Can You REALLY Move The French-Belgian Border By Accident With A Tractor?

YES WE ARE ASKING THE BIG QUESTIONS AGAIN. In early May 2021, a Belgian farmer hit international news when he moved a stone out of the way of his tractor, and accidentally shifted the French-Belgian border 2.3m into France. Or did he? Is it actually possible to move a border just by moving a stone? And why did he suddenly feel the need to move it, when it's been there for 200 years? I went to the little village of Bousignies-sur-Roc to find the truth behind the story...
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CREDITS
Voice of Madame Wélonek by Francesca Vitti
"Map Men" theme music originally by Jay Foreman - • MAP MEN
"Stonehenge" song originally by Ylvis - • Ylvis - Stonehenge [Of...
Latest Belgium travel advice - www.info-coronavirus.be/en/tr...
AND NOW FOR ALL THE ARTICLE LINKS
BBC: www.bbc.com/news/world-europe...
CBS: www.cbsnews.com/news/belgian-...
Der Spiegel: www.spiegel.de/panorama/belgi...
France Bleu: www.francebleu.fr/infos/insol...
La Voix Du Nord: www.lavoixdunord.fr/992266/ar...
New York Times: www.nytimes.com/2021/05/05/wo...
SudInfo.be - www.sudinfo.be/id392001/artic...

[@supersourbob]

Tim is now doing high risk border conflict documentaries.

[@steveaustin2686]

Worst of all is that he evidently stirred up the llamas and aliens too.

[@Korilian13]

He shouldn't risk his safety like that for a few clicks. Think of your family Tim!

[@gadaadyn8190]

Well, shoot 🤣

[@geonerd]

The wine and chocolate smugglers are ruthless! ;)

[@bigblue6917]

@@geonerd I see you avoided the truffle hunters. A wise decision.

[@GenialHarryGrout]

While crossing from France to Belgium, Tim carried French soil on his shoes which was deposited in Belgium, and France wants it back

[@bapgames4210]

Lol bien trouvé !

[@phlerpen]

I like that he started playing the music from Tintin when he crossed into Belgium

[@K0sm]

There's no need, Belgium is a French region already.

[@jeanpierreragequit1726]

hahaha

[@johnbrown9542]

I stole a rock from Mexico once’s when I illegally swam the Rio Grande for about five minutes

[@RussellNelson]

0:50 You CAN move the border between NY and Pennsylvania just by moving a stone. While the border was intended to be a straight line, they marked that line by placing 1 foot square granite markers every mile and at significant roads. As you might imagine, they didn't do a perfect job, and so they vary a bit. Rather than have the line constantly resurveyed and the markers moved, the decision was made to have the location of the markers be the official location of the border. And, if a market has gotten lost, the border then runs on a straight line between the two markers on either side of the missing stone.

[@ShadowDragon8685]

But what happens if, hear me out here, some _nefarious person_ comes along and, say... Collects all the stones, each and every last one of them, and grinds them to gravel before anyone notices? Did this _supervillain_ just reduce the number of States in the Union to 49 through the forcible merger of New York and Pennsylvania into New Pennsylvania? Pennsyl York? (Boring answer: they'd probably just properly survey the border, and then look for our hero to send them to prison for disproportionate amounts of time.)

[@BA_1673]

what about when some random madman decided to move that rock all the way to south carolina

[@francisdec1615]

My home province used to be Norwegian, but it was ceded to Sweden in the Roskilde peace treaty in 1658. People in the neighbouring province destroyed one of the granite markers and moved the border about 2 kms in one place. This was tolerated by the authorities, since it was a conquered "enemy" province. Ironically the whole parish in the neighbour province was transferred to the county that was later made out of our province in an administrative reform in 1967, because the border was too close to the municipality seat on our side of the border. You couldn't do that nowadays, I mean moving a province or county border and have the authorities accepting it. It's also a crime, of course.

[@towaritch]

That's so lazy

[@noidea2568]

@@ShadowDragon8685 That's so cartoonishly evil, I love it.

[@TheRealDoctorBonkus]

I appreciate the Tintin theme when you entered Belgium and Ylvis “Stonehenge” when finding out it’s a mystery. Attention to details is what gives this channel the final push!

