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.
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| 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.
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