We have now officially become ‘fiets tourer’ (bicycle tourers) and in our first week we have cycled in four different countries – not bad!
We were lucky enough to have a send-off party as we left London, our friends Jane, Macca and Jo cycled with us out of the city; through the Kent countryside to Tonbridge. We enjoyed our last English pub lunch for a while and our friends kindly took it in turns with us to ride our heavy touring bikes – what stars!
After bidding a fond farewell to them we spent the night wild camping outside of Royal Tunbridge Wells.
Our first day left alone did not go well, we spent a couple of hours stuck in a field after trying to take a short cut and got trapped amongst brambles thistles and a path too narrow to identify at times. We had to lift our fully loaded bikes over two stiles which almost killed us and by lunchtime we were back on a road, covered in scratches, bruises and completely exhausted! After our terrible start we realised how far behind schedule we were and decided to take a train to Dover! The train was followed by a ferry which got us back on track.
We wild camped near the coast, several miles south of Dunkirk. We only had one morning of cycling in France before we crossed the border into Belgium. However, in that time we managed to eat some delicious pastries, have lunch on the beach and visit Dunkirk – a very industrial city with really interesting architecture and also worth visiting for its historical significance.
Belgium was cycling paradise, cycle paths everywhere and many beautiful country lanes which were peaceful and flat as a pancake. We meandered our way towards Bruges until it started to get a little late, soon realising that there is nowhere to wild camp in Belgium as it is so flat, open, and without wooded areas to hide in! With no idea of where we were going to sleep we started to weigh up our options, perhaps we could camp in the church grounds or in someone’s back garden? We couldn’t find anyone from the church so we started knocking on some farm house doors! After a few non-responses and a miscommunication a very kind couple; Monique and Robert let us pitch our tent in their garden. We slept surrounded by a huge number of birds; turkeys, geese, ducks, peacocks and rabbits, and in the morning we even got a shower – what a success and a great way to restore your faith in the human race!
The next day was a long one, we cycled into Bruges in time for some lekker (delicious) lunch and explored the city. Bruges is a beautiful medieval city with lots of waterways, we could have spent longer there but it was difficult with our fully loaded bikes. Next stop – Ghent! Our night was spent staying with our first ever Warm Showers hosts – Heidi and Steven. We had a really fun evening, they had another cycle tourer staying with them, a girl called Nellie from Montreal, Canada!
Ghent was lovely, very pretty and we wish we had more time to explore the city, seems like a vibrant place to live. We cycled from Ghent to Antwerp along the river, it was a great cycle path with no traffic for 100 kms. It was quite a long ride but an easy and very pleasant one.
In Antwerp we were visiting Andre’s second cousins, Dorine and Francis who very kindly treated us to a lovely stay in the city; dinner out in a great restaurant and a night’s stay in a penthouse suite overlooking the city! We had a great couple of days spending time with them both and hearing about their incredible travels, very inspiring. Dorine was also an excellent tour guide and took us on a brief tour of Antwerp one morning!
We left Belgium in the rain and cycled into Holland. We had a fantastic few days in Belgium mostly due to all the kind people who hosted us along the way – so thank you!
Holland… coming up!
more blog please !loved the pictures of ‘the famous five ‘ in kent and camping in Belguim ( think I saw some turkeys in front of the fence too !) Glad it is going so well, sounds like you’re having the time of your lives, live every moment.
Ps, what great friends you have, taking turns to ride the heavy bikes.