2025 revisited: the year of the ‘Sedan Incident’

All things considered, I hadn’t planned to spend 10 weeks of 2025 on crutches with my leg in a cast. Add on two months of rehabilitation and physiotherapy, and before you could say, “watch out for the missing cobblestone”, half the year had passed by. It would have been less irritating were it not for the fact that I was immobilised during a summer of unparalleled good weather – for Belgium at least.

The hole in the pavement where a cobblestone should have been, and which proved to be my (literal) downfall, was in the northern French town of Sedan. I now have a metal screw holding some bones together in my foot to serve as a permanent reminder of our visit. Despite its unlooked for effect on my health, Sedan was a pleasant surprise. A town with a massive fortress at its centre that, on market day, buzzed with energy.

Sedan was tagged on to Bouillon. This was our first trip to the Belgian Ardennes and was one of the new places we visited in Belgium. Before the ‘Sedan Incident’ the year began by exploring along the Belgian coast, the Zwin Inlet area was especially nice; biking into the depths of Wallonia, the Abbaye de Villers was a highlight; and cycling in the Flemish Brabant, including to Hoegaarden, the home of Belgian wheat beer.

Brussels may remain a home we struggle to love, but Belgium is a country of surprises and many delights. This year I fully intend to do those multi-day cycles through Wallonia. We began 2025 with a last minute impulse visit to Geneva for a weekend where the sun was shining. No doubt Geneva and its magnificent lake were a lot of fun, but it was an expensive excursion that we won’t be repeating any time soon.

If Switzerland is a pricey place to visit, Spain’s capital, Madrid, remains one of the finest places in Europe and my favourite European capital by some margin. It’s a mystery to me how seven years have passed by since we last visited. A city filled with art and culture, not to mention being a foodie heaven, Madrid is a place where life is lived in public. It is one of the most vibrant cities in Europe.

We try to visit a new part of Germany every year, and it remains a conundrum as to why it punches below its weight in terms of tourism. I’m not complaining, because even the popular Middle Rhine with its attractive towns of timber framed houses, hilltop castles, immense history and centuries of folklore, wasn’t busy in spring. The lovely Rüdesheim am Rhein, one of the most touristy spots in Germany, was a perfect base.

There was one other trip to Germany, a visit to the tortured history of Europe’s borders and conflicts: the Vennbahn. A disused railway that is part of Belgium despite passing through Germany near Monschau. You can cycle through Germany while remaining in Belgium at all times. It’s the sort of surrealism for which Belgium is rightly famed, but is a remnant of centuries of history culminating in the Second World War.

The revelation of 2025 was southwest France. This area is not undiscovered – there are more tourists than you can shake a stick at – but I’m still asking myself why it has taken so long to visit this gorgeous part of Europe. The Côte Vermeille and the small town of Collioure, where we were based, were utterly beguiling. Béziers, Albi and Sète, as well as a succession of picturesque villages like Olargues and Minerve, were equally fabulous.

The only bum note was Carcassonne. This is one of the gems of the area, a near perfectly preserved medieval city that has made it to the 21st century largely untouched. It will probably be studied by future generations as a case study in the excesses of overtourism. Carcassonne is a waking nightmare, a tragedy of unintended consequences residents in Venice and Bruges would instantly recognise.

We made a brief visit to the Netherlands to explore the beautiful and buzzing medieval streets of Maastricht. Often overlooked for the more accessible Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Utrecht, Maastricht is one the finest cities in the Netherlands. We visited the Bonnefanten Museum, walked the riverbank of the Maas and sampled beer in an old brewery, as well as squeezing in some bitterballen for Old Times’ sake.

Back in Belgium after a trip to the UK for Christmas and New Year, I’ve been reflecting on just how well served the British are by National Parks, long distance walking trails and a dense network of public footpaths taking you deep into rural communities. In October, I hiked in the Yorkshire Dales and Lake District National Parks, while exceptional Christmas weather saw me hiking Whernside, Pen-y-ghent and Skiddaw.

There is little better than a sunny winter’s day hiking the hills of northern England. Away from a few honeypot spots, you can walk in silent isolation for hours. It’s a privilege that I used to take for granted. No more. The year ended in London bringing in the New Year with friends and a glorious hike along the Seven Sisters coastline and South Downs Way. It was a perfect cold but sundrenched day that made the early start well worth it.

I look forward to more days like that in 2026.