[@KroltanMG]

I hadn't quite put my finger on Tintin, but now it's evident!

[@Dark_Peace]

As a Belgian, I noticed it right away, I like ytbers who have good refs

[@danroro1722]

@@Dark_Peace As a Tintin fan, I also noticed the Tintin theme tune right away! As a bonus, it was discreetly played at the very moment when Tim sneaked into Belgium. Serious stuff 🧐!

[@handlessuckdick]

I didn't realize it until near the end when he stopped talking and I heard it more clearly, but when I did, I was so taken aback and excited; barely anyone knows what Tintin is here in the U.S.

[@sheevone4359]

Amazing that others noticed that. Normally I'm the one that doesn't get the music references, now I assumed it would finally be the other way round.

[@DonBalasso]

My theory about who moved the stone is, a british youtuber living in Paris ran out of video ideas during lockdown. So he secretly moved the stone just to film a video about it a couple of weeks later. ;-) Love your videos, always very entertaining :-)

[@RemiCardona]

I'm fairly sure he's responsible for the 4-way No Entry sign bungle in downtown Paris as well!

[@WillN2Go1]

@@RemiCardona I think you guys are two scenes away from a hit movie idea.

[@joermnyc]

Tim: “Je m'en suis tiré aussi, s'il n'y avait pas eu ces enfants qui s'en mêlent!”

[@JostSchwider]

Sounds plausible... 👈

[@edwardlane1255]

thanks, I've now learnt the french word for meddlesome :)

[@stephaniesews6603]

"Showing my negative test to the border" had me cracking up. Did the border accept the test?

[@thorsteinj]

It was left speechless by the results...

[@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721]

Well, the border wasn't sure where it's supposed to be.

[@Polyglot_English]

Детерминизм это Свобода 🤙

[@chicobri]

Well, the border didn't reject the results, so I guess it was passively accepted and tacit permission was given at that time. Semantics!

[@nakoda1610]

no, they diddnt

[@vader6106]

“So how do you plan to invade France?” “Don’t worry, I have a stone”

[@xaius4348]

Why go after france when you can move France towards you

[@DavidKnowles0]

@@xaius4348 because everyone loves to invade France!

[@il_principe]

That would probably be sufficient to make the french surrender yes

[@silverbackwrites]

7:27 that's not just viral journalism, it's also a perfect example of circular reporting. Someone publishes a thing as fact, everyone else, believing that Someone #1 has properly done their research, then goes on to cite that thing as if it were true; little made up tidbits get added along the way and, sometimes, the circle actually closes, with Someone #1 then citing all those other articles, believing that they had also done their research.

[@Septimus_ii]

It's a big problem with niche wikipedia articles because wikipedia is often the best online source so other websites copy it, sometimes word for word. They when someone comes along looking for citations the only thing they can find is all the websites that copied the original wikipedia article.

[@DavidKnowles0]

I remember being taught this in Drama class for some reason. We all sat around in a circle, the teacher gave someone a sentence or two to whisper to the next person and by the time it was whispered around the circle by the end it was completely different.

[@ErikB605]

@@DavidKnowles0 I love that game. Though it was a lot easier to convince people to play when we were still children :D

[@monad_tcp]

I always knew academy was a MLM pyramid

[@aelfric7483]

just like the dishonest media knowingly spreading the misleading buzzfead story against trump which was a fake dossier

[@SanderEvers]

I lost it when you showed your negative test at the border. Really funny.

[@matsv201]

Passning central eurupean borders is almost sureal. Remeber once passning into swizerland that have much harcher border Security "Border crossing is unmaned, please call this number of you have anything to declare"

[@nonchip]

just because there's nobody to look at it doesn't mean you shouldn't show it ;)

[@JonatasAdoM]

"Belgium best country. Checkpoint not required."

[@nomadMik]

@@matsv201 France into Switzerland was actually the toughest border crossing I've ever experienced, and I've crossed some pretty dodgy borders. But none of them involved eight uniformed guards and an apologetic looking German shepherd. I think they got a dud drug tip-off.

[@nomadMik]

@@matsv201 Then again, when I was a kid, well before Schengen (or before the Wall came down), I found myself accidentally in Germany, when I'd gone bike riding in the Netherlands. I didn't have my (Aussie) passport on me, so I had to do a lot of riding around, avoiding checkpoints, to find my way back.

