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.
