Every year John and I participate in the 24 hour volleyball tournament at Malonne in Belgium with our friends and team mates from the Electric Eels.  We visited the nearby town of Dinant and once again enjoyed the volleyball competition.

Andrea relaxing at the gîte

 

 

This year we stayed in a gîte near Dinant.

 

 

 

 

 

Dinant

Dinant is a picturesque town in the Ardennes dominated by a citadel perched high on craggy cliffs.

Paul, Andrea and John at Dinant

 

 

 

At the foot of the citadel is the Gothic Notre Dame church.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

cable car at the citadel at Dinant, Belgium

 

 

To reach the citadel we decided we'd take the cable car rather than walk up; the steps looked rather steep.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fiona at the Dinant citadel view of the River Meuse and Dinant
From the top Andrea, John and I admired the view of the town and the River Meuse below.
Andrea looks over the citadel walls at the Meuse Valley For a change a picture of the both of us!

 

The Dinant citadel has been the scene of many battles over the centuries.

We explored the citadel and discovered that it had seen many battles over the centuries, the most recent being in the Second World War when the Allies fought the Germans, who had occupied the town.

Fiona and John at the citadel at Dinant, Belgium

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Loose canons 

Everyone should sit on a canon at some point in their lives!

 

 

 

                                      ...or just cannon fodder?

 

 

 

 

We visited the Notre Dame church

stained glass windows in the Nôtre Dame church at Dinant amazing stained glass windows at the Notre Dame church at Dinant

and admired the stained glass windows.

 

Volleyball

After the sightseeing it was time to play volleyball.

Electric Eels volleyball team at Malonne, Belgium

 

 

 

 

Meet the Electric Eels team 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Electric Eels

 

Iain, Paul, Ilona, Andrea, Louise,  John and Andy ( and our loyal supporters Misha and Pollie).

 

 

 

 

 

 

Paul sprints to the net

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

John prepares a winning spike

 

 

Action on court.

 

 

 

 

 

Ilona, John and Paul are ready for that volleyball

As usual after all the action we tucked into chips and beer.

Andrea, Paul and Andy after the volleyball.

 

Cheers!

 

 

The Leeds teams, The Electric Eels and Tetleys congratulate Joseph for organising another enjoyable volleyball tournament.

 

 

 

 

 

See the photos from 2002, 2003, 2004,  2007 and 2009.