[@BangersAndMash98]

8:40 "I can bring you..." *B-Roll with a Dacia Sandero pops up* "...Good News!" Absolutely beautiful.

[@juststeve5542]

I wonder how many get that reference! :-D

[@nicopavvi8494]

So Tim is a fan of James May?

[@Jehty21]

Oh God. I didn't know about that meme. Definitely worth to look up :)

[@nephilimcrt]

Good catch!

[@JasonEllBowling]

I'm glad that you pointed it out so that I didn't have to. This is wonderful!

[@robinwijnant]

The reason why the stone was moved is probably because some hikers needed a way to go over the fence

[@DaveP1991]

As a Brit you missed a golden opportunity to have just left a small Union Jack in the disputed area to claim it, as is traditional.

[@vasy7579]

I love the theme of the old "Tintin" cartoon in the background!! As a Belgian citizen, I appreciate it greatly :)

[@JamesTobiasStewart]

Yes as a big Tintin fan, that was a lovely touch.

[@hedgehog3180]

Could recognize that tune anywhere.

[@bagaskaraiqbal7a]

YES

[@chipsk8361]

As an American who grew up on those books (and the cartoon series) I also appreciate it

[@HarshKumar-tw3st]

So I wasn't the only one to recognize it :)

[@JagoHazzard]

That’s pretty crazy, but one time someone moved the border so far that Hainault ended up on the Central Line.

[@trainzmarcel2074]

i keep seeing u in the comments of videos i watch

[@Castlebank_Sidings]

Ha ha ha I just commented along the same lines..... No pun intended although it was central to my thinking

[@lukestevens8735]

I would have been tempted to rotate the stone around its vertical axis...

[@AmedeeVanGasse]

@@trainzmarcel2074 If you like The Tim Traveller then you should follow Jago Hazzard's channel too!

[@Castlebank_Sidings]

@@AmedeeVanGasse Jago is now a legend in his own time

[@noelphilips]

No video is complete without a Captain Slow reference.

[@keithphilbin3054]

Hey Noel, great channel yourself ! 👍🏻

[@thefareplayer2254]

It makes my heart happy to know you watch The Tim Traveller's videos!

[@Polyglot_English]

Детерминизм это Свобода 🤙 🤙 🤙

[@Schatzjaeger2]

Good news:

[@Rockshowsnodeth]

I was just thinking that myself. "Good news!" Whilst showing a Dacia Sandero.

[@stampycatfan01lol]

I can’t tell if the moment where Tim says “good news” while a Dacia Sandero is in the frame (8:42) is a coincidence or if it was done on purpose, but I love it.

[@jameswilliamson4508]

I just watched this again for the first time since it was first published and caught it! Yes definitely deliberate - great little easter egg :)

[@JimmyMish]

It has to be on purpose.

[@user-fp6dt1os1l]

I'm pleased to hear that a major border war between France and Belgium is "avoidable"

[@kobusg7460]

I was also starting to worry about "The Start of WW3 was due to a Stone", ha-ha. What a relief that the matter is being resolved. Hopefully. After all, France and Belgium are not the highest-ranked-countries in resolving any matters - in fact, isn't that the very reason for Belgium's existence? Tim's career as "front-line war journalist" has begun :-)

[@Lunch_box]

I heard France immediately surrendered

[@SeverityOne]

Currently, no border wars are permitted due to Covid-19 restrictions.

[@Elwene2fr]

@@kobusg7460 Isn't France the country with the most victories in the world ? (it's not a pride because war shouldn't exist, but I don't think we can say they don't stand a chance)

[@lucasstr5653]

None wants a meaningless border war with one of our biggest ally

[@jameswilliamson4508]

This is precisely the kind of serious coverage of critical geopolitical issues that are the reason I subscribe to your excellent channel. 10/10

[@ommsterlitz1805]

It's a serious act of war and France must now create a new empire and annex all the left flank of the Rhine so the glorious _Natural Border of France_ is once again achieved and the border unmovable.

