May 10, 2025

 Departure a little after nine thirty. Blacksmith. Air warming up quickly. Blue skies, not too much wind, never too warm. Later in the day the wind would pick up out of the east. Maastricht and across the river, then toward Eijsden. St. Pieter op den Berg on the other side of the (invisible) river always looks like it's just on the other side of the field. Around Eijsden and Rijksweg into Belgium. I always thought the French-speaking part, Wallonia, started right beyond the line, but there's a little bit of Flanders, the actual Voerstreek, including 's-Gravenvoeren, the meeting place. Lots of groups out on a near-perfect morning. We dropped into Wallonia, well beyond the Voerstreek, riding all kinds of beautiful little roads. Up and down and left and right the entire day. At some point we were within 13km of Liege. The towns all looked more prosperous than what I remember from the 1980s. An amazing, because new and unexpected, passage through Val de Dieu with the abbey on one side and the mill/brewery on the other. Lunch in Aubel, then gradually back to the Voerstreek. From Teuven back briefly into the Netherlands where in Slenaken the group and I parted ways. Toward Gronsveld was a reminder that the West-East passage is much more familiar here than East-West. Climbs to Hoogcruts, out of Noorbeek, and out of Mheer were nasty reminders of that. Across the freeway and the railroad after Gronsveld, and back into the city.