Sleeping at Camp Zeeburg was OK, albeit a little noisy. It also looks like the weather is turning back to rain, so we're glad to have found accomodations at Fleur D'Amsterdam, a little B+B just outside the city center.
For whatever reason, finding a place to stay in Amsterdam has been rather difficult and even Fleur had no space but offered us her son's bedroom (her son is currently traveling through vietnam). It means sharing a 1.2 size bed but I'm about 0.2 in size, so it should work out just fine.
We're going to take a little break from the blog while we explore Amsterdam and enjoy the last few days of our honeymoon. Don't worry, we'll keep a list of all the fun things we do and update you after.
We're also working on a "if you want to do this trip too, here's what we would do differently..." post. Most of the information we got about routes/gear/planning, we pulled from others' vacation blogs, so hopefully we can pay things forward a bit by writing our own.
See you in a few days and thanks for reading!
Monday, May 19, 2014
Day 17: Victory!!!
Route: Rotterdam to Amsterdam
Distance: 93 km
Ride Quality: Hot and Textured
Accomodation: Camping Zeeburg
We made it to Amsterdam!!! Hurrah!!!!!
This morning we had a relatively leisurely morning on the deck of our houseboat enjoying some tea and hot chocolate. I say relatively leisurely since Saroja was eager to get on the road to our final destination. So we packed up and after a quick stop for breakfast we were off!!!
The LF routes, as usual, were rather winding. At least we expected it by now, so the fact that the roughly 70 km drive by car was 93 km by bike wasn't unexpected. The signage definitely suffered more today though. Where there are no other light poles or sign posts, the route signs are placed on small posts about 2 or maybe 3 feet off the ground. But the gardeners need to do some trimming since more than once we had to backtrack until a gust of wind revealed the hidden post behind the foliage . We also had pretty much every kind of trail today, from smooth paved road to really narrow & bumpy paved road to gravelly/sandy goat trail to paving stones. And when I say narrow, I mean only room for one bike despite having bikes coming from both directions. This made things pretty hairy when you have an electric fence for cattle on one side and a canal on the other. Despite this, the last part of the ride into Amsterdam was quite nice - smooth, flat road along beautiful canals. The perfect homestretch for our triumphant arrival.
Along with the mixed terrain we did have some pretty nice scenery too, at least. We even drove through a neighborhood where the houses were just on the other side of the water, so that they driveways were actually bridges over the water to their home. Pretty cool!!!
The sun today made for another hot day though, just like yesterday. We were sunscreened up and avoided sunburns, but we were sure feeling the heat. The next two days are supposed to rain, so even though we could have taken a more leisurely pace to get here, it's probably just as well that we avoided more biking in the rain.
We had a bit of trouble trying to find accomodations in Amsterdam. Apparently lots of business people stay here in town to work during the week, then head home for the weekends. Even a lot of the B&Bs are booked. We did find a fairly nice campground though. It's on the east side of the city and right on the water. Way nicer than the sketchy campground from Antwerp. They even have Wi-Fi all across the tent field, and the vending machines sell non-carbonated canned mineral water. Mmmm... I think we've got some leads on nice places to stay for the rest of the week though!
-Penguin
Distance: 93 km
Ride Quality: Hot and Textured
Accomodation: Camping Zeeburg
We made it to Amsterdam!!! Hurrah!!!!!
This morning we had a relatively leisurely morning on the deck of our houseboat enjoying some tea and hot chocolate. I say relatively leisurely since Saroja was eager to get on the road to our final destination. So we packed up and after a quick stop for breakfast we were off!!!
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| Enjoying morning drinks on our boat-for-a-day. |
The LF routes, as usual, were rather winding. At least we expected it by now, so the fact that the roughly 70 km drive by car was 93 km by bike wasn't unexpected. The signage definitely suffered more today though. Where there are no other light poles or sign posts, the route signs are placed on small posts about 2 or maybe 3 feet off the ground. But the gardeners need to do some trimming since more than once we had to backtrack until a gust of wind revealed the hidden post behind the foliage . We also had pretty much every kind of trail today, from smooth paved road to really narrow & bumpy paved road to gravelly/sandy goat trail to paving stones. And when I say narrow, I mean only room for one bike despite having bikes coming from both directions. This made things pretty hairy when you have an electric fence for cattle on one side and a canal on the other. Despite this, the last part of the ride into Amsterdam was quite nice - smooth, flat road along beautiful canals. The perfect homestretch for our triumphant arrival.
Along with the mixed terrain we did have some pretty nice scenery too, at least. We even drove through a neighborhood where the houses were just on the other side of the water, so that they driveways were actually bridges over the water to their home. Pretty cool!!!
 |
| We drove past some free range sheep! No fence in place to keep Saroja away from these little guys |
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| An excellent shot of one of the scenic windmills. |
The sun today made for another hot day though, just like yesterday. We were sunscreened up and avoided sunburns, but we were sure feeling the heat. The next two days are supposed to rain, so even though we could have taken a more leisurely pace to get here, it's probably just as well that we avoided more biking in the rain.
 |
| Towards the end of the day I just wanted a short rest in the shade. Saroja said I should get up or people will think I'm dead, and she wouldn't know enough Dutch to explain otherwise to them. I think it was just more militant behavior. |
-Penguin
Sunday, May 18, 2014
Day 16: boats boats boats!
Route: Roosendaal to Rotterdam (via LF-2...mostly)
Distance: 95km
Ride Quality: good*
Accomodations: Logeerboot Visithor (it's a houseboat!)
After an excellent sleep last night at Hotel Central, we enjoyed a lovely buffet breakfast with our first taste of gouda cheese on native soil. Yum yum! Then we hopped onto the bikes and were off on the LF-2 headed for Rotterdam. Normally, it would take us some time to find the LF route again but Hotel Central is located literally right on the LF-2, so we had a pretty speedy getaway this morning. Astonishingly, the hotel staff were completely unaware of this, in fact most of the locals we've stopped to ask directions from haven't known what the LF routes are. Instead, everyone here uses local 'node' maps, where every intersection is assigned a number and you plan your route by following the nodes along the way. Penguin and I have yet to get our hands on one of these precious documents. Not that it would do us a lot of good since we'd need the local maps for a dozen municipalities a day... but if the Dutch authorities are reading this blog, it would be totally awesome if you could upload the maps along with the LF routes online! :)
*Today, the LF route was well paved with long stretches of cobblestones and laid brick. Thankfully there was no dirt tract today. The route however was very meandering. I'm sure that the creators of the LF routes wanted to make sure that you get the full scenic experience but at a certain point, the riders of the LF routes would also like to just arrive at their destination, too.
Signage on this part of the LF route was more sparse and we lost our way a few times. First of all, LF signs with a u-turn do not mean that you're going the wrong way and should turn around. They mean 'go over this bridge then turn immediately afterwards and follow the new path in another direction'. Also, the sign posting people occasionally mixed up the LF a and b signs, which caused us some confusion until we learned to ignore them. Apparently, in the Netherlands, the LF routes are marked 'a' when going in one direction (North to South or East to west) and 'b' when going in the other direction (South to North or west to east). This is particularly handy in preventing you from going back the way you came after you've done a few loops around during the same traffic circle looking for your exit... except that they occasionally mix up the signs and then you feel like you've gone down the rabbit hole after so much circling.
Lastly, the signage at the 2 ferry crossings we took today was also less than ideal (read: non-existant). The first ferry takes you from Dordretch to Papendrecht, which is the port you can see just across the river (node 98 on the local map) and the first of 2 Papendrecht landing options. From this terminal, you can also catch 3 other ferries, one of which goes directly to Rotterdam (sorry legs, no shortcut for you!). It was unclear to us if you needed to pay for this ferry (the ones in Belgium had been free and we didn't see anywhere to buy a ticket). Fortunately, no one kicked us off the boat and made us swim for it. The second ferry crossing was in Kinderdijk - we took the ferry straight across the river again (to Krimpen aan de Lek), which at the time had looked like our only option. This, however, was a mistake. You are definitely supposed to take the ferry going to Slekkerveer, which uses the same dock and presumably runs along a similar schedule. Either way, this ferry definitely has a toll (albeit a cheap one at 1.75 euros for 2 people) and someone comes around to collect it, so have some change ready. If you do take the wrong ferry it's no big deal. We navigated our own route to Rotterdam along some quiet roads and eventually found the LF2 again without having to recross the river.
On the bright side, the weather was even better today and it was finally warm enough for Penguin and I to wear t-shirts! Hooray! We are both now sporting impressive cycling tan lines that I look forward to flaunting when I get home. Haha.
We had lunch today at a little cafe that appeared mysteriously at the edge of a forest along the route and it really did just appear out of nowhere. There were no signs and it was located in the middle of a long stretch of fietspad (bike path in Dutch). The food was decent and definitely kept us going for the afternoon. Also, the opportunity to use the washroom was great. During much of France, pee breaks were a side-of-the-road-off-in-the-bushes affair but ever since entering Belgium and the Blue Banana, these opportunities have been infrequent. And trust me, cycling over cobblestones with a full bladder is no fun!
The other great highlight today was seeing all the windmills in Kinderdijk. The LF2 takes you right down the center of the UNESCO heritage site where nineteen 17th century windmills line both sides of the canal. It really is quite beautiful. And popular! Sundays in Holland, it seems, are the national everybody-go-ride-your-bike day and the fietspad was full of people all on our route! In fact, sometimes we found it easier to cycle on the road because there was less traffic! Despite this, it was really great to see so many people, of all ages and sizes, getting outside and getting some exercise. My favorites were the tiny kids who were all suited up in their spandex shorts and tops and pedaling like mad to keep up with mom and dad.
Tonight, Penguin and I are staying on a houseboat in the center of Rotterdam. It is AWESOME. Definitely a little more money than our other accomodations but way too cool to pass up the opportunity. Our boat is moored next to another boat that is a floating restaurant (Gravy Daveys) - and they make some darn tasty British food! I had a goat cheese and sweet pea tart with minted potatoes for dinner and a lemon tart for dessert, all rounded off by a Pimm's Cup. It was delicious! And now I'm sipping tea and writing this blog post from the deck of our boat next door while Penguin is down below singing this song.
Tomorrow will likely be our last day in the saddle since our goal is to arrive in Amsterdam. We're both a little sad to be done biking, despite the saddle sores and aching legs. I think it's the prospect of not being able to eat as much of- and anything we want without guilt that makes us the most sad. Haha.
We'll be arriving in Amsterdam a few days early (Penguin keeps muttering to himself about me being militant and if we'd just taken more rest days/done shorter distances blah blah blah)... which means that we'll get one full day to just lounge and 3 additional days to explore the city. Any suggestions for what to do?
Cheers!
Saroja
PS: Happy Birthday, Mom! :)
Distance: 95km
Ride Quality: good*
Accomodations: Logeerboot Visithor (it's a houseboat!)
After an excellent sleep last night at Hotel Central, we enjoyed a lovely buffet breakfast with our first taste of gouda cheese on native soil. Yum yum! Then we hopped onto the bikes and were off on the LF-2 headed for Rotterdam. Normally, it would take us some time to find the LF route again but Hotel Central is located literally right on the LF-2, so we had a pretty speedy getaway this morning. Astonishingly, the hotel staff were completely unaware of this, in fact most of the locals we've stopped to ask directions from haven't known what the LF routes are. Instead, everyone here uses local 'node' maps, where every intersection is assigned a number and you plan your route by following the nodes along the way. Penguin and I have yet to get our hands on one of these precious documents. Not that it would do us a lot of good since we'd need the local maps for a dozen municipalities a day... but if the Dutch authorities are reading this blog, it would be totally awesome if you could upload the maps along with the LF routes online! :)
 |
| It doesn't get more convenient than this: the hotel patio is basically the LF route! |
*Today, the LF route was well paved with long stretches of cobblestones and laid brick. Thankfully there was no dirt tract today. The route however was very meandering. I'm sure that the creators of the LF routes wanted to make sure that you get the full scenic experience but at a certain point, the riders of the LF routes would also like to just arrive at their destination, too.
