Walking in the Ardennes. Jeff Williams
WALKING IN THE ARDENNES
by Jeff Williams
2 POLICE SQUARE, MILNTHORPE, CUMBRIA, LA7 7PY
About the Author
After a short-service commission in the Army, Jeff Williams trained in paediatric medicine and subsequently worked as a consultant paediatrician at a hospital in North Wales for 30 years. During that time he wrote walking and climbing guides for the Stubai, Silvretta and Ötztal Alps. In 2010 Walking in the Drakensberg was published by Cicerone.
After retirement Jeff trained as a safari guide in South Africa and currently teaches newly qualified guides the dark art of approaching dangerous animals on foot with clients.
When he is at home in North Wales he lectures on safari guiding and walking in the areas covered by his publications.
Other Cicerone guides by the author
Walking in the Drakensberg
© Jeff Williams 2014
First edition 2014
ISBN: 978 1 85284 686 2
Printed in China on behalf of Latitude Press Ltd
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Base mapping supplied by Sara Hodges using information © Open Street Map
All photographs are by Maryann Williams except for a few taken by the author and the following: the Maison du Tourisme in Bouillon kindly provided the photograph used in ‘Early guides to the Ardennes’ in the Introduction; I am grateful to Les Amis de l’Ermite de Resteigne for permission to use the plates in Walk 28; and the photograph of the chapelle in Walk 32 is copyright Monsieur O Lefèvre and was provided by the Syndicat d’Initiative at La Roche-en-Ardenne.
Dedication
This book is dedicated to my children Nikki, Christopher, Kate and Jeremy, of whom I am immensely proud and whose achievements I universally admire. They and their families have made an old guy’s life so much more complete. They missed out on a dedication in the last book, superseded by the grandchildren. However, the arrival of a seventh grandchild has complicated matters so I hope they will forgive me for including George here too.
I love you all very much.
Acknowledgements
The publishing team at Cicerone have, as ever, been very supportive and encouraging, but special mention should go to Clare whose cartographic endeavours, help and advice went far beyond the norm.
I recently had the awkward duty of pointing out a large number of errors in a textbook that had clearly not passed through the hands of an experienced editor. Given that good editing is the saviour of many an author I was very fortunate in having Georgia Laval to edit this manuscript. She picked up not just the inevitable typographical errors but also a number of issues of clarity and poverty of information that may save readers confusion and irritation. Importantly for an author, she also was a model of diplomacy.
The gold award for dedication and steadfastness under occasional sniper fire from the author, in an otherwise extraordinarily busy life, goes together with a large debt of gratitude to my wife Maryann. She took virtually all the photographs, did almost all the walks and subsequently organized the digital images so that we could access them quickly and easily. To that add the most arduous but important task of the lot: reading the script and tactfully pointing out errors of commission or omission and grammatical weaknesses, as well as offering suggestions to improve readability. High five MA.
Advice to Readers
While every effort is made by our authors to ensure the accuracy of guidebooks as they go to print, changes can occur during the lifetime of an edition. If we know of any, there will be an Updates tab on this book’s page on the Cicerone website (www.cicerone.co.uk), so please check before planning your trip. We also advise that you check information about such things as transport, accommodation and shops locally. Even rights of way can be altered over time. We are always grateful for information about any discrepancies between a guidebook and the facts on the ground, sent by email to [email protected] or by post to Cicerone, 2 Police Square, Milnthorpe LA7 7PY, United Kingdom.
Front cover: Château de Walzin (Walk 25)
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