Safe Return Doubtful

It’s been a pleasant few days wandering through the Ardennes forest rewarded periodically by a tiny brewery in the place it would be least expected. 

I’ve described a U shape on the map in the van for no particular reason other than to fit in with the opening hours of the breweries. The really small ones, such as the two I was at this week, have a staff of less than five, and just open for a couple of hours on a couple of evenings a week, usually Friday being one of them. If they sell a beer over the bar to be drunk on the premises, it is subject to more tax, and has to be more expensive. Most people who call in do so to pick up a couple of boxes to takeaway, if they stay for one or two at the bar, as I did, these are usually given for free by the owner, and hence, no tax. 

The towns and villages of the region, Stavelot, Malmedy, and Coo, for example, are picturesque and get plenty of visitors all year round. They offer cafes, bars and restaurants, and usually a place for motorhomes and campervans without any facility for around ten euros. I have used these in the past, but preferred this week to be out of town. At Coo I found a hiking car park a couple of hundred metres (vertically) up the steep-sided hill to the east of town, which was fine, ideal for hiking, but a bit muddy, as it’s rained a lot, and when not raining, misty and damp. Good conditions for being in the forest though. 

Coo was fine for a visit to the Trévires Brewery, which was open on Thursday night for a couple of hours at 4:30 pm.

I then moved onto Liernaux on Friday to a car park outside the village intended for hikers and skiers. I was surprised that downhill skiing existed as a sport here, the highest hills are only around 500 metres. When I was in Belgium in January it was an extremely cold, indeed record breaking, spell, with a few centimetres of snow which hung around for more than a week. But the guy I was speaking to at the brewery bar on Friday told me that such a spell was very rare, the previous two winters the downhill ski tows had not opened at all, and several around the region have closed down. 

Friday evening after an hour out with Roja in between rain showers, I called in at La Lienne brewery, in the small village of Reharmont. It is run by a young couple with a four year old son as a family business in a converted barn, half of which is their house, and half the brewery. These places are great. The recent government tax concession enabling them to sell from their premises with less tax has been a lifesaver for many. That has encouraged some of them to add a small bar. Though only open for maybe four hours a week, these little bars are special, enabling a beer to be drunk only a matter of metres from where it was made. Roja entertained the boss’s small son, while he and I chatted in Spanish until another guy arrived, who spoke English, having hotfooting it from work to pick up a few cases and enjoy a free couple on the premises.

After a few hours out on the hills this morning we drove ninety minutes to the west, still in the Ardennes, and returning to an area I know quite well, Gedinne. It’s another step nearer to Le Shuttle for which I’m booked on Wednesday, and home to a wonderful little brewery in the forest, Invictus, where we will visit tomorrow.