Vise Water Locks with a Twist at Maasmechelen

Yesterday we just rode for the pure pleasure of riding. We tanked up and started off on the back roads to the water locks in Vise, Belgium. After crossing the Maas, we turned onto a side road that runs along the waterway and parked for a while. It was strange to see the barges just moored to the banks instead of moving. It appeared that the locks were closed for the day. A little while later when we had gone past the locks towards Liege, we saw a barge start in the direction of the locks, and then turn around mid-stream. There were many, many boats and barges "parked" on that side as well. I wonder what the deal was...

We went over the little bridge and onto the small route that goes around my favorite hair-pin curve and up to the village of Eben-Emael. We found a cafe on the corner of that little road and the main road through town - L' Aenchante. We were the only customers and enjoyed having the terrace all to ourselves! Occasionally the Yorkshire terrier who owned the place would come by and check on us while his "mom" cleaned and arranged the traditional Belgian centerpiece of willow branches with hollow, painted Easter eggs on them. The stems were bare except for leaf-buds that hadn't opened yet. The hope is that by Easter, the eggs will look like flowers on fully leafed-out branches. I know - I should have gotten a picture of that! Maybe I'll find another one today.

First Group Ride

As the days have become longer and warmer, we've been wondering when our Dutch friends would be ready to ride for the 2011 season. Kevin went on rides with several guys last year, usually after work in the long evenings or especially long rides on Sundays. Saturday, 9 April 2011, he got "the call."

So, on Sunday we went to our friends' house and met up with the group. Altogether, there were six of us on four motorcycles. We had hoped to be on the road to Cochem by 1:00, but when we stopped  in Kerkrade for fuel, one of the guys had trouble with his bike starting. The battery leads were a bit corroded and caused the problem. Not a huge issue, but we definitely lost some time there.  

From Kerkrade we went to the Eiffel park area again. This winter has been extremely hard on roads here in this part of Europe with more snow than usual and many, many very cold days. Some of the potholes left for courageous riders and drivers are big enough to hold our laundry baskets. The old patches from previous winters are almost as bad as the holes! 

When we stopped for drinks in Belgium, we decided that Cochem was a bit too far for the time we had left in the day. All were agreed that we'll do it some time soon, however! The cafe where we stopped was in the French-speaking part of Belgium. Most Belgians, I have found, know at least some Dutch (Flemish), but the waitress pretended to have difficulty taking our very simple order - nothing but coffee or diet cola, and that sounds pretty much the same no matter which language you're speaking around here. She also left the table filthy from the last customers. When I spoke with her in French and questioned that and asked her to clean the table for us, she said someone else does that! What cheek! I don't think we'll be stopping there again!

We rode around the area and went to a few favorite spots where Kevin has already taken me. It was nice for him to be able to show Marcel and the others some places they had not visited before! Way to go, Husband! When we couldn't find a restaurant in that area, the unanimous decision was to go to Eupen, Belgium, and eat dinner at the Mesopotamia Restaurant. I've been there before and had a schnitzel, and that was some good motivation to get back on the road. 

The schnitzel with mushroom in cream sauce was better than I had remembered. The other lady in the group had the Hawaiian schnitzel. I can't imagine a piece of pork in a sauce with pineapples. Just not my idea of what's yummy! Others at the table had pizza. The "pepperoni" pizza was actually a vegetarian pizza with sliced peppers - looked like cross-cut Greek peppers.

After about an hour at the table, we waddled out to the motorcycles and eased our way home. At our last rest stop, the Italian ice cream shop most of us had coffee or cappuccino while one brave lad had a "Blue Angel," a tall glass of vanilla ice cream with blue sauce poured over it. There were mounds of fresh sliced fruit stuck into the heaps of whipped cream. Oh, my! He made it through about two-thirds of the angel before leaning back with a silly grin on his face. The angel had won that contest!

We went our separate ways as we left the ice cream shop, so after another fifteen or twenty minutes Kevin and I pulled into our garage at around 9:30 p.m. 

Ride to Cochem, Germany

Oh, my goodness what a ride we had to Cochem, Germany! Kevin and I left home around 9:45 a.m. and headed out on back roads. The fields are all turning green, and the trees are budding out. I could do without the birch tree blooms and pollen, but they are beautiful.

I was familiar with the first few turns, but the new course we took wound through the Nationalpark Eiffel where we left the Belgian Ardennes and cruised into Germany. We bumped along some of the worst paved roads I've ever been on. I've got to say we had smoother dirt and gravel roads in Mississippi than some of the paved roads in Belgium. The German roads were much better, and that's a good thing because we went around a number of hairpin curves as we wound down the sides of mountains into valleys and then back up on the other sides. 

Although we were pretty much hovering around the posted speed limits, there were dozens of smaller sports bikes that passed us even in hard curves. Amazing! 

We were fortunate to have many small wayside parks where we could take a break. I'm always surprised at how mentally draining it is to focus on riding with attention to all the detail that surrounds us. Those stops, whether ten minutes or forty-five are refreshing. The best of the stops, though, was when we took a break on the bank of the Mosel River in Cochem. With the river on one side and a rich tourist area chock full of restaurants, wine cellars, ice cream shops, and flowers planted everywhere there was enough to occupy us for hours. We'll have to go back some day soon!

On the way home, we went on the highways. They were much straighter, much smoother, and provided a much faster way to get home. Home by 7:00, and we had time to wind down and have dinner at Chez Altizer.