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Long one, this...
The Camperstop book said that the stop near Eupen was remote and that it was at the beginning if some cycle routes. What we got from that was that it was probably quite nice around there. Also the picture showed it was in the woods, so if we needed the loo, we should be able to find somewhere. On the map it was near some water too which was a plus, and on the drive there we'd crossed a little bridge over a small river. After the bridge we started climbing some long winding rides and I started to feel the remoteness the book mentioned. After some 10 minutes of driving up through the woods we came to another bridge, or at least thats what we thought it was. We were on a DAM!! A proper one. Like James Bond jumps off of in Goldeneye. It was massive. So we stopped the car at the other end and went back to take some photos. We later got a tourist thing that said it's 66 metres high and 440 metres long or something. The reservoir it contained was huge as well. At the dam we realised that the Camperstop was only about 100 yards away, in the car park by the forest. We rolled in and there were 5 or 6 campers down one side of the car park which was divided down the middle by trees. So we parked near by, next to some grass and we got the blanket out and played cards for a bit. There were still quite a few cars in the car park and people were emerging from the woods after their hikes or bike ride. A sign showed the various routes through the forest and we decided that we should go for a walk in the morning and make a decision about moving on afterwards. There was no loo again which was ok when going under the cover of darkness, but morning wees were starting to be a bit of a hassle for BK when there weren't any facilities around.
We made dinner, the laziest yet (instant noodles and salami) as we were tired from Liege, but it went down ok as we were pretty hungry. And then hit the sack.
The next day we woke up and had our cereal. We packed some bread and the cumin Gouda in to our bag along with the blanket and went off for our hike. It was very hot in the sun and the trees provided some well needed shade. We decided to make a right along the path as that would take us around and along the edge of the reservoir. After a while we found a path that took us down the waters edge. There was a big sign saying no swimming and stuff because it was drinking water and so there was no beach or anything. We found a flat area in the rocky shale and put a blanket down. Becci spotted a bird which we think was possibly an eagle soaring above us, but were not 100%. Then 30 seconds later she spotted a snake swimming along the edge of the water. I tried to snap a photo but you can't really see the markings, and when I got closer it froze for a bit, and then it darted away into the depths and I lost it. After we'd made and eaten some sandwiches we got back on the path, and it wasn't long before we were back at the dam, and then the car. The car park was nearly full and we'd left Lynn in a real dickish parking spot that took up 3 spaces. So we moved her and decided that we'd go on another walk but this time we took BK's binoculars to see if we could spot any other birds. We'd also decided that we liked it around here and that maybe if we moved the car later to the other end we'd be able to use a row of bushes as a bit of a privacy screen for going to the loo. Also it was Sunday evening and we didn't fancy driving about looking for another place so we agreed to do a second night here. Oh, and the chocolate museum! We hadn't been there yet and that would be open on the Monday, so we could go and do that too.
We set off for our second walk, this time hanging a left along the path which took us along a route aimed at kids that had signs telling you stuff about the forest. The first sign said that the walk was 2.5km and once we'd got half way round, we felt that 2.5km was too short and instead of following the "Foxy" kids route (does that sound wrong) and turning left at the junction we were at, we turned right in the forest. This forest was seriously beautiful. I could have walked around it for days. I'm not sure Becci fully understood my excitement. I'm not sure I did really, but I just couldn't get over how big it was and how I felt like you could get properly get lost in it if you wanted. A couple of hours later we ended up completing our loop, and got back to Lynn. We parked up the new space like we'd discussed and made dinner. Hot Dowgs and beans! Easy and filling after all that exercise. We went to bed fairly early but neither of us had a good nights sleep unfortunately. A car or maybe two pulled up and hung about until the early hours and made loads of noise. That's the risk of some of these stops i guess, but those guys were still d*** . there was several campers around that clearly had people sleeping in them.
The next day we headed in to town. We drove a different route that took us along the bottom of the dam and I asked BK to snap a picture as we drove past. Bloody Huge! Anyway, we got into Eupen and parked up, then went to find the tourist office which was in the town square. It was a cool little place with tables and chairs and parasols from 3 or 4 restaurants and hotels. We asked the T.Office about wifi and they said we could pick up theirs from the square so we went and sat on a public bench to test it out before we grabbed a table and got a drink. The wifi wouldn't work, but i asked BK if we could just sit and buy a drink anyway, cos I was in serious need of a poop. Fortunately the place we sat in had a toilet AND wifi, so you may be interested to know (probably not though) that a couple of the last blog entries were uploaded from a Belgian pub toilet.
We caught up with the rest of the blog out in the square with a couple of Belgian beers. I watched the final set of the Wimbledon final on YouTube at last as well. (We saw up to 4-4 in the last set on the ferry, so literally 2 games away from the winner) Once we'd done all our internetty things, we packed up, grabbed a sausage roll and mini pizza from a bakery, and drove to the chocolate factoryyyy. It was only 2 euros to get in, and you got to pick a chunk out of the rejects box to eat as you walked around the museum. It was easy to see why they only charged 2 euros, but actually that's good, because it was in 3 languages, none of them English, and we would have been gutted if it had been more money and we'd still not understood it. In the factory, there was a walkway above the floor so you could look down at them making chocolate, except the factory wasn't open today, so it was just a bunch of big complicated machines just sitting there, not even trying to look busy. The last stop was the shop. Definitely my favourite bit. So much chocolate, BK had to stop me from buying half the shop, and we ended up just getting a couple of brilliantly tacky souvenirs a couple of small bars for the afternoon drive, and a bag of praline cones (as I'm writing this, we've just tried them. They're insane. Like a mini cornetto but no wafer, and hazelnut praline instead of ice cream, with a dark chocolate top!). With that we headed out of the factory and out of Belgium. Germany here we come!
Bosh x x
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