The Ardennes from Fumay to Charleville Mezieres

Pill Box from WW2

Antique carousel in main sqaure of Charleville Mezieres

We’ve been in France for a week now and if you’re following our progress you’ll see we haven’t come very far. There’s no hurry though which is just as well as we’ve spent rather a lot of time hanging around at locks waiting for them to be fixed. Most of them are automatic. You get to within range and point a remote ‘thingy’ and the lock gets ready for you – you hope. Once inside you secure your lines (sounds easy doesn’t it?)  and then push upwards on a blue pole and the lock begins to fill (or empty). Alongside the blue pole there’s a red one which you pull if there’s an emergency. That stops the whole procedure and then you have to wait for the cavalry to come in the form of a man in a little white van. As yet we haven’t had to touch the red but we’ve seen lots of men in little white vans. Things seem to go wrong with regularity. Not to worry, there are less scenic places to wait around in than the Ardennes. ‘C’est magnifique’ as one local put it and it most certainly is. The River Meuse runs through gorges of high limestone cliffs (great climbing area) and thickly forested, deep valleys. There are many fine mansions and picturesque villages.

This area has been fought over for centuries hence many of the towns have ancient and impressive fortifications. We’ve climbed hundreds of steps to one fort and taken a cable car up the mountainside to another. There is lots of evidence of more recent battles in the form of WW2 pill boxes and shell marks in the walls of buildings.

Usually we’re happy to look around ourselves but a couple of times recently we’ve had to pay extra for a guided tour as a requirement of entry – once around a fort and the other down some caves. The tour is of course in French with some brief explanation in English if you’re lucky – except for at the end when the guide says in perfect English, ‘I hope you enjoyed the tour. The guide accepts tips.’ So what’s with the third person?

A word on the food and drink so far as everyone keeps asking. Bread fantastic – eaten too much. Cheese ditto. Wine ditto and also very very cheap. Champagne delicious and not so cheap but about a third of the price at home. Only French wine on shelves. Haven’t sampled any cakes but there are plenty to choose from. Eating out quite reasonable if you go for the Plat du Jour which is advertised outside. The chip van – ubiquitous (and good) in Holland – not much in evidence here. However, when it is it is hugely popular, very cheap, has fancy sounding things on the menu and is quite revolting.