Cycling trip organized by the ARBA (Amicale des Randonneurs de la Belgique et d’Ailleurs) with La Margelle Cycling Club of Autre-Église.
Itinerary: Autre-Église (Brabant Wallon) – Bomal – Thorembais-les-Béguines – Wastines – Opprebais – Incourt – Dongelberg – Lathuy – La Bruyère – Sint-Katarin-Hauthem (Vlaams-Brabant) – Hoegaarden – Outgaarden – Goetsenhoven – Meer – Neerheylissem (Brabant Wallon) – Hélécine – Opheylissem – Linsmeau – Pellaines – Maret – Orp-le-Grand – Orp-Jauche – Orp-le-Petit – Jauche – Autre-Église.
Saturday, 31 October 2015
In Mussy-la-Ville the fog is thick with no chance of it lifting throughout the day. However, around 10 I drive off to Autre-Église in the Brabant-Wallon to meet up with the organisers of the new wing of the FFBC, that is, the ARBA (Amicale des Randonneurs de Belgique et d’Ailleurs).
The 156 km drive takes me almost 2 hours as the traffic is heavy on the E411 because of the All-Saints/All-Souls weekend. The fog starts to disappear when I get to the Transinne/Libin area and by the time I reach my destination, the sun is shining and there is a perfectly blue sky.
I arrive at midday , eat my lunch and meet the first arrival, Gaetan of the Bomeree CC, who has ridden from home in Thuin the 85 km to our rendezvous. Slowly others arrive, especially the members of La Magrelle CC who are hosting our circuit.
We ride off at 13h40; we are around 50 cyclists and its La Magrelle CC that covers all the junctions and crossroads for us. The circuit of 67 km takes us about 3 hours and we arrive back at the clubhouse around 16h50.
A drink is offered by La Magrelle club and some pork specialities of that region by the local Confrérie. William Defrise, the president of the ARBA gives a talk on his desires for the new “Amicale”. He also introduces us to the treasurer and Gérard Masset, the secretary. The ARBA members present present themselves, their clubs, their aspirations.
All in all, it was a good afternoon’s ride, especially as it’s an area that we may never have visited otherwise.
The data and map of the ride can be viewed on Strava at:
https://www.strava.com/activities/424180294
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