Belgium: Route Sans Nom

Don’t you just love technology? Remember the days of looking for places on a real map? Nowadays we can just blindly hop in our cars and follow an automated voice on the GPS without a single clue of where we’re headed, and yet we’re completely confident that we’ll get there. Map, schmap, who needs that? So even as I drive down this winding road that the tom tom (GPS) tells me has no name (route sans nom), I know I will eventually arrive at my destination...

…or not.

When what you’re looking for is part of the forest, how do you really know when you get there? Especially when there are no signs? Am I there yet?

There’s no whining allowed on the road, remember? So I keep walking till I reach the clearing, and there it is, the lookout that supposedly gives you the highest view of the entire Semois Valley. But just my luck, this scaffold has recently had a fire and it is locked up for safety reasons. According to the sign here, there’s a fine that goes with trespassing, but do you think a chain around the lock would stop anyone–do you see all those faces peering over me–especially if that someone (cough, cough) could slip between the doors without needing to unlock it? I’m just sayin’.

Anyway, from here it’s a short drive through a series of small villages to feast my eyes on one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen, Le Tombeau du Géant (tomb of the giant)!

One final stop in this valley tomorrow then I’m taking you to yet another country. Bring your dictionary; we’re gonna need it.

September 14, 2010