I arrived in Houffalize around 4.30pm and by luck I could already go into my hotel room. So that left me with ample time for a ride before dinner. The weather was fine, a tad over 14 degrees and a bit of wind vlowing from the East. I noticed on the Ol'Fosse d'Outh website that they had a new Ravel route opened, connecting Houffalize to Bourcy and then Bourcy to Bastogne. That looked like a good ride to ease into this weekend so I left around 5 pm . The first 10K is a steady climb from Houffalize to Bourcy. The first bit, starting near the hotel, is very steep but then the slope drops to around 3 degrees. After all, this is an old train track and the trains cannot handle any steeper slopes. From Bourcy the ravel veers towards Bastogne and stays more or less on the plateau.

When I arrived in Bastogne I could follow the Ravel all the way to the Bastogne Sud station. There I turned and when I saw markers leading towards the Mardasson War Memorial I decided to ride over and take a couple of pictures. Riding back towards Houffalize the wind was blowing in my side and the last 10K were an easy drop back home.

Ride Stats : 47K and 280/235 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 2h2mins

3054/30420