Three weeks of solo bike touring and camping, across 600+ miles of The Netherlands and Belgium. Riding over massive man-made dikes, on paved bike paths cutting through dark forests and rural farm fields (where I might not see another person for hours), to Trappist breweries and old towns, along canals, on muddy back roads and unsigned border crossings, and to a bonfire with a band playing under a rusted crane. ...
50km left to Brugge, straight shot along a canal in beautiful weather. Let’s do it.
Cutting through the countryside between Brussels and Antwerp yesterday (I decided a few days into the trip after Delft that I wasn’t as in the mood for museums and cities), I arrived in Bornem (in heavy rain) and found a hotel. The manager saw me arrive by bike and was very supportive– he let me stow my bike in a shed, didn’t make me sign in (“just pay tomorrow when you leave”) and said “a cyclist? I’ll give you the front room.” I wasn’t sure why the front room was special until an hour later, when they blocked off the main road it overlooked and a several hour long Derny Criterium started. (See attempt to post a cell phone video of it in the previous post– not sure if that went through). Basically, it’s a race between pairs of competitors, one on a Derny moped and one on a bike– the cyclists draft their motorized partner for more speed, around and around on a course. With the cobblestones, the rain, and the very close follow distances, it was pretty exciting, even if I had no idea what the announcer was saying.
A few hours of cold wind and driving rain = calling it a day at the next town with a hotel. Ferry operator (my 6th! ahoy!) drew me a map.
Dirt bike path beats no bike path (just west of Turnhout, on the Flanders Cycle Route LF5)
Bike path along the Antwerp-Turnhout Canal. Riders in full spandex kits zoom by. Definitely in Flanders now.
If I hadn’t taken out-of-the-way roads, I never would have seen this prop (in memory of a set of crashed Brit/Canadian Halifax pilots, it appears)