It’s a Sunday in the Nederland’s in the spring, I wonder what we should do. Maybe we should hop in a rental car and do a short drive to a scenic smaller town, walk around some and see if there is anything exciting happening. Yes, sounds good, let’s do it.
Claim the car from the overnight parking garage, which means figuring out how to pay. Wall mounted pay box on the far side of an inside wall, stick the ticket in, use a cc, ignore the tap to pay feature of course, try and translate the French words describing what to do next, grab the ticket, drive to the gate, and insert ticket, gate opens, viola!
Now, dodge some early traffic which is manageable and between car nav and google maps on my phone, we are on our way. Easy 45-minute drive through the country and we are looking for the ancient castle ruins so I can get my bearings and then find a parking lot with another chance to mess up paying for parking. I find some locals who try and explain the pay box and what is free and what I need to pay for. Fingers crossed, I have it right.
Valkenburg is an amazing smaller tourist town, very quaint and scenic with some serious shopping and dining opportunities as well as some playful statuary around town. We are early for any bike race activity, so we have time to stroll around, take even more pictures and just observe and enjoy.
My plan is to walk through town and up the big hill that will become the bike racecourse leading up and out of town to the finish line. As previous races, there should be tables, food, beer, and a big screen TV at the finish line. It’s a bit of a walk so, we need some energy. A local pannenkoeken cafe looks like a marvelous choice. We order some coffees and some of the specialties and settle in for a long day. Food arrives, amazing! More than I can handle in one sitting.
The finish line is about 3 km from our late brekky so off we start walking. The town is starting to hum, people coming out, beers and food consumed, weather pleasant enough, cool and no rain. We find a table and relax to wait for the racers and enjoy the ambience.
People are friendly, a lady across from us shares some snacks, we talk as best we can with the language differences. There are sausages and frites with mayo and of course Amstel Beer available and I take advantage of all.
The women’s and the men’s races are doing laps through town, so we get a chance to see them fly by multiple times and then sprint to the finish. The ladies race won at the last meter or so as the leader sits up thinking she won while another racer becomes the real winner by inches. Exciting. The men’s winner is more decisive but just as exciting.
Races done, time to walk back to the car. As we do, we come across a guy with a house along the main road and he has a huge collection of vintage cycling apparel and goods he is more than willing to display and invites us in for a look. A fun look back in time.
Back at the car, dang, a parking ticket! I guess I still don’t understand the many ways of parking and paying on the continent.
Off we go, back to Liege, traffic, city construction chaos and another night on the 21st floor.