The Yanks are coming ( well only one)

morning comes and I grab a shower while the youth slowly awakes, then down for breakfast , the shop as well as selling fuel runs a small supermarket, a bakery, and a cafe open to the public as well

its a nice set up and the owner is expanding the idea, himself eats his way through everything on offer, and I do my best, no complaints there and we are set up for the day

bags packed, bikes loaded, and himself does his usual tyre checking routine ( puncture paranoia) while I rip the piss out of him , once packed we decide on a stroll into the town, snap some pics of the cool motorcycles and the memorials to the Circuit des Ardennes, an historic motorcycle and car race circuit ,we find a Statue of Patton that looks more like Mussolini ? Tucked away in a car-park, and then wander about doing the tourist thing, its an attractive town, a return visit to the old 101st HQ and Museum is out as it is closed on a monday !!! so after a few more pics and letting that massive breakfast go down I lead the way to the Mardasson Memorial, without the use of any technology at all !.

Now since our last visit some 2 years before on a wet and windy day, they have built a new visitor centre and museum terraced into the hillside, it also has a cat, plenty of parking, cupboards to lock away your motor bike gear ( we left it abandoned on the bikes as we look like tramps anyway ) the most stunning thing that hits you is a 40 foot statue of the Kiss, no not the one by Rodin but that famous wartime image, of course boys being boys we looked up her skirt, and then had the pleasure of meeting an elderly Belgian lady who grew up here in wartime, post war she moved away to America as the area was so badly damaged from the effects of war that it would take 10 years or more to restore the farms back to production, she joined us as we went into the new museum, after a few pictures ! under the statue

It was so nice of her to take the trouble to tell us all about the area, we learned a great deal more about Bastogne and its wartime history, inside the museum are video recordings made with local children interviewing the elderly residents and hearing their oral history ,the Museum houses a couple of cinemas and is well laid out , a headset picks up signals and gives you an audio tour, this brings a more personal touch to everything , the wide range of objects displayed is stunning, from military vehicles and weapons to household items and even a shops ledger complete with shell hole through the centre , one video showed a couple of Don Rs clattering along with luggage and possessions flapping about, it looked just like us, overloaded Bedouin travellers

I think we spent about 2 hours and could have spent far more time if we wished , afterwards we sat outside and had a meal from the restaurant on site, no complaints about the grub.

Unusually for an American museum it was not over the top, but subtle and informative and told the story from the point of view of everybody involved.

Always worth visiting is the Mardasson Memorial itself, set up high in the tree line, you can stand and trace the course of the battle with your finger on the Bronze models, looking out you see farm traffic following the same roads depicted on the models, little has changed here

After another tyre checking session, and an oil level check for both of us ( small blocks use a bit of oil) the tour continues, I follow a small country lane and climb up into the woods to our first stop, the memorial to the band of brothers, a walk in the woods discloses little of note , so I ride on and park up at our final destination of that day, a smaller memorial badly vandalized ( yes neo nazis are still with us) here the woods nearest to the village of Foy held for so long by the German army have a small memorial and a parking area, as we untangle ourselves, a figure appears looking lost and confused , I decide he must be friendly and probably American, we call him over and make friends with Adam, he remarks on my Sherlock Holmes ability to spot an American at 100 yards, but I point out the flag on his cap is a big clue, we ask if he would care for Chai and he readily agrees ( later he admits to not having clue) we brew up Army style, and get to know one another, once we plied him with food, he told us about his trip, walking across Belgium and getting lost in these woods, he was also thirsty and hungry so we were like manna from heaven to him , we both compared our reasons for visiting and he and Jonathan smoked a stogie as a sign of eternal friendship, liberation money was issued to Adam to allow him safe passage upon our shores and the compliment returned, as he set off to leave for his stop for the night, we loaded his rucksack with our emergency food rations, none of which we needed as we found plenty of eating places, unlike the last time, we then walked into the woods while Adam continued the conversation as he walked along the road to Foy and his stop for the night, as you enter those woods, the feeling is reminiscent of those childhood tales of the forest, Hansel and Gretel and suchlike, the Sun was starting to set, but the sky was never visible as those trees have such a vast canopy that it effective filters daylight to a shadowy gloom, Adams voice grew fainter and he wished us well as we penetrated deeper into the woods, here once your eyes become accustomed to the gloom shell scrapes, dugouts, and other signs of war become visible, a few flags mark the spots where men of the 101st fought so tenaciously, eventually we come to the edge of the wood and look across to the village of Foy, Adam is in the far distance now striding out purposely , if you recall the series band of Brothers you will recognise this very spot, it imposes a strange feeling on both of us, perhaps buildings and places in some way store memories of events, I am open minded, but after an hour we make our way back to the motorcycles, load up, and himself sets the technology for Mons our stop for that night and quite a long slog, we took the scenic route I gather !!

I was really feeling tired now, and even behind my screen the cold was starting to affect my judgement, but riding along in the middle of nowhere, I was just about to catch up and suggest looking for a town, when we saw salvation in the form of the Golden Arches, just in time, as himself was also feeling weary, we sat down and stuffed ourselves and the cold vanished and energy returned, Mons was now not so far, so after a petrol stop we made better progress, there is always the temptation to press on to the stop for the night, but in a foreign country it can leads to a silly and avoidable accident as your judgment is impaired.

Mons hoves into view and after a bit of faffing with his google box we arrived at our stop for the night, a nice looking hotel opposite the bus station, the downside being our room was 3 floors up , that's hard when you are carrying all your luggage, the room was nice though , and soon we were both crashed out.