Signage on this part of the LF route was more sparse and we lost our way a few times. First of all, LF signs with a u-turn do not mean that you're going the wrong way and should turn around. They mean 'go over this bridge then turn immediately afterwards and follow the new path in another direction'. Also, the sign posting people occasionally mixed up the LF a and b signs, which caused us some confusion until we learned to ignore them. Apparently, in the Netherlands, the LF routes are marked 'a' when going in one direction (North to South or East to west) and 'b' when going in the other direction (South to North or west to east). This is particularly handy in preventing you from going back the way you came after you've done a few loops around during the same traffic circle looking for your exit... except that they occasionally mix up the signs and then you feel like you've gone down the rabbit hole after so much circling.
Lastly, the signage at the 2 ferry crossings we took today was also less than ideal (read: non-existant). The first ferry takes you from Dordretch to Papendrecht, which is the port you can see just across the river (node 98 on the local map) and the first of 2 Papendrecht landing options. From this terminal, you can also catch 3 other ferries, one of which goes directly to Rotterdam (sorry legs, no shortcut for you!). It was unclear to us if you needed to pay for this ferry (the ones in Belgium had been free and we didn't see anywhere to buy a ticket). Fortunately, no one kicked us off the boat and made us swim for it. The second ferry crossing was in Kinderdijk - we took the ferry straight across the river again (to Krimpen aan de Lek), which at the time had looked like our only option. This, however, was a mistake. You are definitely supposed to take the ferry going to Slekkerveer, which uses the same dock and presumably runs along a similar schedule. Either way, this ferry definitely has a toll (albeit a cheap one at 1.75 euros for 2 people) and someone comes around to collect it, so have some change ready. If you do take the wrong ferry it's no big deal. We navigated our own route to Rotterdam along some quiet roads and eventually found the LF2 again without having to recross the river.
 |
| And here we thought we'd chosen a luxury vacation with no carnivorous animals to worry about! |
On the bright side, the weather was even better today and it was finally warm enough for Penguin and I to wear t-shirts! Hooray! We are both now sporting impressive cycling tan lines that I look forward to flaunting when I get home. Haha.
We had lunch today at a little cafe that appeared mysteriously at the edge of a forest along the route and it really did just appear out of nowhere. There were no signs and it was located in the middle of a long stretch of fietspad (bike path in Dutch). The food was decent and definitely kept us going for the afternoon. Also, the opportunity to use the washroom was great. During much of France, pee breaks were a side-of-the-road-off-in-the-bushes affair but ever since entering Belgium and the Blue Banana, these opportunities have been infrequent. And trust me, cycling over cobblestones with a full bladder is no fun!
The other great highlight today was seeing all the windmills in Kinderdijk. The LF2 takes you right down the center of the UNESCO heritage site where nineteen 17th century windmills line both sides of the canal. It really is quite beautiful. And popular! Sundays in Holland, it seems, are the national everybody-go-ride-your-bike day and the fietspad was full of people all on our route! In fact, sometimes we found it easier to cycle on the road because there was less traffic! Despite this, it was really great to see so many people, of all ages and sizes, getting outside and getting some exercise. My favorites were the tiny kids who were all suited up in their spandex shorts and tops and pedaling like mad to keep up with mom and dad.
 |
| So many windmills! So sunburnt! |
Tonight, Penguin and I are staying on a houseboat in the center of Rotterdam. It is AWESOME. Definitely a little more money than our other accomodations but way too cool to pass up the opportunity. Our boat is moored next to another boat that is a floating restaurant (Gravy Daveys) - and they make some darn tasty British food! I had a goat cheese and sweet pea tart with minted potatoes for dinner and a lemon tart for dessert, all rounded off by a Pimm's Cup. It was delicious! And now I'm sipping tea and writing this blog post from the deck of our boat next door while Penguin is down below singing this song.
 |
| Dinner was delicious on-board Gravy Daveys' |
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| Followed by lounging on a beautiful, warm evening aboard our houseboat right next door! |
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| Soon to be followed by sleeping on said houseboat... Mmm sleep! |
Tomorrow will likely be our last day in the saddle since our goal is to arrive in Amsterdam. We're both a little sad to be done biking, despite the saddle sores and aching legs. I think it's the prospect of not being able to eat as much of- and anything we want without guilt that makes us the most sad. Haha.
We'll be arriving in Amsterdam a few days early (Penguin keeps muttering to himself about me being militant and if we'd just taken more rest days/done shorter distances blah blah blah)... which means that we'll get one full day to just lounge and 3 additional days to explore the city. Any suggestions for what to do?
Cheers!
Saroja
PS: Happy Birthday, Mom! :)
Saturday, May 17, 2014
Day 15: Road bikes can do anything - except ride through sand
Route: Antwerp, Belgium to Roosendaal, NL
Distance: 55 km
Ride Quality: Variable
Accommodation: Hotel Central
We woke up early this morning to escape from the sketchy campsite as soon as we could, although there was a delay while we washed all the bird poop off the fly. There were a lot of noisy birds overnight, and apparently they were loud because they were literally right on top of us. Heading back through the tunnel and out of Antwerp we kept an eye out for a breakfast place but the city was very quiet for a Saturday morning. Our last resort was a gas station at the edge of downtown, where we bought some food and ate it on the side of the street like the dirty hobos we were starting to feel like. Although to be fair, the gas station had good pickings. Croissants and other pastries, yogourt, juice, and even pre-made Starbucks drinks. It was almost on par with some of the other breakfasts we've had along the way, really.
The ride out was fairly slow since we were both still hurting from the extra mileage the day before. The LF route was again very well signed but often meandered off onto dirt or rocky trails. At times it was nice going through the scenic forest paths, and at other times it was just annoying. Saroja also managed to get yet another flat tire which brings her total to three - two on the ground and one (somehow) on the plane. Fingers crossed that's the end of it!
Still, the weather was warm and sunny and we were feeling good. Lunch was a stop on a town called Kalmthout, where we ate milkshakes and sandwiches at a restaurant next to a small train station (Heide Station). Not a particularly European meal but it hit the spot and it was great to take a nice lunch break. We crossed into the Netherlands officially after that although since we were just on small paths there was no official welcome sign. The bike paths did improve after that though, inasmuch as there were no more dirt roads. In some of the towns there were even divided lanes for the bike paths with their own sidewalks for pedestrians - but no cars allowed anywhere!
The hotel we booked tonight is actually very nice. It wasn't done on purpose; there just aren't a lot of hotels and B&Bs around here to choose from. But we couldn't have picked a better place. Even though it's a bit expensive, the showers are great and the beds comfy. The restaurant attached to the hotel - Sistermans - was fabulous. We just had what was probably our best dinner of the trip. Bedtime is fast approaching since we're both still pretty beat, but it was a good day.
-Penguin
P.S. Sorry for the lack of pictures, it was a slow picture day.
Distance: 55 km
Ride Quality: Variable
Accommodation: Hotel Central
We woke up early this morning to escape from the sketchy campsite as soon as we could, although there was a delay while we washed all the bird poop off the fly. There were a lot of noisy birds overnight, and apparently they were loud because they were literally right on top of us. Heading back through the tunnel and out of Antwerp we kept an eye out for a breakfast place but the city was very quiet for a Saturday morning. Our last resort was a gas station at the edge of downtown, where we bought some food and ate it on the side of the street like the dirty hobos we were starting to feel like. Although to be fair, the gas station had good pickings. Croissants and other pastries, yogourt, juice, and even pre-made Starbucks drinks. It was almost on par with some of the other breakfasts we've had along the way, really.
The ride out was fairly slow since we were both still hurting from the extra mileage the day before. The LF route was again very well signed but often meandered off onto dirt or rocky trails. At times it was nice going through the scenic forest paths, and at other times it was just annoying. Saroja also managed to get yet another flat tire which brings her total to three - two on the ground and one (somehow) on the plane. Fingers crossed that's the end of it!
Still, the weather was warm and sunny and we were feeling good. Lunch was a stop on a town called Kalmthout, where we ate milkshakes and sandwiches at a restaurant next to a small train station (Heide Station). Not a particularly European meal but it hit the spot and it was great to take a nice lunch break. We crossed into the Netherlands officially after that although since we were just on small paths there was no official welcome sign. The bike paths did improve after that though, inasmuch as there were no more dirt roads. In some of the towns there were even divided lanes for the bike paths with their own sidewalks for pedestrians - but no cars allowed anywhere!
The hotel we booked tonight is actually very nice. It wasn't done on purpose; there just aren't a lot of hotels and B&Bs around here to choose from. But we couldn't have picked a better place. Even though it's a bit expensive, the showers are great and the beds comfy. The restaurant attached to the hotel - Sistermans - was fabulous. We just had what was probably our best dinner of the trip. Bedtime is fast approaching since we're both still pretty beat, but it was a good day.
-Penguin
P.S. Sorry for the lack of pictures, it was a slow picture day.
Day 14: sunshine makes everything better!
Route: Ghent to Antwerp (via LF5 + LF2)
Distance: 95km
Ride Quality: terrific
Accomodations: Camp Du Molen
This will probably be a short post tonight because we're pretty tuckered out from today. When you punch in Ghent to Antwerp on Gmaps, it estimates about 65km for a cyclist. However, the LF routes definitely don't take the most direct path and our actual logged distance (without getting lost for once!) was much higher.
The said, we had the perfect day to spend clicking away at the kilometers. Warm, sunny, with a slight breeze to keep things from getting too hot. Bluebird sky. Wonderful.
And despite not getting lost, the route was not without its own surprises. First of all, you have to cross the Schelde River twice by ferry on the LF5 before getting to the LF2. This came as a surprise to us and we thought we had taken a wrong turn when the signs directed us down to an empty dock. But a friendly Dutchman waiting at the bottom explained that the ferry was free and came every half hour. After this, we noticed that there were really quite a few opportunities to cross the canal by ferry, with docks spaced every 3km of so, if you were so inclined. And the service was well used, too! On our second scheduled crossing, there were at least 15 other cyclists taking the tiny ferry across with us.
The other surprise of the route was finding the tunnel across the canal once in Antwerp to reach our campsite. There's only one cyclist/pedestrian tunnel and we would never have found it if Penguin hadn't befriended a lovely lady on a bike who took us to the secret, unsigned tunnel entrance and then across the tunnel herself. The tunnel under the canal is 31m deep and 5km long! It's kind of a big deal!
The accomodations tonight are less than ideal. This well-rated 2 star campground is the worst we've ever seen. It's essentially a parking lot with a corner of drunk teenagers encircled by a ring of RVs owned by chain-smokers. Our little tent is set up under the neon lights of the adjacent Chinese buffet / windmill. It is a far cry from the serenity of the Algonquin backcountry. But at least it's only for one night.
The remaining highlight of the day was the number of sheep we saw along the way. There were so many! I knew my Wikipedia research about Ghent couldn't have been wrong! All kinds of sheep lined our path today: baby lambs to big rams, white and brown and black. I got a picture with some of them. They weren't very snuggly but they were curious. An elderly man watched Penguin and I do the sheep photo shoot and I'm pretty sure he thought we were nuts.
Alas, our data and batteries are running low on the electronics - so I might have to upload this in the morning when we find a cafe. Tomorrow we cross the border into Holland! It will be sad to leave Belgium behind but we're excited for Holland as well.
