brewer on his ‘Scotch’ beer, we got chatting, and he told me it was no problem to stay over. 

Belgian micro-breweries have a relatively new bonus from the government, in that they can sell takeaway beer directly from their premises without the duty that is required for ‘over the bar’ sales and that supermarkets have to pay. That has been a huge success for them, as few people just buy takeaways, most stay for a drink at the bar, and to eat. Peak offer a further 10% off takeaway beer orders if you have just one drink at the bar. Their 33cl bottles typically cost 2€, 4.50€ over the bar. The bar has keg beer at 3.50€ for 33cl, and the bigger 75cl bottles are around 5€. There is other merchandise also, as well as bigger bottles, two, three and five litres for special occasions, and kegs. 

I had a triple and a scotch, both about 8%, both went down well, though I preferred the latter. 

It was a cold clear night, down below zero, but during the night a front moved through, so this morning was up to 8C quickly, with rain due around lunchtime. Roja and I took on one of the circuits recommended by the brewery, Peak Brune, 10 kilometres and supposed to take 3 hours, half of which is along the bank of the fast-flowing Bayehon river. We were back at the van just before the rain came, and after a stock up and use of the sports centre for a shower at Melmedy, we have moved a bit further south to a hikers’ carpark well away from the road close to the village of Feckelsborn.