Day 3, 4 words and some sad news
I have not posted for a few weeks and to be honest I don’t know who is actually reading but I will continue. It is strange how the best of intentions work, just under a year ago I wanted to set myself a challenge and a challenge was born in the form of a charity ride. As with all plans and ideas they expand and contract with time and people come and go for reasons that can only be dealt by fate and circumstance.
Day 3 was by far my favorite day, a light mist of rain over Brugge and the first time I had felt free and in control at the same time. We circled the town and headed into Holland along the fine stretches of bent tree canals. We knew Bresckens was our destination, catch the ferry to the islands and ride through as far as we could before resting up for the night. I haven’t got the words or the time to try to explain other than by suggesting that you try this ride for yourself and that it was a landmark day for me, even if you do just that stretch. True riding.
The sense of trust from people along the way was dumbfounding, even in the centre of Rotterdam. I honestly thought that I could have left my bike anywhere and it would have been there when I got back.
Day 4 took us to Rotterdam and after a 50km headwind across the North sea divide it was a bit of a disappointment but part of the journey. I had and have been humbled by those days on the saddle with my feet out of the pedals and cruising along trying to get the feeling back in my toes, to the constant tweaking and changing of my backside to get a better softer ride but lets face it it wasn’t going to happen but every twitch and tweak was worth the hobble later on.
Day five was emotional, my knee began to flare up and took us from the colder confines Rotterdam and the most lifeless hostel back on the road north to Amsterdam, half way for me and the end of the road for Greg, it was going to be a big day.
there are 4 things I remember about this day… miles of cobblestones, I mean miles. Shiphol airport and what seemed like an eternity to get round it and still be 15Km away from the centre of town. Our spirits were good but strained with rain forming and Greg wanting to make time to meet the man who built his bike ( he did, and he was an amazing man). I suppose our benchmark was Amsterdam train station and the end of our ride ( I knew this, I just wasn’t ready to admit this yet) We had ridden 550km in five days with neither of us ever having done this before, a major achievement, major.
We ate pancakes, enjoyed beers and rolled our way back to the hotel. better friends for it, thank you Greg.
Back to the issues of trust and helpfulness, I will add a list of helpful people in another post. this city my home has shown me many things and that bike has shown me many that I thought that I would never see or be able to believe in myself enough to achieve so a massive salute to my fuji track, it is with a shallow heart that I mention that it was stolen from where I work on monday afternoon in broad daylight from a locked courtyard. Gutted.
There is a positive in this though, don’t let one event get in the way of your happiness or your goals as they are yours, a bike in some eyes is an extension of the person riding it, but it does not define you. There is always another bike and always another dream.
With thanks,
James
Day 4 pics
Day 3 pics………….finally
100km + day. 2 large pizzas each for dinner and a good nights rest...
The Grails, and being back on the bike
I recently saw the Grails which was something that has been on my to do list for a while, they inspire serious musical meanderings in me and this was highlight for sure. I have been back on the bike now for a week and can tell that the knee is better but only just. With time and a little devotion I will be back up to speed.
check the Grails here…
http://www.myspace.com/grailsongs
The donations pages are now closed!
Thank you to all who donated, we raised £1,517 for Cancer Research UK which has gone on to help those fighting Leukemia.
James and Greg
Day 2 pics…
Beautiful white sand beaches… Could have ridden along this all day…
The mythical LF1 bike Route is actually real!!!
Is anyone else sick of looking at the back of james??
The oldies out on a Saturday night ride in suburban Brugge.
DAY 2 Dunkerque and out of there…to Brugge
I am writing this in retrospect so there may be some omissions but, I snore. This much I know about myself by now and I have to admit I was tired. “there is something about Dunkerque, which is just…well creepy” was the quote of the day from the lady at breakfast, another thing to add to the grey of the morning which in light of what happened the night before could not make it any worse. It goes to show what planning can do for a trip of any nature and to be honest the maps we had and the natural compass in both of us was far from up to spec so a quick visit to the tourist office is on, some bananas and we get moving.