Distance: 95km
Ride Quality: terrific
Accomodations: Camp Du Molen
This will probably be a short post tonight because we're pretty tuckered out from today. When you punch in Ghent to Antwerp on Gmaps, it estimates about 65km for a cyclist. However, the LF routes definitely don't take the most direct path and our actual logged distance (without getting lost for once!) was much higher.
The said, we had the perfect day to spend clicking away at the kilometers. Warm, sunny, with a slight breeze to keep things from getting too hot. Bluebird sky. Wonderful.
And despite not getting lost, the route was not without its own surprises. First of all, you have to cross the Schelde River twice by ferry on the LF5 before getting to the LF2. This came as a surprise to us and we thought we had taken a wrong turn when the signs directed us down to an empty dock. But a friendly Dutchman waiting at the bottom explained that the ferry was free and came every half hour. After this, we noticed that there were really quite a few opportunities to cross the canal by ferry, with docks spaced every 3km of so, if you were so inclined. And the service was well used, too! On our second scheduled crossing, there were at least 15 other cyclists taking the tiny ferry across with us.
 |
| Penguin waiting for the ferry to cross the Schelde |
The other surprise of the route was finding the tunnel across the canal once in Antwerp to reach our campsite. There's only one cyclist/pedestrian tunnel and we would never have found it if Penguin hadn't befriended a lovely lady on a bike who took us to the secret, unsigned tunnel entrance and then across the tunnel herself. The tunnel under the canal is 31m deep and 5km long! It's kind of a big deal!
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| The cyclist/pedestrian tunnel in Antwerp is 31m deep! |
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| Saroja zooms through the tunnel |
The accomodations tonight are less than ideal. This well-rated 2 star campground is the worst we've ever seen. It's essentially a parking lot with a corner of drunk teenagers encircled by a ring of RVs owned by chain-smokers. Our little tent is set up under the neon lights of the adjacent Chinese buffet / windmill. It is a far cry from the serenity of the Algonquin backcountry. But at least it's only for one night.
The remaining highlight of the day was the number of sheep we saw along the way. There were so many! I knew my Wikipedia research about Ghent couldn't have been wrong! All kinds of sheep lined our path today: baby lambs to big rams, white and brown and black. I got a picture with some of them. They weren't very snuggly but they were curious. An elderly man watched Penguin and I do the sheep photo shoot and I'm pretty sure he thought we were nuts.
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| Hello sheep friends! |
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| Aww look at the little wobbly baby sheep! So cute! |
Alas, our data and batteries are running low on the electronics - so I might have to upload this in the morning when we find a cafe. Tomorrow we cross the border into Holland! It will be sad to leave Belgium behind but we're excited for Holland as well.
Friday, May 16, 2014
Day 13 Rest day in Ghent
Location: Ghent
Route: Rest day
Accomodations: Camping Blarmeersen
We had a fairly restful sleep at the campsite last night, and despite the fact that it got a bit chilly overnight we managed to stay warm in the tent. Our 4 star camping site had nice showers, so we cleaned up from the road and made our way into Ghent for the day.
Breakfast was a Starbucks affair so we could have a taste of home (mostly) and also score some free Wi-Fi and charging outlets. We booked a few more nights accommodations in our upcoming cities- stay tuned to the blog to find out where we end up!!!
As you might expect from Saroja's post yesterday, she was very excited to see the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, so that was our first stop. The church that it is housed in is something like 700 years old, so it's pretty impressive all by itself. Saroja was very very very happy to see the Mystic Lamb and listened to the entire audioguide explaining all about each section. Mission accomplished.
There are also lots of advertisements here for the movie "Monuments Men", including large painted murals on the sides of buildings. The Mystic Lamb was stolen several times and moved many more times during the wars, so there's likely a connection there.
On our way to lunch we walked past the belfry and decided to stop in. That was also very cool! Only about 100 years or so younger than the other church and filled with the bells and carrolins and everything else your typical medieval belfry needs to mark time, warn of invasions, or cover up the sound of thunder. It had very winding spiral staircases that we used to get both up and down, which made it interesting when we ran into people coming the other way. Fortunately no one was injured.
The belfry also has a very cool dragon that was used as a weather vane back in the day. The old one has been replaced by a new dragon model, but the original is just inside the belfry which makes it much easier to see up close. Apparently, the original dragon even breathed fire during town celebrations way back when. We were impressed to learn that there were pyrotechnics in the medieval world!
Lunch was a nice light veggie affair at a well rated soup place. Yah for veggies! Soup is apparently the "fast food" of choice in Ghent, and we were not disappointed with it's tastiness. After lunch we went to the castle, which was VERY COOL! If I had any doubts about wanting to live in a castle before, I don't now. Although I could do without the display of medieval torture implements. That's one of the displays in the castle. I'll keep the armour, swords, daggers and guns though.
We took a boat tour along the canals after that. The boat tour was much better than the one in Bruges. Overall I think we both prefer Ghent over Bruges. Bruges has all of the old town and tourist stuff in one central place (The Bruges Egg,, as it's known to locals) which is convenient but makes it a bit over-touristy. In Ghent, the old buildings are more integrated into the city, which makes everything seem a bit more real and accessible. There's a spot from one of the bridges where you can see three of the church towers all lined up in a row. You can see the same skyline as it used to look in the 1500s, which is really quite impressive! They call it Medieval Manhattan. Ghent used to bigger than LA and was considered the New York of medieval times.
Our understanding of Dutch is getting better, but very slowly. I still sound like the Swedish Chef trying to pronounce the street names and items off the menu. Still, we now know words like "exception"; for example, when it's a one way street but bikes are still allowed to ride down the opposite direction of traffic. Slightly terrifying.
Dinner, however, remains somewhat inaccessible. At least for veggies. There are a lot of well rated veggie restaurants in Ghent, as it is the veggie capital of Europe, but come dinner time those restaurants seem to close up and you're left with seafood and steakhouses. We did find a nice place in the end that had some good veggie dishes for Saroja and a tasty ice cream desert for myself, so at least in the end we prevailed.
Ghent makes a big mention of their lighting plan for the old section of town, so we stayed around until dark. The city does light up very nicely at night. There are lights built in underneath the sidewalks to light up the buildings and lights on all of the bridges. It was very pretty.
Now we're back at the campsite, where the only obstacle to bedtime is finishing this blog. Saroja is very militant about the blog. Tomorrow we strike camp and head to Antwerp for another night of camping, although not a 4 star site this time...
Route: Rest day
Accomodations: Camping Blarmeersen
We had a fairly restful sleep at the campsite last night, and despite the fact that it got a bit chilly overnight we managed to stay warm in the tent. Our 4 star camping site had nice showers, so we cleaned up from the road and made our way into Ghent for the day.
Breakfast was a Starbucks affair so we could have a taste of home (mostly) and also score some free Wi-Fi and charging outlets. We booked a few more nights accommodations in our upcoming cities- stay tuned to the blog to find out where we end up!!!
As you might expect from Saroja's post yesterday, she was very excited to see the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, so that was our first stop. The church that it is housed in is something like 700 years old, so it's pretty impressive all by itself. Saroja was very very very happy to see the Mystic Lamb and listened to the entire audioguide explaining all about each section. Mission accomplished.
There are also lots of advertisements here for the movie "Monuments Men", including large painted murals on the sides of buildings. The Mystic Lamb was stolen several times and moved many more times during the wars, so there's likely a connection there.
On our way to lunch we walked past the belfry and decided to stop in. That was also very cool! Only about 100 years or so younger than the other church and filled with the bells and carrolins and everything else your typical medieval belfry needs to mark time, warn of invasions, or cover up the sound of thunder. It had very winding spiral staircases that we used to get both up and down, which made it interesting when we ran into people coming the other way. Fortunately no one was injured.
The belfry also has a very cool dragon that was used as a weather vane back in the day. The old one has been replaced by a new dragon model, but the original is just inside the belfry which makes it much easier to see up close. Apparently, the original dragon even breathed fire during town celebrations way back when. We were impressed to learn that there were pyrotechnics in the medieval world!
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| Saroja is very taken with the medieval dragon |
Lunch was a nice light veggie affair at a well rated soup place. Yah for veggies! Soup is apparently the "fast food" of choice in Ghent, and we were not disappointed with it's tastiness. After lunch we went to the castle, which was VERY COOL! If I had any doubts about wanting to live in a castle before, I don't now. Although I could do without the display of medieval torture implements. That's one of the displays in the castle. I'll keep the armour, swords, daggers and guns though.
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| Penguin's future home |
We took a boat tour along the canals after that. The boat tour was much better than the one in Bruges. Overall I think we both prefer Ghent over Bruges. Bruges has all of the old town and tourist stuff in one central place (The Bruges Egg,, as it's known to locals) which is convenient but makes it a bit over-touristy. In Ghent, the old buildings are more integrated into the city, which makes everything seem a bit more real and accessible. There's a spot from one of the bridges where you can see three of the church towers all lined up in a row. You can see the same skyline as it used to look in the 1500s, which is really quite impressive! They call it Medieval Manhattan. Ghent used to bigger than LA and was considered the New York of medieval times.
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| Medieval skyline. Unfortunately the third building is being renovated (that's the one that has the lamb inside!) . |
Our understanding of Dutch is getting better, but very slowly. I still sound like the Swedish Chef trying to pronounce the street names and items off the menu. Still, we now know words like "exception"; for example, when it's a one way street but bikes are still allowed to ride down the opposite direction of traffic. Slightly terrifying.
Dinner, however, remains somewhat inaccessible. At least for veggies. There are a lot of well rated veggie restaurants in Ghent, as it is the veggie capital of Europe, but come dinner time those restaurants seem to close up and you're left with seafood and steakhouses. We did find a nice place in the end that had some good veggie dishes for Saroja and a tasty ice cream desert for myself, so at least in the end we prevailed.
Ghent makes a big mention of their lighting plan for the old section of town, so we stayed around until dark. The city does light up very nicely at night. There are lights built in underneath the sidewalks to light up the buildings and lights on all of the bridges. It was very pretty.
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| Ghent all lit up at dusk |
Now we're back at the campsite, where the only obstacle to bedtime is finishing this blog. Saroja is very militant about the blog. Tomorrow we strike camp and head to Antwerp for another night of camping, although not a 4 star site this time...
Wednesday, May 14, 2014
Day 12: we found a happy ass, unfortunately it wasn't either of ours
Route: Brugge to Ghent
Distance: 48km
Ride Quality: variable
Accomodations: Camping Blaarmeersen
With some reluctance this morning, we rolled out of Brugge and onto the LF5 route bound for Ghent. The reluctance was due to 2 things: first, the bed and breakfast we stayed at in Brugge was really very comfortable; second, a single rest day was not quite enough to make our legs (or our arses) forget the agony of cycling for hours.
Fortunately, the LF5 is relatively flat as it follows the canal system from Brugge to Ghent and the distance not overly long. However, the route is of variable quality and we had a mix of everything today from smooth pavement to cobblestones to single dirt track. There was more of the last 2 than anything else, which made cycling with our road bikes rather interesting. But for once it wasn't raining and we were pretty happy to soak up a little sun even if the weather insisted on being chilly (it has stayed between 5-10 degrees all day and certainly felt cooler than that with the wind).
The other positive thing about the LF routes are that they are well signed. We only took one wrong turn while out in the fields of farmland but it ended up for the best since I got to snuggle with a donkey. Yet another addition to my foreign farm animal photography collection.
I was keeping an eye out for sheep on the ride today because apparently the marshy fields around Ghent are ideal for sheep herding but no luck in that department yet. Sheep and chickens are the key farmyard brethren that have yet to be added to my collection of fuzzy friends.
