Mystery

He was looking at a map. “I’ve found a little road that runs by the river from Longuyon to Montmedy” he said.

We set off along familiar roads, then turned onto a road new to us. 

It went through a couple of villages but no sign of a river on our right - just a glimpse of one on the left.  We continued.

Not sure when we went wrong but we found ourselves facing north-east instead of north-west and crossing the border into Belgium.  Still we were rewarded with magnificent views above Lamorteau in the Rouveroy region.

This part of Belgium is like our area in Lorraine, France, and probably elsewhere in this country where people seem to care about their surroundings (and children are taught from a very young age to dispose of litter appropriately) where picnic areas, however remote, are kept clean and tidy with the grass cut, rubbish bins (which are used - no litter here!) and emptied regularly.

Of course that’s how things used to be in England whereas now it seems to be drowning in litter which is caught in uncut verges with either no bin or an overflowing one probably covered in graffiti.  And some people wonder why we of a certain age mourn how it used to be…or maybe I have just turned into a Moaning Old Minnie!   But that spells MOM so perhaps I haven’t changed so much after all…but I am always amazed that people manage to carry full bags, cartons and bottles yet want to quickly lose them when empty - usually out of a car window which certainly shatters my peace of mind.

The cross, in the photo above was erected in 1782 and has survived despite the battles which too would have disturbed the peace of this now tranquil spot.