Spiers: Memoranda of an autumn tour in 1836

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CONT. AUG. 18. THUR.

only 1 1/2 franc for both.

Our mountain path gave us a sweet view of fine savannah valleys & many others with high wood covered hills on every side. We had scarcely twenty yards of level ground until we came to a bridge over a little bubbling stream by which we sat to break our fast on dates & curacao & water. I am almost tempted to a joke on the title of a book publd by Murray on "Dates & distances". - Such food & exercise suited us admirably. We had lost our way 2 or 3 times in arriving here, but it was fortunate that work people were everywhere engaged in their harvest & we could not long want a guide. A chapel at the corner of some cross roads was frequently mentioned as a spot to which we should have to pass; it was a welcome sight especially as it brought us near to the forest of St Hubert. The chapel was dedicated to our lady as so many roadside ones are & we had reason to return thanks for the guidance she afforded us. Three mountain ash trees waved their beautiful bright red berries over it and standing in the midst of a wild expanse of heath a most refreshing place of rest did it appear.

The great forest of Ardennes which we were now approaching is forty miles round and has formed the scene of many a romance & of Shakespeare's As you like it in particular. Surrounding as it does the town of St Hubert it generally bears that name & like all other parts of the country of the Ardennes which comprise the present Duchy of Luxembourg its surface is everywhere uneven & broken into much variety of hill & dale. A glance at a map on a large scale shows at once its extraordinary romantic appearance, differing entirely from the general character of its neighbours Belgium and France. The forest road along which we journeyed was the most violently rough that I recollect that we kept to the greensward as much as possible and picked some beech nuts which were in great profusion here. We almost wished for the presence of a wild boar, for which

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