We turned up near Roche en Ardennes late on Wednesday, and only had time for a swift wander round local Arboretum that day. Personal highlight : a caramel tree that actually smells of caramel – who knew ?
Followed this up on Thursday with a more testing walk round Parc Les Deux Ourthes / Le Herou. It was marked as ‘ difficile’ in the walking guide, which sounded like a Walloon challenge ( ” Come on if you think you’re ‘ard enne uff” ) , but we were not put off. And it was fab. I thought this area was hilly, but didn’t realise there were big rocky outcrops and vertical cliffs – all good stuff. Didn’t even rain too much.
Then on for recuperation at the beautifully named Misery brewery + https://www.miserybeerco.be/
The tasting tray was in ascending order of ABV … I had ordered the dark beer ( stout with chipotle and lime ?!?) before I found out it was 13.5%…
Then the owners came over to say hello – they had gathered we were from the UK ( would you believe their guest beer was a Mango IPA from Northern Monk brewery, by Leeds station ? ). Remi, the head brewer , told us he was influenced a lot by British micro breweries. Though not to the extent of producing anything under 6% ABV, of course.
It was an excellent set-up, in a beautiful old manor house. They told us the “Misery” tag was referencing the massive challenges in launching a new brewery during COVID (summer 2020 ) and flooding – we wished them well !
Finally, we checked out Roche en Ardennes itself – which has this WWII memento in the main car park.
ha ha groetjes Marianne