[@auxencefromont1989]

@@ommsterlitz1805 germany : divert the rhine toward the atlantic

[@skygge1006]

When the German “tractors” start pulling up and you know something went wrong

[@ShadowDragon8685]

"Since the 1940s, when, because it's on the French-Belgian border admittedly quite a lot happened." Thank you, Tim, now I know what the attempted snorting of a chunk of banana that was in my cereal up my nose feels like. Spoiler: It's not pleasant, but I laughed nonetheless.

[@KarimMaassen]

That Tintin music when going into Belgium

[@vcalblas]

Also: Tintin is called Tim in Germany. And as we all know Tintin travels a lot. Which means that... the Tim Traveller is Tintin! Which only makes me wonder, where does he hide his little white dog in all these videos?!

[@georgH]

Came down to just see this comment 😊

[@ochadeshita]

That "what's the deal with Stonehenge" cover.

[@J0naz05]

@@vcalblas Maybe Haddock takes Struppi/Snowy because he is too old now, i mean this Tim looks not that old but a bit older than the Tim i know from Herge

[@matthings4133]

Yes! Was about to say the same

[@aplanosgc6963]

Playing the Tintin opening theme as you enter Belgium. I see you're a man of culture.

[@dyobodraode2554]

So many memories

[@CyriaqueBouchet]

Was about to say just that! Delightful!

[@MachuThePichu]

It is honestly a musical masterpiece and deserves more recognision

[@dyobodraode2554]

@@MachuThePichu I agree

[@MaJuV]

Glad I'm not the only one who noticed. Made me giggle when I heard it. :-D

[@MNTwinsGeek]

It's great to see that the British are still defending Belgium's border sovereignty, just like in 1914 and 1940. Hopefully this time turns out a little better.

[@leef8433]

Yea they sucked in 1940

[@StevenPurdy88]

Loving the Yorkshire/French accent mash up. You've literally entertained me through a small portion of my lunch break, excellent work Tim!

[@TheZapan99]

Tim should look into the French-Italian dispute of the Mont Blanc border, where a similar incident was caused by a ski instructor fencing out a disputed slope to avoid accidents, prompting the Italian government to issue a diplomatic complaint for territorial invasion.

[@ReddoFreddo]

I love how we send Tim off all over Western Europe to investigate mildly interesting geographic oddities.

[@tuneskramer69]

So next vid, Tim on the Mont blanc. Nice!

[@ericpraline]

Oh yes

[@panzerknoef]

Yes. Send the lad up Mont Blanc, I support this idea

[@RoadDestination]

@@tuneskramer69 No, the Mont Blanc is not in Nice....:-)

[@mikosoft]

Playing Ylvis' Stonehenge at the end. I see you're a man of culture.

[@totodelc8962]

And tintin too in Belgium...

[@jeffreyshort4531]

I would have expected Spinal Tap as well :)

[@Slowsk1er]

Brunost

[@hjalfi]

@@totodelc8962 And _'allo 'allo_ in France.

[@Hannah_Em]

I'm very glad to see so many other people noticed that reference, too! it's such a classic song

[@iDk-dp1bi]

“The voice of the north” and then Last of the Summer Wine theme starts playing. Amazing.

[@johnladuke6475]

I like how Tim is utterly horrified at the concept of trespassing on private property, but is satisfied to sneak across an international border to solve the problem.

[@eliassirvio2779]

Oh man, so many extra points for the Tintin soundtrack!

[@MichelFortin898]

I also noticed ! Extra points indeed well deserved!

[@statesecretmusic]

Ahhh you beat me to it. Who would've known that a video about pedantry would have so many detail-oriented people in the comments.

[@mfaizsyahmi]

From his look and his content, I'd say he's a modern day, grown up Tintin, with slight change in name.

[@bahnspotterEU]

@mfaizsyahmi. In Germany "TinTin" is already called "Tim", making this reference perfect for a German like me.

[@ddemaine]

Sneaky use of BBC Question Time theme tune too

[@thefareplayer2254]

Tim: “I must cross into Belgium.” *Is in the woods in the middle of nowhere* *Still shows negative PCR test.* Never change, Tim!

