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. |
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