Mazee

After spending last night in Hastière and its fine little refuge for pilgrims, the host, Marcellinus from Togo, Africa, informed Herman of Antwerp and me that there is a direct bicycle route to our destination for today, Doische. I chose the route Marcellinus indicated rather than the zigzaggy GR 654, and indeed it was much more direct and really a pleasant route to walk, most of it through lush green vegetation. I met very few people along the way: a few bicyclists whooshing by on their beautiful machines.
I arrived in Doische after just three-and-a-half hours of walking, so I decided to buy a few things from a small grocery store, then head on down the route another eight or ten kilometers to this little village of Mazee. It took two attempts to find lodging, but I was welcomed happily to a little chambre d’hôte, Le Point du Jour, which overlooks the valley that most of the rest of the village occupies with its old stone homes and the smell of burning fire wood in the air (does that mean it is going to get cold here tonight?). My friend Herman made the same decision as I, so he arrived at the door shortly after me. We don’t walk together but quite often have been ending up at the same places in the afternoon, so we share tales of the day and plans for the morrow.
I have been skirting the French border all day, sometimes just a few meters from it. (A horn of French territory juts up into Belgium; I’m walking along its western side.) Tomorrow I may definitively enter France or perhaps stop just short of it, if the day gets too long. I have gotten to know a side of Belgium I never really knew so much about; Wallonia is beautiful in its great rurality, and certainly I have enjoyed these days the sing-songy ‘Bonjour, Monsieur!’ that is the ever-cheery greeting I receive as I pass by.
Heavy clouds still hang about, but no rain fell on me today. I am grateful for that and for so very much else. Now to figure out what to eat for dinner in a place with one bar and no restaurants!