[@winnipeginstinct]

then clarifies a minute later that he doesnt need to have a negative test if he is leaving in less than 48 hours

[@KuK137]

@@winnipeginstinct He doesn't have negative test on way back to France, technically, not on entry to Belgium :

[@youraveragemexorican]

I changed it from 666 likes 667 HA *I AM THE DESTROYER, MORE TERRIFYING THAN SATAN HIMSELF*

[@stevenwilliams3038]

Don't want the border to fine you

[@alexng704]

Belgium....Then comes The Adventure of Tintin music

[@daveh3299]

Everyone is mentioning the Tintin music but the Treasure Hunt theme playing while he was looking for the stone was genius! 😂

[@sjbertsch]

This is why our village in Switzerland walks our border every year, checking if the neighbors have moved the border stones. It’s a big party...we roast sausages. The major stones on the French border seem safe, but you never know if the neighboring village is up to no good. It’s tricky because the border stones have different symbols, depending on what century they were placed.

[@alexmills6086]

Tim answering the most pressing questions we didn't know we needed answers for. Brilliant.

[@iCorx]

Oh my god the Tintin music when you crossed the Belgian border. Brilliant !

[@jyb906]

it happens everytime we cross the borders... Don't know where th sound is coming from...

[@invock]

What do you mean "Tintin music"? It's the Belgian national anthem.

[@grossniklaus]

I love the “Tintin” cue when Tim crossed over into Belgium! Just perfect!

[@alexisjordan3303]

Tim, watching your videos and hearing the Tintin and Games without Borders tunes, as a Frenchman who grew up on these shows, is a sort of mental candy. Thank you.

[@Happymali10]

1:36 As a German, I probably shouldn't have laughed.

[@swededude1992]

You Germany have a small borderdispute between Switzerland and Austria about a lake in the south.

[@sapphiredawn5773]

@@swededude1992 he was talking about ww2. R/woosh

[@sapphiredawn5773]

Germany winners of tour de france 1940

[@APersonOnYouTubeX]

@@sapphiredawn5773 yes and no

[@APersonOnYouTubeX]

@@sapphiredawn5773 I prefer yes

[@BrianRonald]

I, for one, appreciated Tim not resorting to lorem ipsum.

[@steveaustin2686]

IKR

[@parcelmonious]

Me too. Never had to take two screenshots of a video just to read made up news before :)

[@steveaustin2686]

@@parcelmonious I'm on my PC (yes, I AM a dinosaur), so I could just rewind and enlarge the screen to read it. :)

[@arvibi3084]

Here to say that I too read the whole newspaper.

[@Pouckie90]

I hope he enjoyed the pub even more after writing those stories :p

[@jfrancobelge]

I happened to get lost in that rural area, lost on a web of small country roads - that was a relatively long time ago before I had a GPS in my car. Thought I was on the Belgian side until I saw a yellow mailbox on a wall, then I knew I had inadvertently crossed the border into France because mailboxes in Belgium are red. I am a Frenchman who's been living in Belgium for a long time, so I'm home in both countries anyway.

[@tulippasta]

Love your work Tim. As an Australian I just find it fantastic that these cool old stones engraved "1819" on them are littered around the place... and that no one has stolen them! What a great conversation piece!

[@fumanchu4785]

150kg! Can't hide them in your pocket..

[@RichieLarpa]

No surprise, you do not have bordering countries, which I am sorry for. Crossing a border without restictions and immediately is an unexplainable joy.

[@matsv201]

"I now just got 47,5 hours to get out of belgium" Missed a chance pf playing "Living onnthe edge"

[@SportyMabamba]

Push It to the Limit would also fit

[@matsv201]

@@SportyMabamba yea.. there is probobly a few Great alternatives

[@Eddyspeeder]

Let's picture this: You are looking for a stone that EVERYBODY has been talking about, but you don't know where it is and searching for it might take hours. You get off a bus in a town and you conveniently speak the local language (albeit not the Ch'ti dialect). Now the only thing standing in between you and a whole village of people you could potentially ask is: you're a man.

[@bacicinvatteneaca]

People speak/used to speak flemish in the area, not ch'ti

[@pawion]

@@bacicinvatteneaca Picard is the historic language, not flemish that used to be spoken in the Westhoek area, very far from there.

[@bacicinvatteneaca]

@@pawion really? Picard all the way up to Belgium?