Speaking of sheep, now that we're in Ghent, the thing I am most excited to see on our rest day tomorrow is the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb. While you may be thinking, 'I've never heard of that one' - in truth, you probably have since it's one of the most famous (and infamous) paintings in Europe. Go ahead and read the Wikipedia article about it (that's what Penguin is doing right now... I've assigned it to him as homework for tomorrow, hehe). Wiki actually does a pretty good job covering all the important points of the painting without you needing an art history background to understand it all.
Tomorrow also just so happens to be Thursday, which is the official veggie day of Ghent. Ghent has the highest number of vegetarian restaurants per capita in Europe and on Thursdays the city has a special initiative to encourage everyone to eat vegetarian one day a week. Sounds like my kind of place!
Lonely Planet has called Ghent 'the best kept secret in Europe' and National Geographic has called it the 'most authentic historic city in the world' - which is pretty darn cool considering we just came from Brugge! Penguin says that he is most excited about visiting the castle in Ghent. More details on all these cool Ghent activities and more coming your way tomorrow.
In the meantime, we're snuggled in our tent and sleeping bags here at Blarmeersen campground. It's advertised as 4 star camping and is certainly no backcountry Algonquin site! There are washrooms, showers, laundry, a restaurant and bar, grocery store, pool, athletic complex, beach, and 5km running track all within 3km walking distance of downtown. Pretty impressive there, Ghent! And for 7.5 euro a night, we can't complain one bit about a little traffic noise in the distance.
One thing that I have noticed as we've moved further away from the French border is that Flemish is a very difficult language to pick up. As a result, we've both reverted to speaking in English first to people we meet along the way. After working so hard to speak French, it feels very self-centered to speak to the locals here in our language first rather than theirs. Belgians, however, are remarkable linguists and have all generally spoken excellent English back to us. But I'd still like to give Dutch a fair try - after all, it is my heritage... so here's hoping I can pick up a little while I'm here and continue to work on it when I get home.
Cheers!
Saroja
Distance: 48km
Ride Quality: variable
Accomodations: Camping Blaarmeersen
With some reluctance this morning, we rolled out of Brugge and onto the LF5 route bound for Ghent. The reluctance was due to 2 things: first, the bed and breakfast we stayed at in Brugge was really very comfortable; second, a single rest day was not quite enough to make our legs (or our arses) forget the agony of cycling for hours.
Fortunately, the LF5 is relatively flat as it follows the canal system from Brugge to Ghent and the distance not overly long. However, the route is of variable quality and we had a mix of everything today from smooth pavement to cobblestones to single dirt track. There was more of the last 2 than anything else, which made cycling with our road bikes rather interesting. But for once it wasn't raining and we were pretty happy to soak up a little sun even if the weather insisted on being chilly (it has stayed between 5-10 degrees all day and certainly felt cooler than that with the wind).
The other positive thing about the LF routes are that they are well signed. We only took one wrong turn while out in the fields of farmland but it ended up for the best since I got to snuggle with a donkey. Yet another addition to my foreign farm animal photography collection.
I was keeping an eye out for sheep on the ride today because apparently the marshy fields around Ghent are ideal for sheep herding but no luck in that department yet. Sheep and chickens are the key farmyard brethren that have yet to be added to my collection of fuzzy friends.
Speaking of sheep, now that we're in Ghent, the thing I am most excited to see on our rest day tomorrow is the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb. While you may be thinking, 'I've never heard of that one' - in truth, you probably have since it's one of the most famous (and infamous) paintings in Europe. Go ahead and read the Wikipedia article about it (that's what Penguin is doing right now... I've assigned it to him as homework for tomorrow, hehe). Wiki actually does a pretty good job covering all the important points of the painting without you needing an art history background to understand it all.
Tomorrow also just so happens to be Thursday, which is the official veggie day of Ghent. Ghent has the highest number of vegetarian restaurants per capita in Europe and on Thursdays the city has a special initiative to encourage everyone to eat vegetarian one day a week. Sounds like my kind of place!
Lonely Planet has called Ghent 'the best kept secret in Europe' and National Geographic has called it the 'most authentic historic city in the world' - which is pretty darn cool considering we just came from Brugge! Penguin says that he is most excited about visiting the castle in Ghent. More details on all these cool Ghent activities and more coming your way tomorrow.
In the meantime, we're snuggled in our tent and sleeping bags here at Blarmeersen campground. It's advertised as 4 star camping and is certainly no backcountry Algonquin site! There are washrooms, showers, laundry, a restaurant and bar, grocery store, pool, athletic complex, beach, and 5km running track all within 3km walking distance of downtown. Pretty impressive there, Ghent! And for 7.5 euro a night, we can't complain one bit about a little traffic noise in the distance.
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| I never thought I'd consent to 4 Star camping... But I'll admit that it's rather nice. |
One thing that I have noticed as we've moved further away from the French border is that Flemish is a very difficult language to pick up. As a result, we've both reverted to speaking in English first to people we meet along the way. After working so hard to speak French, it feels very self-centered to speak to the locals here in our language first rather than theirs. Belgians, however, are remarkable linguists and have all generally spoken excellent English back to us. But I'd still like to give Dutch a fair try - after all, it is my heritage... so here's hoping I can pick up a little while I'm here and continue to work on it when I get home.
Cheers!
Saroja
Tuesday, May 13, 2014
Day 11 Part 2: Brugge
Route: Brugge to Brugge
Distance: We weren't biking so it doesn't matter
Ride Quality: Wonderful
Accommodation: See day 10 - two days in one place!!!
So I've been told that rest days don't apply to blog posts. But since I'm sitting in my room drinking free wine and munching on my giant block of Belgium chocolate, I can't complain too much. :-)
We had a great rest day in Bruges today. Breakfast was quite tasty and even had some boiled eggs, which Saroja greatly appreciated. As we had nowhere to be we didn't eat until later, so I appreciated the sleep in. Mmmm..... Sleep.... After a glorious morning we headed out to explore Bruges. I didn't even have to put in my contacts in case we had to bike in the rain, which my eyes were thankful for. Especially after I tried to readjust one of my contacts a day or two before, only to have it blow away in the wind...
Our first stop was the Historium, which tells the story of a day in Bruges back in the 1400's. It was sort of dramatic and not particularly historical, but still very well done. Afterwards we wandered around the town to visit some chocolate shops, of which there are SO MANY!!! And they all smell delicious when you walk in. Needless to say we have a good stash of snacks for the next few days.
There were a few other good stores too. Lots of lace stores, with curtains, dresses, bookmarks, underwear and pretty much everything else made of lace. Saroja fell in love with a tapestry of Klimpt's 'mother and child' in an art store - although as of now it remains in the store as the odds of it surviving in the trailer are fairly low. We also picked up a cute Christmas decoration, which is becoming something of a tradition for us when we travel.
After a quick snack of pommes frites for Saroja and a delicious waffle for me, we went on a tour of the Half Moon (Halve Maan) brewery, the only active brewery left in Bruges. It was a fun tour, and of course we had some tasty Zot beer at the end. The building was purchased in the 1600's so even walking through the building itself was neat. After the beer we went on a short boat tour along the canals and then walked to the Begijnhof which is inhabited by nuns and "single women" (according to the boat tour). They have a nice old church there where Saroja lit a candle and soaked in all the art and architecture. Next we went to the Minnewater, also known as the Lake of Love. The legend, which is based on the tragic love story of Minna and her warrior love Stromberg says that if you walk across the bridge with your partner, you will have eternal love.
We checked out a couple of restaurants for dinner before settling on a place that had some good veggie options for Saroja. It was like a pita place, but with fries instead of bread and a variety of sauces for your meal. We both really enjoyed it! They also had some very strong sangria that Saroja liked. We'll see if she remembers that part in the morning...
Dinner was followed by a short walk to see some windmills on the edge of the old town, then a stop at the oldest bar in Bruges from 1515 - which of course is closed on Tuesdays. Good thing there was still some wine at the B&B!
All in all it was a great rest day. Tomorrow we head to Ghent for two days. A mere 50 km of biking along canals will hopefully seem like a breeze! Now that the weather looks better we'll be doing some camping too. Saroja is very excited for Ghent as the city has vegetarian Thursdays and even hands out veggie street maps. And I'll have lots of Belgium chocolate and beer so I'll be happy to eat anything. :-)
-Penguin
Distance: We weren't biking so it doesn't matter
Ride Quality: Wonderful
Accommodation: See day 10 - two days in one place!!!
So I've been told that rest days don't apply to blog posts. But since I'm sitting in my room drinking free wine and munching on my giant block of Belgium chocolate, I can't complain too much. :-)
We had a great rest day in Bruges today. Breakfast was quite tasty and even had some boiled eggs, which Saroja greatly appreciated. As we had nowhere to be we didn't eat until later, so I appreciated the sleep in. Mmmm..... Sleep.... After a glorious morning we headed out to explore Bruges. I didn't even have to put in my contacts in case we had to bike in the rain, which my eyes were thankful for. Especially after I tried to readjust one of my contacts a day or two before, only to have it blow away in the wind...
Our first stop was the Historium, which tells the story of a day in Bruges back in the 1400's. It was sort of dramatic and not particularly historical, but still very well done. Afterwards we wandered around the town to visit some chocolate shops, of which there are SO MANY!!! And they all smell delicious when you walk in. Needless to say we have a good stash of snacks for the next few days.
There were a few other good stores too. Lots of lace stores, with curtains, dresses, bookmarks, underwear and pretty much everything else made of lace. Saroja fell in love with a tapestry of Klimpt's 'mother and child' in an art store - although as of now it remains in the store as the odds of it surviving in the trailer are fairly low. We also picked up a cute Christmas decoration, which is becoming something of a tradition for us when we travel.
After a quick snack of pommes frites for Saroja and a delicious waffle for me, we went on a tour of the Half Moon (Halve Maan) brewery, the only active brewery left in Bruges. It was a fun tour, and of course we had some tasty Zot beer at the end. The building was purchased in the 1600's so even walking through the building itself was neat. After the beer we went on a short boat tour along the canals and then walked to the Begijnhof which is inhabited by nuns and "single women" (according to the boat tour). They have a nice old church there where Saroja lit a candle and soaked in all the art and architecture. Next we went to the Minnewater, also known as the Lake of Love. The legend, which is based on the tragic love story of Minna and her warrior love Stromberg says that if you walk across the bridge with your partner, you will have eternal love.
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| A beer fridge chandelier... And this wasn't even at the brewery!!! |
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| An artsy photo down one of the canals of Bruges. |
We checked out a couple of restaurants for dinner before settling on a place that had some good veggie options for Saroja. It was like a pita place, but with fries instead of bread and a variety of sauces for your meal. We both really enjoyed it! They also had some very strong sangria that Saroja liked. We'll see if she remembers that part in the morning...
 |
| Note the difference in food types. Penguin is ready to devour his chocolate, ice cream and whipped cream-topped waffle... |
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| ... while Saroja is very excited to eat vegetables and falafel. |
Dinner was followed by a short walk to see some windmills on the edge of the old town, then a stop at the oldest bar in Bruges from 1515 - which of course is closed on Tuesdays. Good thing there was still some wine at the B&B!
All in all it was a great rest day. Tomorrow we head to Ghent for two days. A mere 50 km of biking along canals will hopefully seem like a breeze! Now that the weather looks better we'll be doing some camping too. Saroja is very excited for Ghent as the city has vegetarian Thursdays and even hands out veggie street maps. And I'll have lots of Belgium chocolate and beer so I'll be happy to eat anything. :-)
-Penguin
Monday, May 12, 2014
Day 10: Au revoir France, Goededag Belgium!
Route: Dunkerque, France to Brugge, Belgium
Distance: 75km
Ride Quality: fantastic! I love cycling in Belgium!!
