The Belgian Ardennes is a region of great natural beauty. Rolling hills, dense forests and farmland, dotted with attractive villages and sprinkled with castles. The region is crisscrossed by rivers that over millennia have crafted dramatic valleys and steep cliffs. Like isolated regions everywhere, it is imbued with mystery, myth and legend. It has an epic history, witnessing centuries of conflict as armies fought to control this strategic location.
Cycling through this region is a joy on the eye and brutal on the legs. I had set off from Dinant on a circular route taking in the fabulous Vêves Castle, the unusual Catholic-Orthodox Abbaye de Chevetogne, Celles, one of the Les Plus Beaux Villages de Wallonie, and the beer town of Ciney. On some of the more testing hills, it was only the thought of a glass of Ciney Blonde that kept me going.
The cycle by the River Meuse from Dinant to Anseremme lulled me into a false sense of security, it would be the flattest stretch of the route by far. The route took me to Château de Walzin before heading up a series of long, steep hills to Vêves Castle. It dates to the 7th century, but is a fine example of 15th century military architecture. I arrived before 10am so had to admire it from afar. I was soon cycling up a large hill to Celles.
Above the village on a promontory I found the Ermitage Saint-Hadelin. The views over the village were fabulous. Celles has a unique place in history. In the winter of 1944, this would be where the German army’s counter attack against the Normandy landings was stopped. There was much fighting ahead, but there was never any further threat to the Allied advance.
On Christmas Eve 1944, the German 2nd Panzer Division reached Celles as part of Unternehmen Wacht am Rhein (Operation Watch on the Rhine), The Battle of the Bulge as it’s known. For inhabitants of this pretty village there would be a Christmas miracle – American troops liberated it on Christmas Day. Celles was the furthest west the German attack got and their last major offensive of the Second World War.
That dramatic episode aside, Celles is listed as one of Les Plus Beaux Villages de Wallonie and it is an attractive spot set in a dip between steep hills. The huge Church of Saint-Hadelin towers over the small village square. Celles was at the centre of what is today regarded as “the most famous feudal conflict between the Prince-bishopric of Liège and the Marquisate of Namur”. This was the Guerre de la Vache, or War of the Cow.
The details are absurd, but this is the story of how a stolen cow led to a war, the destruction of dozens of villages and the deaths of thousands of people. The cow in question was stolen from its owner in the town of Ciney by a peasant from Celles. The subsequent execution of the peasant led to the conflict and the complete destruction of Ciney. It was one cow, not even an entire herd.
It took the intervention of the King of France to end the war. I was heading to Ciney to investigate further, but made a fatal error of detouring to Chevetogne Abbey. Not that this unusual early 20th century abbey wasn’t worth visiting, it just involved having to cycle up an enormous hill afterwards. There are still monks here, but the place seemed deserted. I visited the Byzantine church and set off for Ciney.
I’m pleased to say, the reconstruction of Ciney in the wake of the War of the Cow was a success. I sat in the town square and ordered a Ciney Blonde in the shadow of the famous Church of Notre-Dame. The church spire is the symbol of the beer. The beer helped, but it was a long and hilly 20km back to Dinant and the Meuse, I have never been happier to sit on train for two hours back to Brussels.