[@legreg]

@@bacicinvatteneaca It's more like a continuum of langues d'oïl.

[@pawion]

@@bacicinvatteneaca yes, Picard all the way up to and inside Belgium. They spoke Walo-picard in Hainaut.

[@KabouterRPG]

When you broke into the Northern English accent I nearly wet myself. I was NOT expecting that. And then Stonehenge. Well played, sir. Well played indeed.

[@cigmorfil4101]

I was wondering about Last of the summer wine theme just before that point.

[@shadowski1839]

"Good News!" while showing the Sandero was a very nice and subtle thing. Love it!

[@mixererunio1757]

It's interesting that they kept that N for Netherlands and didn't carve B there, after Belgium got independence. Another interesting thing that when Czechoslovakia broke apart, border stones on Polish-Czech (and probably the rest of borders) side were recarved and repainted from CS to simply C.

[@ThibaultLapers]

Because it is simple from the Treaty of Kortrijk in 1820 separating France and The Netherlands as Belgium became independent in 1831 only

[@dickjohnson4447]

Norway could come along and point at the N and claim it theirs

[@SuperBlooper057]

The thing is, that sign clearly is from, at earliest, the 20th century.

[@workaholica]

Simply claim the letters stand for "frontière nationale".

[@57thorns]

Just how many thousand border stones would need to be changed?

[@ncw911]

Playing Tintin's theme when crossing the border is genius. Bien joué !

[@Mindartcreativity]

I grew up and live in Luxembourg, close to the French border. When I was a kid I always went on walks with my grandpa through a forest where the border is. Directly near a water spring on the Luxembourgish side there were also these border stones. During our walk we went there to refill our water bottles and I would quickly go over the other side of the stone and take a piss on the French side😂I always found it hilarious😂

[@ohitsrusher842]

Good thing you stopped, if you did it to much they might've surrendered and lost all their land. Who would the British be able to make fun of then?

[@antoine1915]

don't worry, france piss over luxembourg verbally every day

[@jacobeii]

true hero

[@il_principe]

Belgian luxembourg or the grand duchy of luxembourg?

[@SeArCh4DrEaMz]

As a belgian i can actually appreciate the tintin opening music when u crossed the border. nice touch mate ;) cheers

[@Raezioo]

I'm from Belgium myself, and the moment I saw this in the news, I thought: "This would be a perfect topic for Tim to cover." Guess I wasn't wrong 😁

[@OHOE1]

Herd that Tintin music in the video

[@prazertixa1]

Ik zin ne vloamink mo Ken nog nooit da gezien of der van gehoord.

[@soly-dp-colo6388]

I love the Tintin music in the background ! :D

[@takix2007]

The adventures of Timtim, of course 😉

[@matsv201]

Its just how it sounds in belgium all the time

[@DentorumM4687]

Was looking for this one. Anyone knows the name of it?

[@soly-dp-colo6388]

@@DentorumM4687 This soundtrack? kzbin.info/www/bejne/eYCWYXqmrrWEhqM

[@namine3676]

@@takix2007 In Germany Tintin's name is Tim.

[@Gasmanic]

Everyone is rightly praising the musical choices in this episode, but I think there needs to be a special shout-out for the way the Question Time music seamlessly segues into the main theme music (via a Picardie third, no less). So musically satisfying!

[@hapticflapjack]

thank you! I was trying to place that musical cue, and couldn't place it.

[@hadri1]

The Tintin song and the Stonehenge song were amazingly placed :) Also great angry article! Simple but effective, great work. I'm hoping the peace stays long enough for me to visit.

[@SwinkMcloud]

This is hysterical. Love how you showed your papers at the border. Love how you settled international conflict to prevent a war. Genius.

[@thatsnice6948]

Yes, another Belgian video. When you come back to Belgium, be sure to visit the Ronquires boat lift (or Strep-thieu)

[@kassistwisted]

[@kawaiibenson8925]

I love it that as soon as you enter the Belgium border the Tintin theme starts playing.

