Bike hauled out of storeroom. Cat sees me off.
Leaving the driveway. Park in front of the house.
Another view from sidewalk across the driveway.
Kindergarten and elementary school to the right.
Square in front of the school. The neighborhood bakery is to the left.
The "No Entry except bikes" sign is in front of the Italian restaurant and pizza parlor. They've got some offbeat toppings, including spaghetti bolognese and fries.
The nearest drugstore at the corner before I turn right (behind me in this shot) toward the train station.
Same corner, in the opposite direction. The train station is behind those trees in the distance.
The patch of trees in the previous photo is actually found on an old slag heap that's now been reforested. We're in mining country here, as evidenced by the miner statue at the entrance of the path leading up the slag heap.
Road leading down to the train station.
Same road.
People leave their cars here and catch the train to work. Most of them head for Brussels. Note the lack of bikes. The station itself was renovated, then abandoned less than 5 years later. National Railways claimed it was losing money keeping the station open. Today it's been transformed into a "cultural space", but I have yet to see an event held there.
Behind the trees on the far side of the train station is the entrance to the RAVeL - the "Réseau Autonome des Voies Lentes", or independent network of slow routes. Meant for bikers, pedestrians and equestrians, these routes were built on disused railway tracks.
On the RAVeL
An old bridge (the little plaque in the middle, barely visible in the photo, reads 1923) over the road. The occasional car zips by.
See that spot up there? It's a nest in the tree! (Photo is tagged.)
And lo! A cell phone antenna.
On the RAVeL. The Crachet mine shaft elevator rising in the mist. On a clear day, you can see not forever, but pretty far.
View through a gap on the other side of the RAVeL path. Lots of farmland around here as well.
Almost at the end of the RAVeL, as marked by those poles.
Another view of the elevator from the end of the RAVeL.
Main road at the end of the path.
In front of the gas station. The old mine grounds, from the elevator all the way past where I'm standing, is now a science museum called the Parc d'Aventures Scientifiques, or PASS.
Entrance to the PASS across the roundabout. I turned back to take this photo.
Field along the main road.
Same field.
Another shot from the same spot. The biggest traffic circle I'll be passing.
Another shot of the traffic circle.
If I were crazy enough to bike to Brussels, Paris, or Liège, and if they allowed bikes on the highway, this is where I'd turn.
This field is found right after the highway exit ramp (the one where I always fear for my life and ring the bell like crazy). That's a new staircase leading up to another RAVeL path.
Why the staircase in the previous photo? See, there used to be a bridge here. Then it started crumbling after a violent thunderstorm. They propped it up while the local and national governments squabbled over who had to fix it. That lasted a couple of years. Earlier this year, they just took it out entirely. It was part of the RAVeL, hence the staircase. I don't know where the people on the other side are supposed to go down, though - there may be another staircase a bit more to the left.
This sign was behind me in the previous photo. It's a path leading to the Malogne phosphate quarry, a vast (over 150 km) subterranean network of tunnels found under the whole area. There's another album with photos from our visit there last year.
A side road leading to a fairly nice residential area.
We actually have "bike lane" signs, although no one seems to notice. Note the absence of bikes - I was all alone throughout my ride.
The cemetery across the road. Plenty of flowers at the entrance, with All Saints' Day coming up.
A flower shop across the cemetery seems pretty confident of doing brisk business this week.
Did I mention we were in mining country? This is the "miner's lamp" monument in the middle of the not-a-traffic-circle, as all apprentice drivers learn the hard way.
The town's main square - I'd forgotten that Tuesdays were market day. This is town number 2 - to get to work, I biked through 3 towns.
The treacherous-to-bikers intersection.
Path leading to Van Gogh's house, on the other side of the road. I'd stop there on the way back.
Behind this wall of gas stations (among the lowest prices in the province) lies a large industrial park and GOCA, the Belgian equivalent of the DMV. Many a driver has unhappy memories of interminable waits during car inspections, or nasty monitors during driving tests.
Parking lot strewn with leaves.
Last traffic circle!
Same spot, but above me, is a peeling "Welcome to Mons" sign on top of an image of the Colosseum. The Italian touch is fitting, because many of the miners came over from Italy in the first half of the 20th century, and a large Italian community remains here.
