Thursday February 19 th 2015 from Givet to Houyet, 21 km

After a long breakfast and making an extended toilet the athletes went by car to the spot where the walk stopped yesterday, Givet. Horse Leon continues to celebrate his holiday in the riding center in Oignie-en-Thierache. Dog Tosca was allowed to join us. First we went culturally, by entering the medieval village Hierge, not to be confused with vierge. Well, what you call cultural. I thought that the gym club, which now calls itself a gentlemen sportsclub, came to treat me like a baby but as you can see on the pictures they showed me, that the real work, the dog’s work, I had to do myself, incl. street cleaning. See pictures. Oh yeah, I almost forgot that I, the common working man, shouldn’t have pretentions. Shut up and swallow. Bah! We continued walking untill lunch break. It was a huge effort: 4 m. of buffet was laid out on a freezing windy place in the Feschaux town. We pretended liking it but went on walking quickly, forced by the cold.
We passed a road cross where Jesus hung upside down. Was this an illustration of the anecdote of nail factory Deras?
An advertising agency commissioned by nail factory Deras to design a catchy advertisement. The agency presented a poster with a picture of Jesus on the cross, and below the picture the text: Due to nails of Deras he’s been hanging here for eras. The firm thought this was unacceptable in a Christian region. A month later, the agency presents a poster with Jesus under the cross, and below the picture the text: van het kruis gesleurd (dragged from the cross). With nails of Deras this was nooit gebeurd (this had never happened). Unacceptable says the firm. After another month, the agency presents a poster with nothing on it, only the text: the managers at Deras are shit , but their nails are the best ever knit.
And thus we kept the atmosphere at a high level.
The route was beautiful. I was not minding the route, so we were quickly astray. Wim thought that was because we had not listened to his direction advices. Politically everyone’s kept his/her mouth shut. Nevertheless, we still arrived in Houyet. After much discussion how you had to get to the station in this mini-village, we found back the van guard that was going to bring the cars to Houyet, at a bakery lunchroom. We alighted, where my non-present, but birthday wife Sonja treated to a round cake. The only present visitor was allowed to participate. Sonja, this gentleman called Damiaan, says hello. Our two ladies could not keep their eyes away from him, though we found that we have to offer the ladies a lot more.

Carin bowls and the kitchen medieval village Hierge

When it comes down to it, you have to do everything yourself Typical houses in blue stone, with the typical cornerstones, heavy door moldings and distinctive natives? Continuous discussion about the route. Shh. 3-4 m. buffet in freezing wind Complete fitted kitchen to make coffee [/ caption] Deras nails joke illustrated in bakery-patisserie further planning of my future route. Very kind guys ” the Belgian Damien who toasted with us at the occasion of Sonja’s birthday and whom the ladies could not keep off their eyes