The depth of the beaches is quite amazing and pushing on through to the town limits there is a welcome and more natural change to the terrain, smoother roads and bike paths, trees and fields all the things that riding in London never brings, I liked it. De Panne, I think brought us into Belgium, not bad being in three counties in what was effectively 24 hrs, and on a bike. It was here that we also picked up the mythical beast that is the LF1 cycle route, in theory it existed but in practice it was harder to find than first thought, but finally this is where it got easier.
This part of the ride was reminiscent of my youth borrowing my step dad’s mountain bike and riding through the fields in Germany, which is one of the reasons why I wanted to do this in the first place. We got lost, not too badly but my preoccupation with herons, ducks and lets face it any type of water fowl was even starting to annoy me and might of had something to do with it, but back on track we hit the following sections of the LF1 1,21,22,23,26,52,29 and the list goes on…
My favorite town in Belgium is definitely Zedelgem. I love Zedelgem for two reasons, a left turn from the town got us to the Tourhout main road headed for Brugge and it was only 10km away! the other reason I will come back to shortly.
The old folks who just stopped traffic and proceeded in convoy across the main road made my afternoon, the waved and we smiled, a nice touch to a tough day.
I was seriously impressed with Brugge and will not try and do it justice here, just go yourselves. It would have been much nicer if we had time, the resolve and the legs to enjoy it more but alas this was not meant to be.
Hotel? NO, It’s in France! F**K!
Public Holiday in Belgium? Yes, double F**K!
Any spare rooms in town? yes 2 rooms in Zedelgem, yes that is my reasoning for loving Zedelgem purely for the fact that if I needed to get in or out of there in my sleep I think by now I certainly could.
Helpful people of the day: The lady at Pomino the Italian deli on Kleine Sint Amandsstraat 12, 8000 Brugge, a great demeanor and great food. The nice hotelier and the comfy bed and yes my friends… MTV!
Day three begins tomorrow.
Day 1 - pics
4km long hill along the side of a motor way - fun times!
Waiting for the ferry to France.
DAY 1 , stress and the book of quotes…
” riding in foreign countries is…really foreign” this my friends is nothing short of the truth! left the lovely confines of Brixotn after a nearly teary goodbye from my lovely finace to meet with Greg at the Cutty Sark. Sun Shines on the day and to be fair everything feels pretty smooth. The ride out to Canterbury was warm, hilly and generally enjoyable bar a few fast stretches on the main roads. We missed our boat at 4pm and had to wait for the next crossing to Dunkirque at 6pm, least helpful person of the day award going to the lady in the kiosk at Norfolk Line ( yes I am naming and shaming as you can only travel to Dunkique via them). Concience of time we dock at 9pm local time and the fun really starts now… its getting dark and motorways are for cars and big articluatled lorries, do not ever attempt this ever! back streets are hard to find and so was our way, the least favorite part of the trip by no stretch of the iamgination. Greg and I ready to tear a piece off the next least helpful person we meet… find ourselves at a kiosk with a nice man smoking ( by this time I want a smoke too..) who led us to the hotel, all be it via a cheeky cab ride… don’t care if we cheated. FULL STOP!. Here begineth the book of quotes, leading by example and relying on instinct, Direct maps: NO…so Brugge beckons and intuition takes over not before sleep. tomorrow begins tomorrow.
2 days left…
If anyone lives close to Greenwich park, feel free to come and see both James and myself off at 7am on Friday morning… Thats the 1st of May…
Our first day will see us head down to Dover and across to Calais. Not looking forward to the small stints on the main roads with cars flying past at 60mph!?
Don’t forget to share the love and donate to the Cancer Research UK cause… Lets get that total as close to £2000 as possible… http://justgiving.com/whatwedidonsunday
