Saturday June 11th to Dinant

If yesterday's route was long and hard, today's was short and easy. We rode along the Meuse River, on a bike path the whole way. The river runs through scenic gorges and Hills, and the path was mostly paved. There were a couple of short sections of cobblestones (French: pave.  Dutch: kinderkopje (baby heads)), and the last couple of K were gravel but not hard to ride. The weather was cloudy and cool, but not more than a drop or two of rain.

We reached dinant  by noon. The only place we had been able to book ahead to stay turned out to be very interesting. It was a nineteenth-century mineral spa resort, but in 1914 the invading Germans took it over as their headquarters for the region. It was a ruin for a long time after that but the owners, a religious order of priests, have refurbished it as a hostel specializing in groups. Very Spartan, but clean. Our room has 6 beds.

After cleaning up, we walked 1/2 Mile to the town center. Dinant is a Charming  small town consisting of a couple of streets on either side of a bridge across the river. It is dominated by a large 15th century  Church  and a citadel on top of a cliff behind the town, which has been a part of one sort or another since about the year 1000. After lunch we took a cable car up to the Citadel which has historical information about the fighting which took place here in 1914. Although Belgium tried to remain neutral, Germany invaded Belgium anyway. Because France had guaranteed Belgium's neutrality , French troops came to resist the invading Germans. Dinant was miltarily portal as a river crossing spot and a place to control boat traffic on the river. Charles de Gaulle was wounded in the fighting here. The battle lasted for a couple of days of fierce hand-to-hand fighting. But the Germans prevailed. Afterward they massacred over 10% of the town's population in a mass execution men women and children , and burned down a large portion of the town.

Adolph Sax, who invented the saxophone, came from this town. There is a lot of saxophone stuff around town.

We went to church in the town in the evening. There were only a few people there but they were friendly. While we were at dinner it started to rain, and we got back to our room good and wet.

A good day.