Accomodations: Con Ampere B+B
Success! Today, we made it to Belgium, the 2nd of the 3 countries we plan to cycle through. We crossed the border shortly after noon today (there really wasn't much of a border, just a sign- which seems strange to my North American mindset)...
But before I talk too much about our first forays in Belgium, let us pause for a moment to reflect on France.
Things I loved most about France:
- Paris: was wonderful and I would already like to go back some day with more time and a whole stack of guide and history books on hand to soak in as much as possible.
- the birds: holy crap! Compared to Canada, there are an amazing number of birds here and they are always in song.
- country lace curtains in Northern France: every house had the same style of white lace curtains but they all told a different story. Some showed cats chasing birds, some were ships and seashells, and they were all unique! I tried to find something on a Google image search that captured their style and this was the best I could do. It's not quite the same but it's close.
- the artistry and craftsmanship of the country homes: I especially loved the brickwork and the shutters on all the windows. Every house had shutters that were painted a different color from its neighbor and every town had a different pattern to how they laid their bricks.
- the language and the people: which are nearly inseparable. Immensely polite and friendly, I loved the French people and they graciously allowed me to murder their beautiful language daily. But at least, after nearly a week, my french has slowly improved to something moderately passable.
The thing I liked least about France (aside from the weather, which I feel is unfair to hold against it) was the food. It was really very difficult to get food in France. Restaurants were open only for a few short hours a day and were often closed multiple days of the week (Sat, Sun, Mon, or Thurs? You're out of luck, sorry). Markets were also sporadic finds and with no storage room on the bikes and no way to prepare or cook food, we were limited to carrying just 1-2 days on sundry goods at a time. Lastly, when we did find restaurants that were open, the food was usually a meat and a starch (most commonly pasta or potatoes). Vegetables were used solely as garnish and were of sparse supply. As a vegetarian, this was the thing I found most difficult adjusting to.
Our diet in France consisted almost exclusively of bread. For breakfast, we would have bread (a croissant) accompanied by more bread (a baguette) and maybe a yogurt or piece of fruit, if we were lucky. Lunch was most often a baguette, usually with cheese or jam. Dinner, if we couldn't find a restaurant, was the rest of the baguette and cheese/jam. Don't get me wrong, the French do bread very well but a girl cannot live on bread alone-especially not when cycling all day, every day.
So, when I do make my future forray back to Paris, I plan to come with a suitcase full of lentils and rent an apartment with a kitchenette so I won't have to worry about being hungry.
Thus, as we crossed the Belgian border close to lunch time, we stopped shortly thereafter to look around for lunch options. It was with great delight that we saw multiple restaurants, all open, and with menus that offered veg-friendly options. Delighted, I had my first salad in a week, which felt great after having had some eggs for breakfast at the hotel Penguin had found for us the night before when I had commented that even prisoners are fed more than just bread 3 meals a day.
After lunch, we cruised through the polders of Flanders on highways with their own special bike lanes! The Belgian drivers are wonderful and the whole highway will stop to let a pair of cyclists across, as we soon learned after making a wrong turn. After we reached Oudenburg, we hopped on the LF1 Route that took us straight along a traffic-free cycle path right to the heart of Brugge. It was truly lovely- especially after hugging the margins of French country highways that have no shoulder and drivers who don't believe cyclists need more than 4-6 inches of space when being passed by vehicle going 70km/hr. It was so nice to be able to let my left elbow use its normal position rather than being permanently tucked alongside my body for safety!
Just as we entered Brugge, the locks went up and we spent a very pleasant 30 min applying sunscreen while watching the barges move through. That's right: there was finally enough sun that we put on sunscreen! Cheers to that!
Tomorrow we're spending a rest day in Brugge to explore the city on foot. We did a cursory exploratory walk for dinner tonight and it looks like tomorrow is going to be a lot of fun. Here are a few sneak peak pics.
Distance: 75km
Ride Quality: fantastic! I love cycling in Belgium!!
Accomodations: Con Ampere B+B
Success! Today, we made it to Belgium, the 2nd of the 3 countries we plan to cycle through. We crossed the border shortly after noon today (there really wasn't much of a border, just a sign- which seems strange to my North American mindset)...
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| Goededag from Belgium! |
But before I talk too much about our first forays in Belgium, let us pause for a moment to reflect on France.
Things I loved most about France:
- Paris: was wonderful and I would already like to go back some day with more time and a whole stack of guide and history books on hand to soak in as much as possible.
- the birds: holy crap! Compared to Canada, there are an amazing number of birds here and they are always in song.
- country lace curtains in Northern France: every house had the same style of white lace curtains but they all told a different story. Some showed cats chasing birds, some were ships and seashells, and they were all unique! I tried to find something on a Google image search that captured their style and this was the best I could do. It's not quite the same but it's close.
- the artistry and craftsmanship of the country homes: I especially loved the brickwork and the shutters on all the windows. Every house had shutters that were painted a different color from its neighbor and every town had a different pattern to how they laid their bricks.
- the language and the people: which are nearly inseparable. Immensely polite and friendly, I loved the French people and they graciously allowed me to murder their beautiful language daily. But at least, after nearly a week, my french has slowly improved to something moderately passable.
The thing I liked least about France (aside from the weather, which I feel is unfair to hold against it) was the food. It was really very difficult to get food in France. Restaurants were open only for a few short hours a day and were often closed multiple days of the week (Sat, Sun, Mon, or Thurs? You're out of luck, sorry). Markets were also sporadic finds and with no storage room on the bikes and no way to prepare or cook food, we were limited to carrying just 1-2 days on sundry goods at a time. Lastly, when we did find restaurants that were open, the food was usually a meat and a starch (most commonly pasta or potatoes). Vegetables were used solely as garnish and were of sparse supply. As a vegetarian, this was the thing I found most difficult adjusting to.
Our diet in France consisted almost exclusively of bread. For breakfast, we would have bread (a croissant) accompanied by more bread (a baguette) and maybe a yogurt or piece of fruit, if we were lucky. Lunch was most often a baguette, usually with cheese or jam. Dinner, if we couldn't find a restaurant, was the rest of the baguette and cheese/jam. Don't get me wrong, the French do bread very well but a girl cannot live on bread alone-especially not when cycling all day, every day.
So, when I do make my future forray back to Paris, I plan to come with a suitcase full of lentils and rent an apartment with a kitchenette so I won't have to worry about being hungry.
Thus, as we crossed the Belgian border close to lunch time, we stopped shortly thereafter to look around for lunch options. It was with great delight that we saw multiple restaurants, all open, and with menus that offered veg-friendly options. Delighted, I had my first salad in a week, which felt great after having had some eggs for breakfast at the hotel Penguin had found for us the night before when I had commented that even prisoners are fed more than just bread 3 meals a day.
After lunch, we cruised through the polders of Flanders on highways with their own special bike lanes! The Belgian drivers are wonderful and the whole highway will stop to let a pair of cyclists across, as we soon learned after making a wrong turn. After we reached Oudenburg, we hopped on the LF1 Route that took us straight along a traffic-free cycle path right to the heart of Brugge. It was truly lovely- especially after hugging the margins of French country highways that have no shoulder and drivers who don't believe cyclists need more than 4-6 inches of space when being passed by vehicle going 70km/hr. It was so nice to be able to let my left elbow use its normal position rather than being permanently tucked alongside my body for safety!
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| Penguin in front of a purple field. We couldn't figure out what this crop was at all- it looked like a field full of chives! |
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| Fantastic cycle route signage in Belgium |
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| Taking the LF1 into Brugge along the Brugge-Gent canal |
Just as we entered Brugge, the locks went up and we spent a very pleasant 30 min applying sunscreen while watching the barges move through. That's right: there was finally enough sun that we put on sunscreen! Cheers to that!
Tomorrow we're spending a rest day in Brugge to explore the city on foot. We did a cursory exploratory walk for dinner tonight and it looks like tomorrow is going to be a lot of fun. Here are a few sneak peak pics.
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| This is my, 'please don't bite me Mr. Swan smile'... not the most snuggly creatures in the world. |
Sunday, May 11, 2014
Day 9: Less bed, more breakfast
Route: Boulogne-sur-Mer to Dunkerque
Distance: 82 km
Ride Quality: Excellent, despite the wind
Accommodation: B&B Hotel (really a hotel - right beside the train station)
To pick up where we left off yesterday, our B&B host drove us a little ways into town for dinner. And it was AWESOME! A nice little French restaurant in an old building with delicious food and wine. We were both stuffed! It was called La Petite Brocante. Then, breakfast at the house this morning was also amazing. Fruit and great bread and yogurt - with candles!- on the patio and everything. We chatted with another couple who were visiting for their grandson's First Communion. They were super friendly and the host was wonderful. He does some biking himself and said he was jealous of our trip. Best accommodation of the trip so far!
The bike ride today was much drier, with only a sprinkling of rain, but very cold. We're still searching for that trifecta of no rain, reasonable winds, and warm weather. The morning started out hilly, but not as bad as yesterday. By noon the landscape had flattened out nicely and the wind, which in the morning would sometimes threaten to topple the trailer over in the crosswind, was for the most part firmly at our backs. Except for the 3 km detour we took where we were slightly lost... But we won't speak of that.
We made pretty good time despite the tricker navigation to avoid the busy roads, which resulted in our longest mileage day so far. Tonight we're staying in a hotel that was pretty much chosen solely for the fact that they have eggs for breakfast, along with the usual continental affair. We've decided that we need more for breakfast than bread, cheese, and fruit. If for no other reason than that's usually all we eat for lunch most days, too.
Today is our last night in France as we're heading to Bruges in Belgium tomorrow. France has been great — delicious baguettes, good wine, friendly people, and beautiful countryside. I'll admit that I am looking forward to what I've read about Belgium's very nice, well-signed bicycle routes instead of trying to find creative routes to avoid major roads. I'm also looking forward to beer and chocolate! And hopefully nicer weather. The forecast for this coming week is looking good, so we expect to finally use the tent we've been dragging behind us for a week now and maybe do some camping in Belgium.
-Penguin
PS: Happy Mother's Day to both our moms and all our friends-who-are-also-moms back home!
Distance: 82 km
Ride Quality: Excellent, despite the wind
Accommodation: B&B Hotel (really a hotel - right beside the train station)
To pick up where we left off yesterday, our B&B host drove us a little ways into town for dinner. And it was AWESOME! A nice little French restaurant in an old building with delicious food and wine. We were both stuffed! It was called La Petite Brocante. Then, breakfast at the house this morning was also amazing. Fruit and great bread and yogurt - with candles!- on the patio and everything. We chatted with another couple who were visiting for their grandson's First Communion. They were super friendly and the host was wonderful. He does some biking himself and said he was jealous of our trip. Best accommodation of the trip so far!
 |
| Best breakfast yet! We should do breakfast by candlelight more often. |
 |
| There was a tropical fishy in Saroja's glass of OJ! |
The bike ride today was much drier, with only a sprinkling of rain, but very cold. We're still searching for that trifecta of no rain, reasonable winds, and warm weather. The morning started out hilly, but not as bad as yesterday. By noon the landscape had flattened out nicely and the wind, which in the morning would sometimes threaten to topple the trailer over in the crosswind, was for the most part firmly at our backs. Except for the 3 km detour we took where we were slightly lost... But we won't speak of that.
We made pretty good time despite the tricker navigation to avoid the busy roads, which resulted in our longest mileage day so far. Tonight we're staying in a hotel that was pretty much chosen solely for the fact that they have eggs for breakfast, along with the usual continental affair. We've decided that we need more for breakfast than bread, cheese, and fruit. If for no other reason than that's usually all we eat for lunch most days, too.
