Wallonia?
 

Yes, that part of Belgium. I have friends who have friends who own a little house outside of of the village of Deigné. I could rent this house for a couple of weeks next summer for a reasonable amount of money.

I have a couple of roadie friends who want to ride in Europe but don't want to tour. So how is the local cycling in this area? Could we ride around for a week on back roads and have fun? (we're strong riders-- we could easily ride into Germany or France and back in a day ride.

Is there any local roadie clubs we should contact about routes or rides?

Thanks for any any information you have.....

I can't provide specifics but my impression is that Wallonia would be good riding (with some hills and dales). Most importantly the Belgians are courteous and careful of riders. I did a bike and barge trip from Paris to Bruges this summer and it was great, but afterwards did go into Wallonia proper with friends traveling by car and found it to be quite attractive and very probably open to good cycling. Go for it. Tom

I biked through that area going south from Liège a long time ago. It was fairly nice, as I recall. You start getting into some decent hills in the Ardennes as you go south, which is a good thing, as far as I'm concerned. Anyway, I did a little search for cycling clubs in Liège province and perhaps the following link will help you:

http://www.plgsports.be/clubs/clubs_...=21&menu=clubs

That link is for road cycling ("cyclisme"). If you prefer a touring club, search with "cyclotourisme" in the page which this link displays. You can also try some of the smaller towns in the province besides Liège.

There are a couple books that at least partially cover Belgium and bicycle touring.

Cycling the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg (Bicycle Books) (Paperback)

Bicycle Touring Holland: With Excursions Into Neighboring Belgium And Germany (Paperback)