Another weekend, another DIY. This time a mandatory one, loosely based on my old Citadel 200.
In contrast to the event route, the first stage stays nearer to Liege. I exited town via the Jeker valley and picked up a Ravel in Hautain Saint Simeon. This network of converted railroads and tramlines is great for cycling in Belgium. There are two other ones in this route, one from Namur to Hoegaarden and the other from Tienen to St. Truiden.
In Alleur I deviated from the Ravel for a short visit to Decathlon. I still needed some kit for the Silk Route 1200 and this one is very convenietnly located. After leaving the Ravel the traffic was a bit dense. This route is in fact better for a sunday since both the Liege and Namur area's can be quite busy. Due to the traffic the descent to the Maas valley was slower as expected.
Cycling is popular here, you can find a lot of cycling specific monuments like this one in Amay.
Once clear of the Liege urban area there's a lot to see on this route, castles, mansions and citadels like the one in Huy. The advantage of the mandatory route for this ride is that you can take the bikepath next to the river which is a detour compared to the direct route.
Just south of Huy the bikepath leads straight through the sugar factory. On weekdays it's a bit smelly here but there were hardly any operations on this saturday. Further south it's a quiet ride especially since all traffic stays on the eastern bank of the river and for most of the time you can cycle via the quiet western side.
The busy town of Namur is a bit of shock sometimes. The climb of the Citadel itself is not too difficult. The gradient is such that they could drag cannons up by horsepower so it's just a question of sitting and grinding. The ascent itself is more scenic as the top.
The descent has been resurfaced recently so now it's a nice swooping descent to the Sambre river. Just after this there are a few kebab shops which perfect for lunch. Directly behind Namur railway station another Ravel starts. I really like this one, scenic, straight and not too difficult. Especially yesterday it was a nice one, the headwind which slowed me down in the Maas valley now turned into a nice tailwind. The warm wather invited a lot of locals on BSO's out on the bikepath so sometimes I needed some quick reflexes to evade their dodgy cycling.
In Sint Truiden it was into the teeth of the monster and back out again for short bit of city cycling followed by another former railroad. I bypassed my usual stop in Drieslinter, a nice cycling cafe. I started out o a bit late so the Vuelta stage had finished already. Otherwise this is a nice stop, especially if you arrive there around 16h when' there's cycling on the TV.
Just after Drieslinter I took the branch line to St. Truiden, another very scenic Ravel. Entering St. Truiden it was remarkably quiet on the road. Quite a lot of roads were fenced off. As a cyclist I could pass a number of fences but eventually I had to stop at the market square. Here it was really fenced off, an evening run along brightly lit monuments. I tried a detour but was stopped by a police officer. 10 minutes later all traffic was allowed again and I could continue into the evening.
It was dark already when I neared Tongeren. The main church tower is brighly lit and can be seen from the surrounding countryside. This time I opted for a meandering route and not the fast dash via the mainroad. In Tongeren there were some traffic problems again, the Ambiorix fair was held. And this fair is not only on the market square but all around town. Originally I planned to have dinner here but the restaurants were too busy for a quick turnaround. So I decided to try my luck in the next place, Mal. After some walking through the crowds I reached another former railway line. In Mal I left the former railroad line. No real food to be had here, only a friterie was open. So I pushed on, I could still make it to town before the last Chinese take away closes. The bit from Mal to home is one of my usual approach routes so no navigational issues. I had elected the official event finishing point, the Youthhostel, as start/finish so I could detour to the Chinese takeway without problems. They were still a lot of customers there so I arrived home with another DIY 200k in the bag and a meal in my rackpack.
The route a bit cleaned up (detours removed):
http://www.gpsies.com/map.do?fileId=eewtzetmnicaeuws
