The 'Ardennes Arbalete' attempt...

The original plan was the 'Ardennes Arbalete' from bikepacking.com with the addition of a start and finish from Maastricht instead of Liege.Leaving Liege however it was evident the damage from the storm was way worse than I had anticipated. It was quite shocking to be honest how high the water had flowed and how much destruction it had caused. The military were still cleaning up months after the event and the trails, bridges, paths were all heavily affected. I rode the route in reverse and encountered lots of elevation especially on the second day which was fine but tough. I was carrying all my camping, sleeping and food with me on the bike which was a Specialized Epic hardtail 29er MTB with 2.3 inch tyres. I has happy I chose this bike and not my gravel bike with 40mm tyres as the trails were rough and the climbing steep.After speaking with my good friend Sanne I decided to leave the route after day 2 and take the Venn Baan to Monschau to meet her, hang out and ride day 4 back to Maastricht together. The Venn baan was awesome and a nice direct road route after two days of hardcore trails. It was nice to take my hands of the brakes and shifters!I hope to finish the route as a whole again one time as it is truly epic but think for the foreseeable future the trails will need some time to recover and heal from the damage.Some tips - 80km days are probably a bit more enjoyable. I gave myself 100-115km days and felt the last 2 hours I was kind of done and ready for food and a lie down!Leaving from Maastricht is pretty cool actually and saves hassle boarding other trains if you're coming from the Netherlands.I stayed in a mix of bnb's and campsites depending on availability, how mashed I was and price.