[@opes]

As soon as I heard the "GOOD NEWS", I paused, backed up the video, and there it was. The most important car ever

[@l.a.k]

Tim: *enters Belgium* Tintin theme: *intensifies*

[@aerjenvantorre514]

Timtim

[@Eldiran1]

@@aerjenvantorre514 in which language did we say timtim ? And how do you call the dog , milou ? (I'm french and we use the same name as the belgium one)

[@aerjenvantorre514]

@@Eldiran1 haha i know i'm from belgium myself, it was a joke cause his name(guy in the video) is tim

[@Eldiran1]

@@aerjenvantorre514 ah of course ! To be fair , i know milou is named differently in a lot of other country .

[@KayJay01]

That shot of the Dacia Sandero while saying "Good news!" at 8:43 is the greatest reference I've ever seen. Well done!

[@RM-bv1xm]

I love the fact you played an instrumental version of Ylvis - Stonehenge at 8:30. Brilliant attention to detail; yet another reason this channel is one of the best on youtube in my opinion.

[@nedcaderni]

The Ylvis Stonehenge piano cover was an exceptional touch

[@TravelSignal]

I was hoping for Spinal Tap 🤣

[@Cuv266]

This reminds me of that Franco-Belgium comedy movie called "Nothing to Declare"

[@paulbrouyere1735]

Then you should definitely also watch ‘Bienvenu chez les chti’s’

[@mxyz6888]

The „good news!!!” with the 2 Dacias in the background got me! You re such an easter egg master.

[@timpaniman71]

One of your best videos yet Tim! Perfect combo of fact and humour.

[@iaw7406]

8:42 I love how you say "GOOD NEWS !" whilst showing a Dacia Sandero. Great !

[@robertkirchner7981]

Although I believe Captain Slow's catchphrase was, in fact, "Great News". I could be wrong.

[@iaw7406]

@@robertkirchner7981 it varies

[@DanCojocaru2000]

The "good news!" brightened my day a lot! That's such a brilliant reference!

[@spacemanmat]

Saw this on the news, thought about your channel. Great to see you have done us proud.

[@TheSynthnut]

Top work Tim, your scoring is hilarous and much appreciated!

[@bartholomewdan]

Tim, I have to ask. Was you saying "good news!" at 8:42 with a Dacia Sandero in frame a coincidence or not?

[@StuartPoore]

Didn't understand until I watched this :- kzbin.info/www/bejne/inq4gqRtqZuVqK8

[@Snowshowslow]

@@StuartPoore Thanks so much for that! I was wrecking my brain trying to find a pun in there, but it was just a TopGear reference I hadn't heard of before :) Mind at ease now 🧘

[@awkwardaquamarine19]

What a coincidence, I am a part-time professional pedant too! I'm a freelance copy editor working from home. Thanks for the video! This is practically the only way I could "visit" France. (womp, womp!)

[@lukasbieri]

Loved the fact that you played „Stonehenge“ by Ylvis as the outro music. It‘s a really nice cover version too - and another very entertaining video. Thanks Tim! :)

[@indoora]

Your commentary is absolutely the best.

[@Mra393]

I love the music at 5:31, where Tim crosses the border, being a single piano cover of the animate Tin-tin series.

[@Roeckx]

7:30 At the time you say you probably made a mistake in this video, it shows "Hainault, Belgium" on screen. "Hainault" however is an old spelling, the correct way to write it is "Hainaut".

[@truckerallikatuk]

Pendantry battle!

[@JeremiCzarnecki]

Thank you for pointing that out so that I don't have to :D

[@yagi3925]

As far as I know, "Hainault" is still the correct spelling in English, as Shakespaere's language has retained the old French spelling.

[@Roeckx]

@@yagi3925 You could use Hainault when referring to the historic county of Hainau(l)t. The current province however is Hainaut.

[@yagi3925]

@@Roeckx In French or in English? You're eluding the main question, I'm afraid.

[@VictorVlam]

The Question Time theme is used in the background when the questions are on screen. Nice touch.

[@BoonBreyne]

The negative PCR test, The TIntin music, The sneaky advertisement criticism, The signs of potential civil unrest... What a fantastic video!! :D It was not the first one I saw on this channel, but definitely convinced me to subscribe :)

[@JayeOFarrell]

The "Dacia Good News" joke was thoroughly appreciated and enjoyed!