Today is our last night in France as we're heading to Bruges in Belgium tomorrow. France has been great — delicious baguettes, good wine, friendly people, and beautiful countryside. I'll admit that I am looking forward to what I've read about Belgium's very nice, well-signed bicycle routes instead of trying to find creative routes to avoid major roads. I'm also looking forward to beer and chocolate! And hopefully nicer weather. The forecast for this coming week is looking good, so we expect to finally use the tent we've been dragging behind us for a week now and maybe do some camping in Belgium.
-Penguin
PS: Happy Mother's Day to both our moms and all our friends-who-are-also-moms back home!
Saturday, May 10, 2014
Day 8: You know what we should have brought instead of rain jackets? Wetsuits.
Route: Le Crotoy to Boulogne-sur-Mer
Distance: 77km
Ride Quality: excellent, if you can look past pouring rain, 60km/hr wind, and the biggest rolling "hills" we've done yet
Accomodations: Le Point du Jour, B+B
Getting on the bikes today was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. We awoke to pouring rain with a forecast that predicted it would last all day and a 90% chance of thunderstorms. The bed at Villa Saint Georges was super comfortable, warm, and most importantly dry. It was so tempting just to say, let's have a rest day and stay here in bed today. I couldn't help but think that I could've chosen the tropical all-inclusive instead of this. But then I wouldn't be me.
Instead, we got up and found breakfast downstairs. Not the best: the bread was stale and the croissants burnt. But it was a serve yourself affair, so that meant 2 helpings each of yogurt and fruit. Breakfast was held in a sunroom with a glass roof and the irony of being protected from the rain while we were eating was not lost on us.
The waiter was very excited to talk to us about our trip though and insisted we sign the guest book before leaving. He then watched us carry the bikes outside, attach the trailer, and cycle off into the rain with a look of "those people are crazy" written all over his face.
It took only minutes before we were both drenched to the skin and chilled from the 7 degree weather. But fortunately, some of the wind from yesterday had lightened up (it would come back in the afternoon) and I passed the time by playing the 'what are you grateful for?' game... I'm grateful to be on this trip with my wonderful husband, who always makes me laugh, especially when things really suck; I'm grateful for the ever present birdsong throughout France; I'm grateful that we didn't get lost today; and I'm grateful that eventually we got to the B+B and each had warm showers.
Penguin had a different mental approach to the situation... At one point, he called over his shoulder during the worst of the deluge while cranking up yet another endless hill,
"I want to die. This must be hell. If this is hell, you would tell me, right? You wouldn't pretend like it's not? Why aren't you answering me?"
Then he talked a lot about the seals we didn't see in Le Crotoy. All in French, so I'm not sure I understood everything he was saying. (If you don't know how to say seal in French, you should go Google translate it now).
We spun for hours today in silence, huffing up hills while being buffeted from all directions by an ever increasing wind. 60km/hr winds are nothing to sneeze at. In fact that, from experience, if you do sneeze at them, the snot will come right back and hit you in the face.
By 2pm, the rain began to slacken and sucker holes appeared in the clouds. (A sucker hole is a camping term for a small patch of blue sky in an otherwise grey/overcast horizon that, if seen through a window, may sucker you into thinking it's a nice day and going outside, only to find out that it's really not at all).
By the time we got to the B+B though, all the grey had been blown away and the sun made an appearance, which returned joy and hope in both our hearts.
The highlight of today was when we stopped by some dairy cows and I managed to entice them over to the fence beside me. They were equally skittish and curious. Not much in the mood for ear scratches, one of them did work up the nerve to lick me. So cows have now been added to my roadside petting zoo collection of foreign farm animal photography.
The other great highlight today is our host at the current B+B. Upon arrival, I guess we looked sufficiently starved and exhausted, that he offered to make us a reservation at a nice restaurant in town AND drive us there and pick us up when we're done, seeing as its too far to walk and we clearly don't want to do any more cycling today. I could have kissed the man.
Tomorrow the weather looks better: only 50% chance that it will rain all day. It will also be our last full day in France, so we intend to make it a good one. :)
Cheers!
Saroja
Distance: 77km
Ride Quality: excellent, if you can look past pouring rain, 60km/hr wind, and the biggest rolling "hills" we've done yet
Accomodations: Le Point du Jour, B+B
Getting on the bikes today was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. We awoke to pouring rain with a forecast that predicted it would last all day and a 90% chance of thunderstorms. The bed at Villa Saint Georges was super comfortable, warm, and most importantly dry. It was so tempting just to say, let's have a rest day and stay here in bed today. I couldn't help but think that I could've chosen the tropical all-inclusive instead of this. But then I wouldn't be me.
Instead, we got up and found breakfast downstairs. Not the best: the bread was stale and the croissants burnt. But it was a serve yourself affair, so that meant 2 helpings each of yogurt and fruit. Breakfast was held in a sunroom with a glass roof and the irony of being protected from the rain while we were eating was not lost on us.
The waiter was very excited to talk to us about our trip though and insisted we sign the guest book before leaving. He then watched us carry the bikes outside, attach the trailer, and cycle off into the rain with a look of "those people are crazy" written all over his face.
It took only minutes before we were both drenched to the skin and chilled from the 7 degree weather. But fortunately, some of the wind from yesterday had lightened up (it would come back in the afternoon) and I passed the time by playing the 'what are you grateful for?' game... I'm grateful to be on this trip with my wonderful husband, who always makes me laugh, especially when things really suck; I'm grateful for the ever present birdsong throughout France; I'm grateful that we didn't get lost today; and I'm grateful that eventually we got to the B+B and each had warm showers.
Penguin had a different mental approach to the situation... At one point, he called over his shoulder during the worst of the deluge while cranking up yet another endless hill,
"I want to die. This must be hell. If this is hell, you would tell me, right? You wouldn't pretend like it's not? Why aren't you answering me?"
Then he talked a lot about the seals we didn't see in Le Crotoy. All in French, so I'm not sure I understood everything he was saying. (If you don't know how to say seal in French, you should go Google translate it now).
 |
| 'To Bonk'- a verb; a cycling term used to describe the moment when you have no more glucose or glycogen left in your legs. Here, Penguin has bonked after summiting yet another hill. Fortunately, we had some cookies available to revive him. |
We spun for hours today in silence, huffing up hills while being buffeted from all directions by an ever increasing wind. 60km/hr winds are nothing to sneeze at. In fact that, from experience, if you do sneeze at them, the snot will come right back and hit you in the face.
By 2pm, the rain began to slacken and sucker holes appeared in the clouds. (A sucker hole is a camping term for a small patch of blue sky in an otherwise grey/overcast horizon that, if seen through a window, may sucker you into thinking it's a nice day and going outside, only to find out that it's really not at all).
By the time we got to the B+B though, all the grey had been blown away and the sun made an appearance, which returned joy and hope in both our hearts.
The highlight of today was when we stopped by some dairy cows and I managed to entice them over to the fence beside me. They were equally skittish and curious. Not much in the mood for ear scratches, one of them did work up the nerve to lick me. So cows have now been added to my roadside petting zoo collection of foreign farm animal photography.
 |
| Curious cows, preparing to lick me. |
The other great highlight today is our host at the current B+B. Upon arrival, I guess we looked sufficiently starved and exhausted, that he offered to make us a reservation at a nice restaurant in town AND drive us there and pick us up when we're done, seeing as its too far to walk and we clearly don't want to do any more cycling today. I could have kissed the man.
Tomorrow the weather looks better: only 50% chance that it will rain all day. It will also be our last full day in France, so we intend to make it a good one. :)
Cheers!
Saroja
Friday, May 9, 2014
Day 7: Navigational Success
Route : Berneval le Grand to Le Crotoy
Distance : 65km
Ride Quality: Tail-wind-a-riffic
Accommodation : B&B Villa St. Georges
We had a WONDERFUL sleep last night - the bed was comfy and everything was peaceful. And since we had a heater to dry all of our clothes, everything was dry by the morning. Breakfast was also delightful. One of the first places where our hosts sat down with us for breakfast. They filled us in on what to expect on our ride today (several hills as the land slopes down to the beaches, then back up again) and they helped us find another B&B to stay in tonight. We were sad to leave - especially since it was another cloudy, windy day.
Fortunately, the rain never arrived, and it actually got pretty sunny by the late afternoon. The wind was very constant though - but fortunately again, it was at our backs just until we rounded the bay to head into Le Crotoy. I'd read a few blogs that said the wind can be pretty brutal if you're heading south, and it seems they were right. Both of our faces are a bit red today, but I don't think it's as much from the sun as the wind, if not more!!
The navigation also went really well today. Coincidentally, it was also the first day we left Garmi off. Just a couple of different roads - most with low traffic, although higher speed limits, and then a nice surprise bike path into town for the night. Hopefully the trend continues for tomorrow.
We had two sight-seeing stops today. The fist was in Le Treport, where we stopped for lunch along the water. The town had some great cliffs and nice scenery, including some brightly colored houses along the water which had survived the war.
The second stop was in Saint Valery sur Somme, which was a lovely little town on the bay. You could actually see Le Crotoy, our destination for the day, across the Bay. The water gets low enough at low tide that you can walk across the Bay at points - there were even some sheep in the middle - but the tide can come in pretty quickly. They even have an old-timey steam train that goes around the Bay to Le Crotoy. We almost managed to beat the train, and it wasn't for the head wind at the end we might have succeeded!
The B&B for today isn't nearly as nice as where we stayed last night, but it does the job. Dinner was again hard to find tonight. Being a Friday night on a long week in France meant that all the nicer restaurants - which seem to only have one sitting per night - were all booked up. But we found a decent place by the water and out of the wind to have a nice dinner. We also stocked up on food in case we get stuck on a night where everything is closed again.
No seal sightings tonight so far. We saw one Shag in St. Valery, but we'll check again in the morning along the water before heading out. :)
-Penguin
PS: Saroja has fallen asleep beside me while I wrote this so it looks like picture uploading will be delayed by another day.
Distance : 65km
Ride Quality: Tail-wind-a-riffic
Accommodation : B&B Villa St. Georges
We had a WONDERFUL sleep last night - the bed was comfy and everything was peaceful. And since we had a heater to dry all of our clothes, everything was dry by the morning. Breakfast was also delightful. One of the first places where our hosts sat down with us for breakfast. They filled us in on what to expect on our ride today (several hills as the land slopes down to the beaches, then back up again) and they helped us find another B&B to stay in tonight. We were sad to leave - especially since it was another cloudy, windy day.
Fortunately, the rain never arrived, and it actually got pretty sunny by the late afternoon. The wind was very constant though - but fortunately again, it was at our backs just until we rounded the bay to head into Le Crotoy. I'd read a few blogs that said the wind can be pretty brutal if you're heading south, and it seems they were right. Both of our faces are a bit red today, but I don't think it's as much from the sun as the wind, if not more!!
The navigation also went really well today. Coincidentally, it was also the first day we left Garmi off. Just a couple of different roads - most with low traffic, although higher speed limits, and then a nice surprise bike path into town for the night. Hopefully the trend continues for tomorrow.
