La Roche-en-Ardenne is a town of about four thousand folded into a tight loop of the Ourthe river, with the ruins of a medieval castle on a rock above the rooftops. The Ardennes here are not high, but they are steep: wooded ridges cut by deep, winding valleys, with fast clear rivers, slate roofs and stone farmhouses. The town was a tourist favourite long before the motorcycle, and it fills on summer weekends with riders from Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany, who come for the roads.
The town also has a heavy history. In December 1944, during the Battle of the Bulge, La Roche stood on a key road in the German offensive and was heavily bombed by the Allies, and much of the old centre was destroyed. It was rebuilt after the war, and a museum in the town tells the story. The castle above, which was a fortress in the Middle Ages, has been ruined for much longer, and a walk up gives a fine view over the loop of the river. Nearby, a number of memorials and tanks stand along the roads, remnants of the winter of 1944.
The roads from La Roche are the point. The N89 and its neighbours climb from the Ourthe valley over wooded plateaus and down again in series of bends, some tight and some wide, with a surface that is generally good but can be slippery with mud or leaves in the forest. The valleys fill with mist in the early morning, and by the afternoon on warm weekends the road is busy, so the quiet hours are the best. Be careful on the long downhill sections, where trucks or tractors sometimes appear, and in winter ice persists in shaded corners long after the sun has risen.
For food, the Ardennes are known for ham, smoked and dried in the old way, and for pâté de gibier, game pâté, along with boar and trout from the rivers. Local cafes serve Belgian beer with a plate of chips and mussels in season. The town has fuel stations, and Marche-en-Famenne, seventeen kilometres to the west, has more. Rendeux is a smaller village nearby on the Ourthe with a bridge and a riverside walk. Late spring and early autumn are the best times, when the forests are fresh or golden and the traffic is lighter.