Ardennes-cha Glad We Went To Belgium?

This past weekend, we headed south to Belgium to enjoy a weekend we've been looking forward to for a while.  Our impetus for heading to the Belgium Ardennes region originally was to catch the professional cycling race Liège-Bastogne-Liège.  But since we were already going to be down there, we tacked on a few extra activities to the weekend as well.  

After dropping off Jackaroo at the farm (our amazing boarder), we headed 3 hours south of Eindhoven to the Abbaye d'Orval.  The Orval Abbey is a Cistercian monastery that was founded in 1132.  We knew of Orval because the monks there are Trappist, and they are one of the 8 Trappist beer brewers in the world.  Thus, since we were going to be in the area, we decided to pay the monks a visit. 

The Orval Abbey is located in this amazingly serene valley on the very southern edge of Belgium.  It's so close to France that you can almost reach out and touch it on the road we drove in on.

Field next to the abbey.

Entering the abbey.

Orval, unlike some other trappist monasteries that brew beer, does not actually allow you to tour their brewing facilities, but rather they let you tour the ruins of their first abbey.  These ruins are located within the walls of the new abbey (constructed in 1926).  The abbey has had a storied past that includes the destruction of property through both fire and war.  The 12th century ruins are very cool.  They are intact enough that you can really get a sense for what the place was like.

Old and new.

On the grounds, there are also a couple of museums.  The first is the brewery museum that provides details on Orval beer and the brewing process.

They also have another museum that houses artifacts related to the monastery. It is located in the cellars below the abbey that is currently in operation.

Here's a photo of the very large Mary with baby Jesus on the entrance to the chapel where the current monks worship daily.

And although they don't have a tasting room directly within the confines of the abbey, there is a small restaurant just outside that serves Orval beer.  We of course had to partake along with some lunch.

This beer that Todd is holding is a speciality brew that is only served at Orval.  It's called Orval Vert (green) and has it's own special green font-ed glass.

Following our visit to Orval, we hit the road and headed an hour back north to where we would be staying for the evening. Here's the view from our hotel room in Cherain:

Cherain is a tiny village which is located next to the town where we were going to see the race the next day.

But we were not yet ready to call it a day. Instead, our adventures in beer continued with a trip to the Achouffe Brewery.  You may have heard of La Chouffe beer, which is decently common in the US, I believe. It is certainly a much more commercial operation, but I suppose anything feels commercial compared to monks brewing beer.

We couldn't tour the brewery this particular day, but here it is.

Where the Achouffe gnome lives.

The area was an entire complex owned by Achouffe that included a tavern, gift shop, restaurant, and another bar with live music.

Tasting his favorite, the Houblon Chouffe.

The original.

The view on the way out.

We had a great time here as well.  And together with Orval, we acquired some nice booty for our trunk.

After La Chouffe, we went in search of food, and traveled to another somewhat nearby village.  What a fantastic day of mixing monks and beer!

The next morning, we awoke excited for the race. Liège-Bastogne-Liège is one of the more famous cycling races on the European pro-cycling circuit. It is held all in one day and covers 160 miles of hills.  This countryside is not flat, as you will see from the video we took.

We arrived about 2 hours before the race would be coming through the town we were in, called Houffalize.  I had done research on where to go, but once we got to the town, we could pretty much start following people up the hill to the summit of one of the climbs.

Here stands Todd, 1 km from the top:

We began the hike up...

Enthusiastic fans.

Getting higher!

Made it!

Once at the top, we walked around a bit and busted out the first part of our picnic.

Bringing along the picnic was a great idea.  After scoping out the scene, we decided that a better place to be was a bit down the hill again.

Our landing spot.

Then all we need to do was wait.  If you've never been to a cycling race before, be warned that it is all over very quickly.  These guys can go fast, even up some pretty intense hills.

The breakaway riders.

We were at the spot where the water bottle hand-offs were happening.

Alberto Contador, past winner of the Tour de France.

Team cars following the race, ready with a new bike if needed:

Supporting Andy Schleck, a rider from Luxembourg, and major contendor in all the big races.

The scene in town after the race.

After they went by in a flash, we packed up our things and headed down the hill.  In town we stopped for a coffee, and then decided that we were going to try to catch the race at another spot along the way. We looked at the map and found that one of the main climbs of the race was located just off the highway that we'd be traveling up to go home.  So we figured why not!

And it was a great decision.  Our second position was actually a better spot to watch the race. The climb was a lot steeper and it was later in the race, so the riders would be more tired and going at a slower pace.

Here's where we landed:

As the riders came up the mountain, the TV helicopters were circling above:

Todd managed to get a video this time of the riders as they passed.  For those of you who care, you're able to see Philippe Gilbert, Chris Froome, and Alberto Contador at 21-22 seconds into the video.  Andy Schleck is at 29 seconds, but he's really hard to get a good look at.

Goes pretty fast, right?  For fans of cycling like we are, it was awesome to see this race.  We've been to the Tour de France, which is bigger and grander, but this smaller race allowed us to get to a better spot for spectating without needing to camp for days ahead of time.

On our way down the hill, everyone had jumped the fence and was walking in the street.  Little did we know that there was still one poor guy left.  He had to make his way up through the throngs of people, not too fun!

It really was a perfect little European weekend for us. It's too bad we won't be here next time this year to do it again!