Fort Leveau, Solre le Château, Lake Val Joly

Travelled :96km
Stay:Landrecies - aire,  free parking, no service point on the Sambre Canal N50.1277 E3.69092
Visited : Fort Leveau, Solre le Château,  Lake Val Joly

Unfortunately upon our arrival at Fort Leveau and reading the sign outside the gate, we found out that it is only open Monday to Friday in the afternoon. So being Saturday morning we missed out! We managed a few photos through the gate and continued on. 

There are lots of bunkers like this scattered in the fields.

Potatoes every where...very popular especially in the Flanders area.

We stopped briefly at the War Cemetery in Assevent,  where German, French and a few Commonwealth Soldiers are buried together. Very poignant. 

We then chance a visit to the church spire in Sorle le Château,  which has a definitive bend in it. They still have not agreed to why...poor workmanship, rotten timbers or on purpose to survive the strong wind storms experienced in these parts? The narrow stone windy staircase only took us to to the base of the wooden part of the structure but even here, we had great 360 views of the surrounding area. The top of the tower is 60 high and it was crucial in the defence of the Château that has since been burned down during the revolution.

 Before we leave we buy baguettes for lunch and got a little tempted by the cakes on offer. We relinquish as we only have 1 week left to enjoy these yummy delights! 

Our next stop is at the very popular Val Joly lake. There is no more room in the parking area for motorhomes so we join the 10 or so others in the next car park.  

A very well prepared fisherman with a very long pole.

We go for an explore before lunch and realise that the afternoons are even busier as cars stream in to enjoy the varied activities on offer here. Too much for us, so we high tail it out if there heading for the chance of a spot on a canal in Landrecies.  

We strike it lucky, arriving about 3pm and managing to get one of the 2 water front spots. It didn't take long for the 4 places available to be full, with a few late arrivals having to find other digs for tonight. Mark promptly changed the tyre, keeping our best one as spare, as we have booked 2 new tyres for the back next week. Then it was time to enjoy our surroundings, ending the day with a BBQ.