Try-out Belgium Ardennes

Day 1 – After 2 weeks and 1 day of finishing work for Wendy and already 3 months for Jeroen we decided to take the plunge, despite not brilliant weather, and take our lovely blue camper to the Belgium Ardennes. We fully packed up for warm and cold weather and 3 hours later we found the Trappist monastery Abbey Notre Dame de Saint-Remy just outside of Rochefort. For some already known we have a quest to visit all the Trappist monasteries. More information on that quest can be found here : http://ourtravellust.nl/road-trip/the-trappists/

As with all of the monasteries we were not allowed to visit the abbey but at least here we were allowed inside the church. But what we came for was of course to try the beer and purchased two 4-packs with the 4 beers they produce together with the accompanied glasses. Funny detail was that we could not use our cards and had to go in to town to get some cash.

Satisfied with our purchase we then tried to find our first camping and found a nice one on the river side near the Grottes of Han. We had the entire camping for ourselves and enjoyed one of the beers outside, in spite of the cold.

Day 2 – After a restless night (you have to get used to the beds) we had a very peaceful breakfast outside on the stolen (borrowed) wooden benches and table. The sky was blue, the sun was shining but still quite cold. Before venturing any further we had a walk around the grottes of Han but after 2 km we were sent back as we did not have a ticket. So we walked back and decided to go to the abbey of le Chimay, the second trappist on this tour. The abbey is called Notre-dame de Scourmont and is next to the French border. Again we were not allowed in the brewery or the abbey, but we could visit the church, where we witnessed a ceremony all sung in latin.

Close by there was also a shop where we could buy our selection of Chimay beers (rouge, blue and blanc), the appropriate glass and a big chunk of cheese. The shop also had a pub next to it where we did a little tasting of the beers and cheese.

We found a camping near the town of Chimay which we visited before starting cooking for our dinner.

Day 3 – After a good night sleep we did not crawl out of bed immediately as we actually witnessed snow, brrr. We did have the opportunity to test the heating and luckily it did do its trick. We were indecisive what to do next due to the weather, but packed up and drove more south to Bohan. It was a lovely drive, partly through France when we ended up in a deserted touristic little village. After a short walk along the river we decided to go home as it was not going to get any better soon. Shorter then expected the try-out overall was a success, we are hoping for better weather next week.