On The Tenth Day Of Christmas... the 2011 Historical Bastogne Walk

Around this time last year, Russ and I took part in the 2010 Bastogne Historical Walk. If you recall, we said that we were glad that we'd done it, but would never do it again. Famous last words. Due to my very short memory, I talked the hubby into doing it again this year. I told him that this time we would do the shortest walk (8 K), and would spend the afternoon relaxing with beer and cappuccinos and exploring the town. Sounds like a great plan, doesn't it? So... we got up at 4 am to get ready, met with the rest of our group at 5:30 am, and took off for Bastogne at 6 am. The sun was rising over the hills when we started our walk in the historic city of Bastogne.

As we walked, we could see the Mardasson Memorial off to our right. Last year, this was one of our stops on the walk, but they had us on a completely different route this year. Not too far past this, we reached the point where the trails divided. Our blue trail, the 8 K one, seperated from the other longer paths. As we prepared to turn, Brandon mentioned that he really wanted to see the live re-enactments and scenes from the Battle of the Bulge. Apparently they weren't doing this on the shorter route, so this meant taking one of the longer ones. Do you see where this is going? We all took a vote and decided that we would take the yellow path (18K). Off we went.

How could you not love this country? It's absolutely beautiful. We hiked merrily along, occasionally checking the markers when we realized something wasn't quite right. We had somehow missed the turn off for our 18 K trail and were now on the 23K trail. Suddenly the day wasn't quite so sunny. After studying the map for a little bit, we figured out that we could cut through a couple of towns and reconnect with our desired route. It added a couple of kilometers to the hike, but it was much better than the extra 5 km that we were heading for at the time of our discovery. I was having some very vivid flashbacks from last year at this point. Minus the snow, of course.

Back on the correct path, we traveled on. Occassionally, jeeps and trucks full of soldiers passed us.

There were smaller memorials scattered here and there around the countryside. If you think that the Belgians have forgotten the sacrifice our soldiers made for them, you'd be mistaken.

The original foxholes from the Battle of the Bulge still remain, scattered in the forest along the side of the roads. This reminded us of the real reason we were taking this historical walk. We were there to remember the young men who gave their lives so that others could be free.

Every so often, we came across an encampment of soldiers. It was like traveling back in time.

We entered small towns, watched the soldiers prepare for war, and then traveled on.

We even happened upon a German camp. We traveled quickly by before they realized we were the enemy and captured us.

This lovely lady was being escorted by soldiers. Do you think she was a spy?

Back into the country once more.

The trail stretched on for miles.

We came across another American camp. The soldiers were preparing for another battle. They had spotted German soldiers in the distance, and they were heading our way.

The soldiers went to secure the line.

All of the participants did an amazing job of recreating the look and feel of the battle. It was easy to imagine that we were back in 1944.

After walking quite a long distance, our trail turned and went between two fields full of large beasts. From a distance, they looked like cattle. But when we got closer...

we discovered Bison. Who would expect to see Bison in the Bastogne countryside? Not me.

Bob was not terribly impressed with our group of walkers, so we quickly traveled on.

After around 5 or 6 hours of walking, we made it to the end. In all, we hiked around 20 kilometers ( 12 1/2 miles). This is the fantastic group of people that we had the pleasure of spending the day with. If you ever get the opportunity to take part in the Historical Bastogne Walk, please do so. It's an experience of a lifetime. And some of us are lucky enough to get to experience it twice. Of course, when I mentioned to Russ that is would be fun to fly back next year so we can do it again, he didn't hesitate at all with his reply. I'll let you guess what it was.