Dinant, The Battle of the Bulge Belgium

Travelled:180km
Visited:Dinant in the Meuse Valley and Villages in the Ardennes re WWII Battle if the Bulge
Stay: Nisramont-free parking at the barrage, no service point, swimming/cafe. N50.141258 E5.670930

We spent a lovely morning driving through pretty countryside to the Meuse River which we then followed to the picturesque town of Dinant. 

It is a very distinctive setting with the Gothic church and its black onion dome, under the shadow of the citadel perched on the escarpment above. The cable car to visit the fort is apparantly the shortest and steepest in the world. 

We popped in to see the church which had an huge stained glass window, before having a wonder through the streets. 

We soon realised one of the specialties here are honey-based biscuits (larger ones costing €55!). 

The town is also famous for being the birthplace of Adolphe Sax who invented the Saxaphone in 1846.

It is here that the Leffe beer was first brewed at the abbaye.
The war memorial commerorates the 674 civilians who were executed by the Germans in WWI.

On our way out of town Mark stopped to have a look at a couple of citroen's for sale 1972 and 1985 and dreamed of taking them home!

Just out of town was the Rocher Bayard, a pinnacle rock, which marks the most westerly point reached by the German troops in the Ardennes offensive in WWII.

We then drove through some villages that were marked on the map as having been involved in thd Battle of the Bulge. Briefly, this was a a counter-attack mounted by the German army to stop the allied forces advancing towards Germany. In their attempt to retake Brussels and Antwerp they managed to push back US and British forces, creating a frontline in the shape of a bulge. It ended up being the largest land battle of WWII involving more than 1million men and a 1000 tanks!
We drove through Rochefort and stopped at the Commonwealth War Cemetry in Hotton where 41 Australian soldiers have their final resting place.

On our way to our spot for tonight we drove through La Roche en Ardenne with the ruins of the Feudal Castle overlooking the town from its rocky spur. 

The town suffered damage during the battle and had a few relics around town including a museum.

 As it was getting late in the day we continued on.
The car park at the barrage was very full when we first arrived but slowly people were leaving after a day a swimming etc. until only the motorhomes were left.