The Belgium Trip - Very Long

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TCS Tour to Tongeren, Belgium 5.30am 10/4/98 to 10.00pm 14/4/98 On a cold Good Friday morning, before dawn, Terpsichore Morris, Castleford Longsword and Sallyport Rapper crawled sleepily onto a coach and headed South from their native Northern England for Tongeren, the “oldest town in Belgium”, and one time home of some sword dancers. Thanks to a friendship between Brian Tasker and Felix Mommen, a visit the previous year by the Rapper dancers had blossomed into a full-blown visitation by three sides. The schedule was all worked out and journey timings had been done, but of course good old Blighty still had to have the last word, and the A1 was closed at one point due to floods. This meant a detour through Stamford, which only seemed to have one set of traffic lights: right in the way of the traffic! By timing the stops carefully, and using our volunteer auxiliary driver (George from Cas. Longsword) we were able to make up time and got to the ferry as planned.

The sun shone, the sea was calm and the bar was open. After an uneventful journey on the other side, we made it to Tongeren in reasonable time and were soon unpacking our bags at the youth hostel. Some of us were also trying to remember the knack of getting in and out of bunk beds! Felix (but only in spirit, as he’d got flu) and Mieke, his wife, had met the bus and were our hosts for the weekend. They had arranged a meal to be ready for us at the local arts centre, which was more than welcome and very tasty. For quite a few of us, the bar provided the first taste of good Belgian beers, or at least, the first taste of the visit! After the meal, and a little later than planned, those who felt able went for a walk round Tongeren with the excellent Stefan who explained some of the history of the town. (This helped walk off the generous meal). Those who couldn’t face walking far either had an early night or made the acquaintance of some Belgians in the bar, among them Hoegaarden and Kriek!

The next morning saw us up in good time to visit a small family brewery at Kerkom. Felix was feeling well enough to come with us, which was good, because he acted as interpreter. The brewer was a very nice man who was quite prepared for several crates of his beer to be purchased and to disappear into the bowels of the bus! The modest price of the visit also included the customary sample of the produce in what proved to be a very cosy little bar. This also meant that those who had room did some dancing, and it was somewhat reluctantly that we allowed ourselves to be prised out of the bar and onto the coach to go to Antwerp.

After a false start, we got ourselves into the right part of the car park and then headed out into town. There were two dance spots arranged, in the square outside the cathedral, and some of Lange Wappen, the local sword side were coming to see us. The crowd was quite large and very appreciative. There was a cold wind blowing as the afternoon progressed, but it didn’t stop them from watching us. Along with our party there were two girls, Sue and Sheila, (mums and wives) who were step dancers and so they also were included in the programme. The crowd seemed to enjoy their performance, and it provided another example of English traditional dance. The Belgian people seemed genuinely interested in our dance tradition, and it was a pleasure to share it with those who were not familiar with it and who were seeing it for probably the first time. After the dance spots, we dumped our tackle on the bus and then the party split into two distinct groups: the gastronomes/chocoholics and those who made for the pub with 280 beers. Surprisingly we weren’t all that late setting off from Antwerp to Maastricht. Yes, we nipped into Holland for a beer and a dance!

The main square in Maastricht by night is beautiful with the Norman cathedral illuminated. We could only have added to its splendour when we danced outside the Irish pub. It was a cold night, but it didn’t stop people from watching us. The Dutch seemed just as enthusiastic as their neighbours and so we had a most enjoyable session, and even got some social dancing going to involve some of the onlookers. For the second time that day we had to be forcibly removed from a pub and put onto the bus or else it would have been “lock-out” back at the youth hostel. On our return several of us decided it was too early for bed and remained downstairs to reacquaint ourselves with the “locals” we were introduced to the night before!

