Belgium, 15 December

The Swan Whisperer's 67th birthday. We had a very leisurely breakfast, and didn't set off until about 11:00.  We told the Satnav not to use motorways, a decision I, at any rate, soon regretted as it took us up over the hills on very twisty roads and a few hairpin bends. We changed our minds, and told it to take us on the most economical route, which does tend to avoid motorways.

The Swan Whisperer said he didn't think Belgian villages were as nice as French ones, but I thought we went through some very nice ones. We stopped in Aywailles to shop (me), including a couple of delicious mini buches de Noël to serve as birthday cake,

and have coffee (him), and then drive on over the hills to a little town called La Roche-en-Ardennes which the SW wanted to see. En route, we noticed the snow line was about 450 metres, but the weather was quite nice - until, that is, we parked up in La Roche-en-Ardennes for lunch, at which point it started to rain!

The SW, undaunted, went out for a walk while I had a nap, and then we drive on to Bastogne, at which point it started to snow. The last 20k were a bit of a nightmare, as the snow was settling fast and it was getting dark. We didn't quite dare to park up where we first thought, as it was down quite a steep slope, and how would we get up if it froze overnight?  But there was another one nearer the town which has no prohibitive notices, and does have a Christmas crib, so we have parked up there.

This meant we could walk into the town to eat, in a rather expensive restaurant on the Luxembourg side of the road, but very good. We had fizzy wine to start with, then he had salmon followed by chocolate mousse and I had petit salé aux lentilles followed by a sort of ice-cream sundae, with walnuts!  Very good.  And so, as Pepys would say, to bed, as it is far too cold to sit up although it has stopped snowing and I don't think it's freezing just now.