View of Montherme, looped by the River Meuse in the glorious French Ardennes Picture: Laetis
Out and about in the gleaming Clementina, hire details below While tootling through the the French Ardennes in Clementina, our trusty orange 2CV, we received friendly waves from nearly everyone we passed.
We felt quite the celebrities as we looped the loop alongside the river at Monthermé and circled the mighty castle at Sedan where bloody battles raged over the centuries.
Since Roman times this border region of Belgium and Luxembourg has been a place of fighting but the fields and forests where armies once marched and resistance fighters hid have now become a stronghold for peaceful holidays. The roads are quiet, the towns are peaceful and, better still, hotel and restaurant prices are competitive compared to some other areas of France.
In the heart of Monthermé’s National Park region we stayed in Les Boucles de Meuse Hotel, a Logis establishment that’s right on the river. The small, two-star property with barely any mod cons, except free wifi, was a gem.
It’s a really unpretentious hotel for walkers and cyclists judging by the boots and bikes, and run by Laurent Artero who offers a warm welcome without any shallow ‘have a nice days’.
Our room was just about big enough for a double bed and the wardrobe consisted of a rail in the bathroom. No matter, the hotel was in the best possible setting and at dinner our plates were piled high with Jambon des Ardennes, white sausage and other regional delicacies – simple, wholesome food washed down by strong Ardennes beer was the order of the day.
The French Ardennes rises north-east from the Champagne region but here beer is the main tipple. There were about 20 brews to choose from in the hotel’s adjoining bar and the locals welcomed us into the fold. We learned to our cost that 13% alcohol Chimay beer offered a knockout blow.
At breakfast, an elderly woman walked in from the nearby patisserie and emptied freshly baked French bread and croissants from a paper sack onto the buffet table so we tucked in and devoured lashings of local unsalted butter and apricot conserve. A high-roast coffee that put hairs on our chest also knocked our hangovers stone dead and we were set up for the day.
We met some guests who had hired bikes from the hotel to ride along the Green Way Trans-Ardennes trails, while others were off walking and canoeing. We did not feel at all guilty about getting into our chariot, Clementina, and she chugged her way high into the hills for the panoramic view of the winding river ‘La Roche à 7 heures’ and Monthermé village. See main picture above.
We drove on to Rocroi, a sleepy star-shaped village, because there was a Bellew link to explore! The village’s fortifications date to the time of Henry II – the king who accompanied Roger de Bellew to Ireland. We walked around the grassy pentagon of bastions that were built to save the village from attack and found no further evidence of Bellews due to the distraction of a market. With bags of apricots and cherries for sustenance we made our to Charleville-Mézières.
Charleville-Mézières is a huge town, but with a population of only about 50,000. Its magnificent square, Place Ducale, is lined with 27 Louis XIII-style pavilions, fashioned after the Place des Vosges in Paris. The place was virtually empty so we sat outside a café watching the world not go by because it was so quiet and admired the symmetry of the 17th-century grand designs.
Arthur Rimbaud, the 19th-century poet wrote many of his works in this, his home town, before he gave up writing aged 20 to travel the world. He is celebrated at the Musée Rimbaud in an old watermill, opposite the house where he was born. An art installation of metal chairs inscribed with lines from his poems were a fun find and another lovely discovery in this under-rated city.
Hotel Les Boucles de Meuse, 1 Quai Aristide Briand, 08800 Monthermé
Rooms 55€ per night Breakfast: 6,50€, Restaurant Menu: from 14€ to 25€
lesbouclesdemeuse.net
2CV hire: Domaine de la Motte, 08380 Signy-le-Petit
retroscapade.com
Travel by P&O Ferries from Dover to Calais return with easy drive down to the French Ardennes - just under four hours including a stop for coffee
poferries.com
More details from French Ardennes tourism at http://gb.ardennes.com
We felt quite the celebrities as we looped the loop alongside the river at Monthermé and circled the mighty castle at Sedan where bloody battles raged over the centuries.
Since Roman times this border region of Belgium and Luxembourg has been a place of fighting but the fields and forests where armies once marched and resistance fighters hid have now become a stronghold for peaceful holidays. The roads are quiet, the towns are peaceful and, better still, hotel and restaurant prices are competitive compared to some other areas of France.
In the heart of Monthermé’s National Park region we stayed in Les Boucles de Meuse Hotel, a Logis establishment that’s right on the river. The small, two-star property with barely any mod cons, except free wifi, was a gem.
It’s a really unpretentious hotel for walkers and cyclists judging by the boots and bikes, and run by Laurent Artero who offers a warm welcome without any shallow ‘have a nice days’.
Our room was just about big enough for a double bed and the wardrobe consisted of a rail in the bathroom. No matter, the hotel was in the best possible setting and at dinner our plates were piled high with Jambon des Ardennes, white sausage and other regional delicacies – simple, wholesome food washed down by strong Ardennes beer was the order of the day.
The French Ardennes rises north-east from the Champagne region but here beer is the main tipple. There were about 20 brews to choose from in the hotel’s adjoining bar and the locals welcomed us into the fold. We learned to our cost that 13% alcohol Chimay beer offered a knockout blow.
At breakfast, an elderly woman walked in from the nearby patisserie and emptied freshly baked French bread and croissants from a paper sack onto the buffet table so we tucked in and devoured lashings of local unsalted butter and apricot conserve. A high-roast coffee that put hairs on our chest also knocked our hangovers stone dead and we were set up for the day.
We met some guests who had hired bikes from the hotel to ride along the Green Way Trans-Ardennes trails, while others were off walking and canoeing. We did not feel at all guilty about getting into our chariot, Clementina, and she chugged her way high into the hills for the panoramic view of the winding river ‘La Roche à 7 heures’ and Monthermé village. See main picture above.
We drove on to Rocroi, a sleepy star-shaped village, because there was a Bellew link to explore! The village’s fortifications date to the time of Henry II – the king who accompanied Roger de Bellew to Ireland. We walked around the grassy pentagon of bastions that were built to save the village from attack and found no further evidence of Bellews due to the distraction of a market. With bags of apricots and cherries for sustenance we made our to Charleville-Mézières.
Charleville-Mézières is a huge town, but with a population of only about 50,000. Its magnificent square, Place Ducale, is lined with 27 Louis XIII-style pavilions, fashioned after the Place des Vosges in Paris. The place was virtually empty so we sat outside a café watching the world not go by because it was so quiet and admired the symmetry of the 17th-century grand designs.
Arthur Rimbaud, the 19th-century poet wrote many of his works in this, his home town, before he gave up writing aged 20 to travel the world. He is celebrated at the Musée Rimbaud in an old watermill, opposite the house where he was born. An art installation of metal chairs inscribed with lines from his poems were a fun find and another lovely discovery in this under-rated city.
Hotel Les Boucles de Meuse, 1 Quai Aristide Briand, 08800 Monthermé
Rooms 55€ per night Breakfast: 6,50€, Restaurant Menu: from 14€ to 25€
lesbouclesdemeuse.net
2CV hire: Domaine de la Motte, 08380 Signy-le-Petit
retroscapade.com
Travel by P&O Ferries from Dover to Calais return with easy drive down to the French Ardennes - just under four hours including a stop for coffee
poferries.com
More details from French Ardennes tourism at http://gb.ardennes.com
Sedan, a major fortress which is now a museum with adjoining hotel
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