Railroad tracks at the end of the road.
Same spot, different angle. To get to the other side, I have to take the tunnel.
The beautiful, cheery, bright tunnel.
With lovely murals and a fresh, sun-kissed smell.
Back into the light, to be greeted by...
...a supremely indifferent pheasant. It could have made a supremely delicious dinner,
except that it caught on to my evil designs and fled.
The street also has offices for the French Community. Its symbol is a rooster. The Flemish Community's symbol is a lion. I leave you to draw your conclusions.
One of the dikes cutting through the town of Mons.
Last stretch before reaching the scientific park where I used to work.
That's a flashing yellow light
And presto, I'm in the "Parc Scientifique".
There's also a canal on one side of the park. I'd bike here sometimes during my lunch break.
In the distance, the Mons belfry and the St. Waltrude Collegial Church.
The mall inside the industrial park. Very convenient when we needed to buy groceries or do some shopping during our lunch break or after work.
For some reason, the designers thought putting large African mammals (plus a bear) was a good idea. Perhaps they hoped it would fool us into thinking we were in warmer climes. During Christmas, they dress the animals up in Santa costumes and sparkly garlands.
A material science research institute affiliated with the local university.
Destination. My old office is to the right.
Biked over to the mall for lunch. This is the two-wheelers rack. I have it all to myself.
Lunch! The "Dolce Vita" salad, with greens, pine nuts, prosciutto, mortadella, grilled zucchini, grilled peppers, ricotta, julienned carrots, and fruit.
The local events hall - trade fairs and indoor markets are often held here, as is the Ethias Trophy, an indoor tennis tournament.
Clearer view of the Mons belfry and the St. Waltrude Collegiate Church. Although it has cathedral-like proportions as churches go, it has no bishop and cannot lay claim to the title. The belfry was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1999. In a letter to his wife Adèle, Victor Hugo described its roof as "an enormous coffee pot surrounded by four smaller teapots. It would be ugly if it weren't so big. Size is its saving grace."
Van Gogh's house, or what's left of it. There used to be an annex to the left, but the house fell into disrepair and was a ruin before restoration began in the 1970s. The site was freshened up in the early noughties.
A visitors' pavilion was added to the site, which was reopened to the public in 2007.
Panels recounting Van Gogh's life and work lead up to the house itself.
The sun came out in the afternoon. Another shot of the place where the bridge once spanned the road.
Back on the RAVeL. This time, I met people on the way back, including a kindly stout gentleman who told me to be careful because my kickstand was down.
Back at the entrance, now the exit. Across the road is another entrance to the rest of the RAVeL.
The train station, seen from trackside.
If I went straight ahead, it'd be the same path I took this morning. Instead I turned left...
...onto this bike-only path. It's a long detour through the fields and the woods.
The muddy, narrow bike path.
At the end of the bike path is a wider road that's closed to non-residential traffic.
Light filters through the tree branches. The low wall is part of the enormous Ferme du Temple,
which was owned by the Knights Templar. This is the main entrance. The pillar on the left was a pillory.
At the end of the road is a sign that reads "Le Pilori" - it's something of a landmark, though a lesser-known one in these parts. The other path leads up another slag heap. Wallonia has 340 major "terrils", as they are known here, and hundreds of smaller ones, stretching from Bernissart in Hainaut province all the way to Liège. Bernissart is also known for its dinosaurs: in 1878, miners uncovered some 30 complete iguanodon skeletons. Several can be seen in the Natural Science Museum in Brussels.
Another piece of farmland near the house.
The text below the street name reads "In 1142, the Knights Templar founded the neighboring abbey now known as the Temple Farm."
Council housing on either side of the street; the ones on the right are mostly occupied by single retirees.
Gnarled trunks in the park.
Two paths spiral round the hillock to the top, where something that looks suspiciously like a sacrificial altar stands. In winter, when the trees have lost their leaves, one can see Mons on a clear day.
Rugby goalposts. The neighborhood has two rugby fields, three softball fields, and a pétanque strip.
Afternoon, de light, it is pretty!
And back home again, home again, jiggety jig!