We had two sight-seeing stops today. The fist was in Le Treport, where we stopped for lunch along the water. The town had some great cliffs and nice scenery, including some brightly colored houses along the water which had survived the war.
 |
| The beach in Le Treport. That cliff in the distance? Yeah, we climbed up that sucker on the way out of town. |
 |
| Penguin posing by some lobster traps. Behind him are the cliffs leading in to the town of Le Treport. It was a stunning view coming in to town, with the ocean before us and the church nicely framed by the cliffs. Unfortunately, we were white-knuckling it down a super steep Hill with traffic piled up behind us, so we didn't stop for a photo until we got to the bottom. |
 |
| Colourful pre-war houses along the beach of Le Treport. |
The second stop was in Saint Valery sur Somme, which was a lovely little town on the bay. You could actually see Le Crotoy, our destination for the day, across the Bay. The water gets low enough at low tide that you can walk across the Bay at points - there were even some sheep in the middle - but the tide can come in pretty quickly. They even have an old-timey steam train that goes around the Bay to Le Crotoy. We almost managed to beat the train, and it wasn't for the head wind at the end we might have succeeded!
 |
| Penguin enjoying a little blue sky in Saint Valerie sur Somme. |
The B&B for today isn't nearly as nice as where we stayed last night, but it does the job. Dinner was again hard to find tonight. Being a Friday night on a long week in France meant that all the nicer restaurants - which seem to only have one sitting per night - were all booked up. But we found a decent place by the water and out of the wind to have a nice dinner. We also stocked up on food in case we get stuck on a night where everything is closed again.
No seal sightings tonight so far. We saw one Shag in St. Valery, but we'll check again in the morning along the water before heading out. :)
 |
| We think this a Shag... it was eating a fish. |
-Penguin
PS: Saroja has fallen asleep beside me while I wrote this so it looks like picture uploading will be delayed by another day.
Thursday, May 8, 2014
Day 6: we know why they call it the Avenue Verte... grass can't help but be green with all this rain!
Route: Forges-les-Eaux to Benerval-le-Grand
Distance: 65km
Ride Quality: superb
Accomodations: Villa les Falaises
Today, our route finally intersected with the Avenue Verte (the official cycling route from London to Paris). We had previously been using an online alternative route to get to Dieppe because it detoured through Versailles (which we really wanted to see) and was supposedly more direct (which I think translates to: "hilly with a higher likelihood of getting good and lost").
The Avenue, for this section at least, was a 40km stretch of traffic-free recreational path that was smoothly pathed, well signed, and essentially flat with a slight downhill trend. After 2 days of slogging it up country switchbacks listening to the incessant cheeping of a GPS that said we were off course, this was practically paradise.
It seems our biggest issue on this trip has been the navigation. Trying to stick to someone else's route by combining their map with the GPS and lousy street and highway signage has been very frustrating.
Fortunately, we're now splitting from the Paris to London route and heading northeast along the French coast bound for Belgium. The navigation and route planning will now be solely up to us... until Belgium at least when we plan to meet up with the LF cycling routes, which all our research has shown to be wonderful, well signed, and easy to follow.
This, however, is a problem for future Penguin + Saroja. Let's get back to today, shall we?
The day started out grey and after a fitful sleep in the Softhotel on a mattress that caved badly towards the center, we were off towards a horizon that almost immediately produce rain. Fortunately, we chose to have lunch at a cafe just off the Avenue during the worst of the deluge. Lunch was a sparse affair. NB: if it is advertised as a cafe in France, it means that they serve cafe (coffee) and that's about it. Fortunately, we were able to buy 2 slices of quiche at the grocer next door and the cafe kindly heated them up for us.
Following this break, we were happily off into the rain again, spinning easily towards Dieppe. Easily that is, until I blew my second flat of the trip, which prompted a 15 min mechanical break during which the rain kindly let up until we were back on the bikes.
Once in Arques-en-Bataille, we cycled along the banks of the Bethune River where we saw a large flock of ducks. They were very excited to see us, too, and ran towards us hoping we were carting snacks. Lucky for them, we had some baguette left over from the day before, which I happily fed them (and they happily ate)! Amongst all the adult ducks was a little duckling who was getting pushed around in the melee of bread eating, so I scooping him up and delivered him back to momma- but not without a quick photo op first.
It should be noted here that during our cycling breaks, if we are stopped near a pasture fence, I have made a game of seeing if I can lure the animals nearby towards me for ear scritches. My success rate so far has been pretty high and we've now decided to take as many pictures of me snuggling with farm animals as possible. So far, we've got pictures of me and a pony, a goat, and now a little duckling. We tried for some chickens walking along the Avenue but they were decidedly uninterested in snuggling.
Once in Dieppe, we had planned to cycle down to the harbour and see the beach. However, the rain was coming down hard, the wind was picking up, and we decided to push ahead to make it to our B+B as soon as possible.
Once in the town of Benerval-le-Grand, we had hoped to stop at the boulangerie for food supplies for dinner but they were closed along with the restaurant and the pharmacy, so that was a bust. Subsequently, dinner tonight (not provided by the B+B) consists of cookies that we bought in Forges-les-eaux, leftover cheese (about two bites each), 2 nectarines, and a granola bar for Penguin and sharkie jujubes for me. Not exactly stellar after a small lunch and standard continental breakfast from the hotel this morning.
(Penguin is insisting that I make note here that I fed the baguette to the ducks when we would otherwise have had it for dinner, too. But the ducks were so happy, I can't feel bad about it.)
What makes up for it though is a hot shower in a very splendid B+B, with a bedroom that has an ocean view. Or at least so we're told, as the rain is still coming down heavy.
Tomorrow will be a slightly shorter (50km-ish) day as we trial our independent navigation skills to Le Crotoy. Apparently, it is from Le Crotoy that Isabella and her son Henry the 3rd sailed to England to overthrow Edward the 2nd in 1326. It is also where they held Joan of Arc captive until they moved her to Rouen for trial. Lastly, it is known for its seals and shags, which if I can convince to be snuggly, may make their way into our photo album.
Cheers!
Saroja
Distance: 65km
Ride Quality: superb
Accomodations: Villa les Falaises
Today, our route finally intersected with the Avenue Verte (the official cycling route from London to Paris). We had previously been using an online alternative route to get to Dieppe because it detoured through Versailles (which we really wanted to see) and was supposedly more direct (which I think translates to: "hilly with a higher likelihood of getting good and lost").
The Avenue, for this section at least, was a 40km stretch of traffic-free recreational path that was smoothly pathed, well signed, and essentially flat with a slight downhill trend. After 2 days of slogging it up country switchbacks listening to the incessant cheeping of a GPS that said we were off course, this was practically paradise.
It seems our biggest issue on this trip has been the navigation. Trying to stick to someone else's route by combining their map with the GPS and lousy street and highway signage has been very frustrating.
Fortunately, we're now splitting from the Paris to London route and heading northeast along the French coast bound for Belgium. The navigation and route planning will now be solely up to us... until Belgium at least when we plan to meet up with the LF cycling routes, which all our research has shown to be wonderful, well signed, and easy to follow.
This, however, is a problem for future Penguin + Saroja. Let's get back to today, shall we?
The day started out grey and after a fitful sleep in the Softhotel on a mattress that caved badly towards the center, we were off towards a horizon that almost immediately produce rain. Fortunately, we chose to have lunch at a cafe just off the Avenue during the worst of the deluge. Lunch was a sparse affair. NB: if it is advertised as a cafe in France, it means that they serve cafe (coffee) and that's about it. Fortunately, we were able to buy 2 slices of quiche at the grocer next door and the cafe kindly heated them up for us.
Following this break, we were happily off into the rain again, spinning easily towards Dieppe. Easily that is, until I blew my second flat of the trip, which prompted a 15 min mechanical break during which the rain kindly let up until we were back on the bikes.
Once in Arques-en-Bataille, we cycled along the banks of the Bethune River where we saw a large flock of ducks. They were very excited to see us, too, and ran towards us hoping we were carting snacks. Lucky for them, we had some baguette left over from the day before, which I happily fed them (and they happily ate)! Amongst all the adult ducks was a little duckling who was getting pushed around in the melee of bread eating, so I scooping him up and delivered him back to momma- but not without a quick photo op first.
 |
| Excited French ducks crave baguette. |
 |
| Saroja and the duckling! |
It should be noted here that during our cycling breaks, if we are stopped near a pasture fence, I have made a game of seeing if I can lure the animals nearby towards me for ear scritches. My success rate so far has been pretty high and we've now decided to take as many pictures of me snuggling with farm animals as possible. So far, we've got pictures of me and a pony, a goat, and now a little duckling. We tried for some chickens walking along the Avenue but they were decidedly uninterested in snuggling.
Once in Dieppe, we had planned to cycle down to the harbour and see the beach. However, the rain was coming down hard, the wind was picking up, and we decided to push ahead to make it to our B+B as soon as possible.
 |
| May 8 is a holiday in France to commemorate the end of WW2. Here they're flying a Canadian flag at a church just outside of Dieppe. |
Once in the town of Benerval-le-Grand, we had hoped to stop at the boulangerie for food supplies for dinner but they were closed along with the restaurant and the pharmacy, so that was a bust. Subsequently, dinner tonight (not provided by the B+B) consists of cookies that we bought in Forges-les-eaux, leftover cheese (about two bites each), 2 nectarines, and a granola bar for Penguin and sharkie jujubes for me. Not exactly stellar after a small lunch and standard continental breakfast from the hotel this morning.
(Penguin is insisting that I make note here that I fed the baguette to the ducks when we would otherwise have had it for dinner, too. But the ducks were so happy, I can't feel bad about it.)
What makes up for it though is a hot shower in a very splendid B+B, with a bedroom that has an ocean view. Or at least so we're told, as the rain is still coming down heavy.
 |
| Ocean view from our bed at Les Falaises B+B, as seen between rain showers. |
Tomorrow will be a slightly shorter (50km-ish) day as we trial our independent navigation skills to Le Crotoy. Apparently, it is from Le Crotoy that Isabella and her son Henry the 3rd sailed to England to overthrow Edward the 2nd in 1326. It is also where they held Joan of Arc captive until they moved her to Rouen for trial. Lastly, it is known for its seals and shags, which if I can convince to be snuggly, may make their way into our photo album.
Cheers!
Saroja
Wednesday, May 7, 2014
Day 5 - Rolling Hills
Route: Fay-les-etangs to Forges-les-eaux
Distance: 67 km
Ride Quality : Good
Accommodation : Sofhotel
Our rule for the day was, "Don't get lost, don't get fall." To be fair, it was still early when we set these rules so our grammer may not have been perfect. But overall we succeeded!
The night at the B&B was lovely, except for the doves that decided to be noisy ridiculously early. Who knew doves could make such a racket! Breakfast was the typical breads and jam and cheese, with some yogurt that Saroja really enjoyed! We hit the road around 9:00 and made good time. Now that we're out of the bigger cities and towns, navigating becomes much easier as there are simply fewer choices. There were still some issues with Garmi where he seemed to want to keep us on the busy roads (we ignored him), but seeing as we avoided the mud pits and other random paths, I still declare it a win. Although no navigational aid could save us from the rolling hills. They were fun to go down, but such a slog to go up, especially with the trailer! It was also really windy too. Most when we got to the open areas at the top of the hills, just when you think it's safe...
We got rained on in the morning, but it wasn't too bad since not all of our stuff had dried from being washed yesterday. Wet feet were the standard for the day, although the afternoon was sunny and warm. There were even some cuckoo birds along the way! We decided to stop for a full meal for lunch and save the baguette later, so we found a steak house in Germer - de-fly. So much food!!! But so worth it. Saroja ate more than I did!
(It should be mentioned here that apparently French people don't eat vegetables. In fact, until we ate at the steak house, where the steaks were served with side salads, our diet has consisted entirely of bread, cheese, and meat. Saroja has not been overly happy about this but the starvation claus clearly states that if starving, you will eat meat.)
Tonight we're staying in a bike-friendly hotel (part of the official bike friendly lodging list). Not a bad place for a cycle trip, but probably not where you'd want to stay as a non-cycle tourist. They do have sheds in the back garden specifically for bikes though, which is nice peace of mind. Forges-les-eaux is a nice town. We picked up some groceries for a delicious meal from your stereotypical small-town grocer, where they pick out what you want and package it all up for you. When we said we wanted 10 or 15 cherry tomatoes, he even counted them individually for us! Such a civilized way to buy groceries.