Sunday was our trip to Bokrijk and the open-air museum. This is a delightful place and well worth a visit, being laid out with relocated old buildings from various parts of the country. These are all furnished and used in the way they were originally. A stage was set on a large green and we were to dance on there. (We also found a pillory behind the church and Dominic did the daft thing by standing on it). The worst of the showers held off for our two dance spots, but the wind was getting colder, so before, between, and at the end of the afternoon’s dancing the excellent café-bars were visited. At the end of the dancing, most of us went to the nearest one and had a brilliant session with the folk musicians who were entertaining the customers there. It was surprising how much English folk music they were familiar with.(It’s rather humbling to admit that we know nothing in the way of Belgian music, and yet there is some very good stuff out there). The room was warm, the beer was good, the music was great and, oh God, the wind was cold when we were forced out and onto the bus. On our return we dispersed to our various rooms to get some warm clothes on and to go up into town for a meal. Roy had arranged a social evening in the upstairs balcony area of the hostel bar for those who felt inclined for a bit of a ceilidh. Others vegged out downstairs and Sallyport fulfilled a prior engagement to dance in a particular pub (and a few more for good measure). It was a very relaxed evening with a certain amount of two-way traffic up and down between bar and ceilidh, especially when it got a bit hot upstairs. It all moved downstairs when Roy, Rosemary, Castleford, Sallyport, Sheila and Sue all did spots in the bar. This person went to bed at 1.30, but certain others didn’t get to bed until just before 3!

Monday dawned bright and sunny - and icy cold. We had the morning free so some took the opportunity to walk round Tongeren and hit the Patisseries (again) and to blow some cobwebs out of our brains. There was a German band in the town that lunchtime and they made their way for a session in the youth hostel. I think that after they’d been on top of the Moerenpoort they needed to thaw out! Shortly after that saw us all in kit, outside the youth hostel, and with the clouds rolling in. This was the time for formalities and presentations. Felix and Mieke were given whisky and flowers, and the squires of the sides and those who helped organise the trip were presented with a specially done print of old Tongeren. We then did a dance each, and afterwards moved on (via the Poorthuis pub) to the next spot. It was during our sojourn in the pub that it started to snow, but this eased off a little about the time we were to head off to the Beguinage to dance, only to come belting down with rain as we got there. The stage was too slippery, but during a slight lull in the downpour we managed to do a dance each on the cobbles and the make it back to the pub as fast as we could! The steppers then did some dancing in the small space available, and I think Roy would still be in there now if he could! Stefan, our guide from the first night, had made arrangements for the musicians to sit and play at the back of St. Catherine’s church, which was adjacent to the next dance spot. We had a nice little session in there, with some people coming in to listen. At the proper time we did our final dance spot outside the Pilgrim and then dispersed for food before those who wanted to were going with Stefan to visit the museum in the Moerenpoort and see the sword dancers’ swords which date back to the eighteenth century. Stefan told us a lot about the history of Tongeren and because he is so interested in it himself, it made it interesting for us. He also plays a mean blues guitar! Later that evening people were to be found in the pubs and the hostel bar bidding farewell to their friends Hoegaarden and Kriek. Some of us made the acquaintance of a creature called Tango, but unless you like drinking Benylin in half-pint measures, you wouldn’t be interested. (It’s beer with Grenadine syrup)! In the same pub Dominic also came across the Belgian custom of pouring gin into beer, which meant others had to pour him into bed later on!

We were all up on time, relatively clear-headed, on the morning of our departure. George and Brian started flogging the beer from the crates for 60p a bottle, and quite a lot was bought. I don’t think any of us really wanted to go home, and we waved a sad farewell to Felix, Mieke and their family. The journey to the ferry was made in good time and so we had an hour and a half at Cite-Europe. I think we all shared the same opinion of the efficient organisation of the place! Everybody clanked back onto the coach on time and nobody had to be dragged screaming out of the booze aisle of Carrefour. The crossing was a little more turbulent than on the outward journey, but nothing untoward. Brian, Dominic and the crates of beer were disembarked in Kent, and Phil was left at Grantham. Because hold-ups had pushed our driver, Chris, close to his permitted hours, George drove the last leg home - through the snow! It was nice to be home, but I think we came down to earth with a bump as we had to get on with our everyday lives again.

So thank you, Tongeren, and please, Felix, can we come again?