After A Terrible Night, A Horrific (Penitent's) Walk

After having slept for two hours, we had to get up at 7 o'clock. At last, I was going to warm up… And annihilate that f*****g metalic tap! The others seemed to have slept rather well, actually. I wanted to get out of this crappy place. But before doing anything else, we had to clean that big room up… What a kerfuffle! We first packed our bags and stuffs, then we took a broom and brushed the thick layer of dust on the ground (a wooden one…) while girls were trying to have a wash with the frozen water.
(Now, I wonder how they managed to pee with such frozen toilets… We, boys, don't have this problem. Except for the fact that when we get outside to pee, our privates are frozen, too…)
The point is that the so-called "hotel" was cleaner than at the time we first entered it… The owners should be hanged publicly! It's a shame to let people sleep there—and make them pay for it! We had breakfast and we prepared sandwiches to eat on our way.

That day's goal was to reach the town of Spa, which lies round 20 kilometres further, by walking through the Fagnes, a protected natural area. On the day before, it had snowed. On the day in question, it rained…

We left that alleged "hotel" (without any bit of nostalgy) and we walked towards Stavelot, then penetrated the depths of the Fagnes. It looked as if it was only a big hill… And the snow conjugated with rain made matters worse… We were exhausted. Soaked socks. Hungry, starving… Fortunately, I had brought sugar along. I was thirsty. My bottle of water being soon empty, I had to eat snow to refresh myself… It was a white hell. I wanted to commit suicide.

We walked for five hours in the wet snow, passing through dark woods and climbing steep pathways. We were completely exhausted. I only had a bit of a chocolate to get some energy… we climbed, we climbed, we climbed…

At 2 o'clock, we finally arrived at M. Delrée's sister's house. We devoured our sandwiches rapidly (this was the best chocolate sandwich I've ever had), while M. Delrée and Schyns were trying to light a fire to heat us up. Stinky, we got back on the roads to continue that hellish walk.

After another 10 kilometres, we walked in the snow-covered Fagnes, where the wind blew terribly. M. Delrée told us there was a coffie shop two kilometres away, so I decided to go as a scout. I was completely annihilated when I found out that this coffie shop was not open—even if a ironic board stated that it was opened! No Cécémel. I would have to wait a little bit more.

We continued and finally arrived to our destination (of the day): a kind of hotel held by sisters in Nivezée, on the highs of Spa. There, we were absolutely thrilled that we had rooms (!) for 3 (!) with three radiators (!) with hot water (!) and a bath (!) and plenty of food was waiting for us. In the evening, our two teachers prepared a barbecue for us, as you can see on the picture. I think I ate 2 kilos of meat—no kidding. And I was still starved.

Later, a man came and talked to us about fairtrade and we took part in a role play, where I had to play a soldier being corrupted by banks and honey producers, while being faithful to a Big Boss, whose role was played by M. Delrée, who was really suitable in this role of dictator…

We went to bed and we slept tight. At last.