Tomorrow we're heading to Dieppe along part of the Avenue Verte, the official cycle route from London (via Dieppe) to Paris. This part is mostly along abandoned rail lines, so we're hoping for more flatness. Fingers crossed!!
-Penguin
Distance: 67 km
Ride Quality : Good
Accommodation : Sofhotel
Our rule for the day was, "Don't get lost, don't get fall." To be fair, it was still early when we set these rules so our grammer may not have been perfect. But overall we succeeded!
The night at the B&B was lovely, except for the doves that decided to be noisy ridiculously early. Who knew doves could make such a racket! Breakfast was the typical breads and jam and cheese, with some yogurt that Saroja really enjoyed! We hit the road around 9:00 and made good time. Now that we're out of the bigger cities and towns, navigating becomes much easier as there are simply fewer choices. There were still some issues with Garmi where he seemed to want to keep us on the busy roads (we ignored him), but seeing as we avoided the mud pits and other random paths, I still declare it a win. Although no navigational aid could save us from the rolling hills. They were fun to go down, but such a slog to go up, especially with the trailer! It was also really windy too. Most when we got to the open areas at the top of the hills, just when you think it's safe...
We got rained on in the morning, but it wasn't too bad since not all of our stuff had dried from being washed yesterday. Wet feet were the standard for the day, although the afternoon was sunny and warm. There were even some cuckoo birds along the way! We decided to stop for a full meal for lunch and save the baguette later, so we found a steak house in Germer - de-fly. So much food!!! But so worth it. Saroja ate more than I did!
(It should be mentioned here that apparently French people don't eat vegetables. In fact, until we ate at the steak house, where the steaks were served with side salads, our diet has consisted entirely of bread, cheese, and meat. Saroja has not been overly happy about this but the starvation claus clearly states that if starving, you will eat meat.)
Tonight we're staying in a bike-friendly hotel (part of the official bike friendly lodging list). Not a bad place for a cycle trip, but probably not where you'd want to stay as a non-cycle tourist. They do have sheds in the back garden specifically for bikes though, which is nice peace of mind. Forges-les-eaux is a nice town. We picked up some groceries for a delicious meal from your stereotypical small-town grocer, where they pick out what you want and package it all up for you. When we said we wanted 10 or 15 cherry tomatoes, he even counted them individually for us! Such a civilized way to buy groceries.
Tomorrow we're heading to Dieppe along part of the Avenue Verte, the official cycle route from London (via Dieppe) to Paris. This part is mostly along abandoned rail lines, so we're hoping for more flatness. Fingers crossed!!
-Penguin
Tuesday, May 6, 2014
Day 4: but I thought there was no portaging on this trip!
Route: Versailles to Fays-les-Etangs
Distance: 62km + ? 10km on account of getting lost
Ride Quality: Pastoral*
Accomodations: Le Clos B+B in Fays-les-Etangs
*pastoral here means 2 things: first, that we are finally into the french countryside complete with rolling hills, open farmland, and quaint villages; second, this acronym- Pain Ass-Sore Tough-going Overcast/Rain Always Lost
We awoke this morning in Versailles at the Hotel Royale to rain. This wasn't a huge surprise because the forecast in France (literally all of France) for the next week is rain! This was almost a relief seeing as we both got a good sunburn during our 2 days in Paris; our albino winter skin has not yet sloughed off in preparation for summer, I guess.
The other good news of the morning was that we didn't get bed bugs from the hotel last night. Or at least, not that we know of. Overall, it was a decent hotel, probably better than its 2 stars made it seem but it was telling that without even talking about it, upon arrival we both went to the bed and check under the linens around the mattress and box spring for bugs. None found! And that being said, I'm happy to give the Hotel Royale a good review. :) They were also very kind in storing our bikes in their private courtyard overnight, which was really nice.
Our day began well enough by riding through the car-free paths of the royal forests. As warned by our online research, the paths were poorly signed (not a big surprise after seeing the signage on the roads!) and therefore prone to causing confusion. So despite feeling perpetually turned around, we enjoyed the shade and birdsong (so.many.birds!!) and things felt pretty good.
After emerging from the forests, we made our way northwest along the edge of the Seine to Triel sur Seine, which sounds like a lovely place. Indeed, the village was beautiful but it was here that we made the first of a series of unfortunate errors. Instead of crossing back across the river, we stayed right and ended up climbing the most ridiculous hill you've ever seen. Some research after the fact has revealed that this hill is notorious, climbing over 170m in elevation over 2 miles of persistent incline. It was midway along this hill that Penguin and I switched who was pulling the trailer but by the end, we were both walking anyway.
After Triel sur Seine, we decided to abandon our recommended route for the one the Garmin proposed, which seemed much more straightforward and direct. This was all well and good until the Garmin directed us onto a major highway. We bailed off the highway onto a service road by means of some interesting acrobatics over a very deep and lushly overgrown ditch and then decided to abandon the Garmin in favor of Penguin's cell phone GPS. This set us off on a very pleasant route through the countryside and we were feeling really great up until the phone directed us to take a road that became a hill that became a dirt road through a field, which subsequently dwindled into a goat trail and then a muddy swampland exactly like the worst portages in Algonquin.
Too committed to turn around, we persevered - scampering along the edge of the path while driving the bikes through the worst of the mud, which came up to the axles on the wheels. All this, and it was pouring sheets of rain.
What we thought would be a 1.5km slog became a 3km death march and when we finally reached terra firma (read asphalt) again, we swore never do that again. My shoes were so caked with mud that even after scraping them clean with a stick and using the entire contents of a water bottle to wash them, I still had a hard time clicking in and out of my pedals.
Subsequently, when the GPS led us to yet another off-road adventure through pastoral France and we elected to turn around and find another route, I couldn't unclip and promptly ate asphalt. I fell on my outstretched arm and landed hard enough that I was worried I'd broken my wrist.
Two things of great importance happened at this point: first, I lay on the ground long enough that a sweet elderly french lady came out of her farmhouse to make sure I was okay and Penguin promptly diverted her by sadly explaining with a warbling voice that, obviously, this was not the asphalt kind of road that we had hoped for - and she replied only with laughter. Second, on ascertaining that I had not actually broken anything, I mentally congratulated myself on not thinking immediately following the accident 'how am I going to scrub tomorrow?!' (my usual first thoughts after causing bodily damage to myself), which clearly shows that I'm fully in vacation mode.
After we were back on the bikes and on our way again, things slowly improved but we were both pretty spent. Altogether, we spent 8 hrs getting from Versailles to the Feys, arriving at 5.55pm (5 min ahead of my predicted 6pm arrival time when I'd looked at the route in the morning).
The B+B in the Feys is a gem and definitely made for a soft landing after a long day. We arrived just as yet another downpour began and the owners whisked us inside to an attic room with timber and plaster ceilings and a very comfortable bed. After a hot shower, they fed us as much dinner as we could eat and we're now carefully washing the mud off our gear and looking forward to a good sleep. Secure (and dry!) housing for the bikes means we'll sleep with good peace of mind, too.
All in all it was a tough day but now that it's done and we're mud-free and dry, it's really starting to feel like our honeymoon.
Cheers!
Saroja
Distance: 62km + ? 10km on account of getting lost
Ride Quality: Pastoral*
Accomodations: Le Clos B+B in Fays-les-Etangs
*pastoral here means 2 things: first, that we are finally into the french countryside complete with rolling hills, open farmland, and quaint villages; second, this acronym- Pain Ass-Sore Tough-going Overcast/Rain Always Lost
We awoke this morning in Versailles at the Hotel Royale to rain. This wasn't a huge surprise because the forecast in France (literally all of France) for the next week is rain! This was almost a relief seeing as we both got a good sunburn during our 2 days in Paris; our albino winter skin has not yet sloughed off in preparation for summer, I guess.
The other good news of the morning was that we didn't get bed bugs from the hotel last night. Or at least, not that we know of. Overall, it was a decent hotel, probably better than its 2 stars made it seem but it was telling that without even talking about it, upon arrival we both went to the bed and check under the linens around the mattress and box spring for bugs. None found! And that being said, I'm happy to give the Hotel Royale a good review. :) They were also very kind in storing our bikes in their private courtyard overnight, which was really nice.
Our day began well enough by riding through the car-free paths of the royal forests. As warned by our online research, the paths were poorly signed (not a big surprise after seeing the signage on the roads!) and therefore prone to causing confusion. So despite feeling perpetually turned around, we enjoyed the shade and birdsong (so.many.birds!!) and things felt pretty good.
After emerging from the forests, we made our way northwest along the edge of the Seine to Triel sur Seine, which sounds like a lovely place. Indeed, the village was beautiful but it was here that we made the first of a series of unfortunate errors. Instead of crossing back across the river, we stayed right and ended up climbing the most ridiculous hill you've ever seen. Some research after the fact has revealed that this hill is notorious, climbing over 170m in elevation over 2 miles of persistent incline. It was midway along this hill that Penguin and I switched who was pulling the trailer but by the end, we were both walking anyway.
After Triel sur Seine, we decided to abandon our recommended route for the one the Garmin proposed, which seemed much more straightforward and direct. This was all well and good until the Garmin directed us onto a major highway. We bailed off the highway onto a service road by means of some interesting acrobatics over a very deep and lushly overgrown ditch and then decided to abandon the Garmin in favor of Penguin's cell phone GPS. This set us off on a very pleasant route through the countryside and we were feeling really great up until the phone directed us to take a road that became a hill that became a dirt road through a field, which subsequently dwindled into a goat trail and then a muddy swampland exactly like the worst portages in Algonquin.
Too committed to turn around, we persevered - scampering along the edge of the path while driving the bikes through the worst of the mud, which came up to the axles on the wheels. All this, and it was pouring sheets of rain.
What we thought would be a 1.5km slog became a 3km death march and when we finally reached terra firma (read asphalt) again, we swore never do that again. My shoes were so caked with mud that even after scraping them clean with a stick and using the entire contents of a water bottle to wash them, I still had a hard time clicking in and out of my pedals.
Subsequently, when the GPS led us to yet another off-road adventure through pastoral France and we elected to turn around and find another route, I couldn't unclip and promptly ate asphalt. I fell on my outstretched arm and landed hard enough that I was worried I'd broken my wrist.
Two things of great importance happened at this point: first, I lay on the ground long enough that a sweet elderly french lady came out of her farmhouse to make sure I was okay and Penguin promptly diverted her by sadly explaining with a warbling voice that, obviously, this was not the asphalt kind of road that we had hoped for - and she replied only with laughter. Second, on ascertaining that I had not actually broken anything, I mentally congratulated myself on not thinking immediately following the accident 'how am I going to scrub tomorrow?!' (my usual first thoughts after causing bodily damage to myself), which clearly shows that I'm fully in vacation mode.
After we were back on the bikes and on our way again, things slowly improved but we were both pretty spent. Altogether, we spent 8 hrs getting from Versailles to the Feys, arriving at 5.55pm (5 min ahead of my predicted 6pm arrival time when I'd looked at the route in the morning).
The B+B in the Feys is a gem and definitely made for a soft landing after a long day. We arrived just as yet another downpour began and the owners whisked us inside to an attic room with timber and plaster ceilings and a very comfortable bed. After a hot shower, they fed us as much dinner as we could eat and we're now carefully washing the mud off our gear and looking forward to a good sleep. Secure (and dry!) housing for the bikes means we'll sleep with good peace of mind, too.
 |
| We loved the wooden beams and rustic attic nature of our room at Le Clos. It made the perfect soft landing after a tough day's ride. |
All in all it was a tough day but now that it's done and we're mud-free and dry, it's really starting to feel like our honeymoon.
Cheers!
Saroja
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