[@owain_rj]

Loved how the Tintin soundtrack started playing the moment you entered Belgium

[@DavidBeddard]

Your musical choices are en pointe as ever, Tim! 👍

[@Questerer]

This is the first video I found from your channel. I love the research you did to get into Belgium and respect the private property signs. Good on you and you got my respect. You also got my subscription.

[@flitsertheo]

Main problem with trespassing out there is that property owners in that region usually own a hunting rifle.

[@zeberto1986]

Loved the outro with Ylvis Stonehenge, what a tune.

[@CmonSoundz]

This one and the Tintin Music, love this channel!

[@vndl23]

Loved the one about asking for directions, my wife and myself used to argue like cats and dogs about the same.

[@SamuelFurse]

Masterful use of the theme from Question Time when you were asking your questions. It's all in the details. Great stuff :)

[@car8070]

8:40 i love that top gear reference, well done, sir.

[@Radinden]

This may be one of your finest selections of musical jokes: I fear we're of a similar vintage as I was immediately charmed by the Treasure Hunt theme music...

[@TrevorSturman]

I reckon it was put back in the right place, Tim just moved it again for the clicks. I do love the "shows negative test at border" part

[@florisbackx1744]

There is just something so enjoyable to your video's. Just an absolute pleasure to watch!

[@spotontheroad1]

Love this video. Keep up the great work. Always interesting👍

[@DanLoudShirts]

Investigative journalism with interesting facts brought to us in an amusing style with apt music. Always a pleasure to watch these videos! Long may they continue!

[@Islandgirl4ever2]

I LOVEEE this video.. I just stumbled upon it.. Last week, I read the news article with a student of mine and we looked up border stones on google.. I had no idea what they were, actually.. Neither did he.. We read on wiki about the treaty and other border stones around the world.. So, it was a cool learning experience. I work with him tomorrow, so I'm sharing this video and we will discuss it.. Cheers.. and thanks.

[@carterme5803]

The ylvis at the end made my day, haven’t heard that song in years . Thank you

[@save9624]

Talking about frontières with the opening theme of jeux sans frontières! Love it!

[@ronik24]

Great as always! :-) Fun fact: in the German version, Tintin is called Tim... Also, there are slight visual similarities, only missing is the dog (called diffrently in most languages) ;-)

[@dennisengelen2517]

I'm from the Flemish part of Belgium, and here we call it 'Kuifje' which literally is what his hairstyle is called in Dutch a 'kuif'. But we make words smalle by adding 'je', 'tje',.. So 'a carrot' is 'een wortel and a little carrot can be called' kleine wortel' or 'worteltje'.

[@Jobotubular]

Struppi, as I recall, in German. Much better than the English Snowy, which doesn't carry any of the character of the original, Milou

[@ze_rubenator]

I'll be honest, never in my life would I imagine The Tim Traveller and Ylvis clashing together.

[@emin86]

YES!!! All the lyrics came back to memory!! "My life is so successful...

[@poja82]

The dry british humor of this vid is amazing. Showing the test at the border is just brilliant. BRILLIANT.

[@Nick-ye5kk]

Wonderful stuff, I could see the tension building in the village.

[@mitch8072]

Dear Tim, i have still one big question: is it wheel chair accessible?

[@kaitlyn__L]

Doesn’t look it.

[@anishraja9655]

Probably, but we should note that only the insane ( plus the odd British Travel-KZbinr who just needs some time to kill and decides to visit an ongoing border-conflict) would come there.

[@gazpachopolice7211]

Depends. Can you mount your wheelchair on a tractor?

[@anishraja9655]

@@gazpachopolice7211 No.

[@xxxggthyf]

Aliens. Definitely aliens. Probably fans of H2G2 who knew that the word "Belgium" was considered an obscenity on every planet but this one.

[@Zebra_M]

I'd bet on a criminal gang of llamas but what do I know?

[@Snowshowslow]

* on every planet 😉

[@xxxggthyf]

@@Snowshowslow I quite like Belgium... Well... Bits of it anyway.

[@Snowshowslow]

@@xxxggthyf I do too, honestly. It was just an obvious joke I couldn't resist.

[@BlissToby]

Your newspapers were wonderful, don't give up on those details

[@ajfrostx]

So happy to see a new post-lockdown video :-)