by Travis Gill
Day 2 – 6 Apr 2019
Ready for another day of riding the TET!
Stairway to Heaven
We started our morning with a short climb up the stairway to heaven! No we didn’t die?! 😳 It’s a roadside oddity in Belgium 😆…
Stairway to Heaven!
A really neat roadside oddity that was engineered and built really well.
Looking down at our mules from the top! The top of the stairs sway a little bit since there in no supports at the top.
A quote at the top reads in Dutch “I am not the way I was.”
A nice diversion to our morning ride!
This is farm country so we came across lots of horses and cows, but the Shetland ponies always got our attention.
Nieuwenhoven Castle
Nieuwenhoven Castle wasn’t a very interesting castle but the walking trails around it were enjoyable.
Enjoying a short walk through the forest…
Chantil made a friend with this fuzzy donkey by pulling tall green grass from the other side of the fence and feeding him.
TET Belgium
Back in the TET. Much of the roads were easy going but there were a few tricky muddy sections.
My kind of road. I think if people are respectful of each other than roads like this work well. We always slow down around others and even stop the engine for approaching horses.
Mud always seems to find us on these trails!
A nice day for riding through the backroads of Belgium.
What do you do when you have a bunch of wooden spools around your property? Make art out of them – off course!
While traveling through a small Belgium village we came across this mural.
But look at the other side! A lot going on over there!!
Fun and whimsical.
Our signs have switched to French “Slow Down – Nocturnal Migration of Amphibians”
A bunker reminds of a past where a united Europe did not exist.
Battle of Waterloo Memorial
These fields are remembered for a battle that took place on Sunday, 18 Jun 1815.
The most impressive part of the museum is this panorama contained within this historic building.
Walking through and sunken memorial gives you access to the panorama.
The horrors of warfare. Thousands of horses and men died on the battlefield that day.
The spiral staircase going to the panorama.
The sounds of 19th century warfare fill the air as you witness this incredible piece of history and artwork.
Wounded soldiers and horses litter the battle field.
War is hell! 65,000 casualties! All within a single day – 18 Jun 1815! This bloody Sunday battle marked the end of the Napoleonic Wars.
“This morning I went to visit the field of battle, which is a little beyond the village of Waterloo, on the plateau of Mont-Saint-Jean; but on arrival there the sight was too horrible to behold. I felt sick in the stomach and was obliged to return. The multitude of carcasses, the heaps of wounded men with mangled limbs unable to move, and perishing from not having their wounds dressed or from hunger, as the Anglo-allies were, of course, obliged to take their surgeons and waggons with them, formed a spectacle I shall never forget. The wounded, both of the Anglo-allies and the French, remain in an equally deplorable state.”
—Major W. E. Frye
The climb up the 225 steps to the Butte du Lion “Lion’s Hillock/Knoll”
We enjoyed fresh strawberries and the surrounding beautiful views.
A map shows where the troops started and the battle took place. It comforting to know that these fields now give life with abundances of food.
The Panorama building looking down from the steps.
The lion looking up from the very bottom. We decided to wait until after the park closed to get a better view of the lion…
…with the drone. Jean-Louis Van Geel (1787–1852) sculpted the model lion that weighs 28 tonnes (31 tons), has a height of 4.45 m (14.6 ft) and a length of 4.5 m (14.8 ft). Its right front paw is upon a sphere, signifying global victory.
After learning a bit about the Battle of Waterloo we found a campsite nearby and got some sleep. Tomorrow we may deviate from the TET in order to visit some WWI sites and other places of interest…
Visit Page 3 for Georges Remi Museum, Street Art in Louvain-la-Neuve, and TET mud!
