Blogging from Belgium

Another day at that campsite was a pretty welcome relief - it was spent mainly doing nothing - reading is quickly turning out to be my biggest expenditure after campsites! I stoked up on supplies and readied to head off the next morning. Unfortunately the next morning presented itself as very wet and very windy. Neither of these are hugely pleasant riding conditions, and together in such proportions managed to delay my departure for another day. Great. The next day, though not much better where the wind was concerned was at least dry so I saddled up and headed out, towards the Belgian border. My last night in France was spent in a thoroughly lovely little campsite near Saint Omer. Upon arrival I presented my Visa to be greeted with a blank stare and a slow shake of the head and was informed that the campsite doesn't take cards. Oh joy. After a brief discussion with the management I worked out that the nearest cash machine was another 7k away, so a round trip of 14k after a fairly sapping 70k ride earlier that day. Thankfully I was offered a lift to it by an English chap who happened to have arrived at the bar at around the same time as myself - what would've been close to an hours ride was accomplished in a matter of minutes - my legs were grateful! It turns out that the campsite was a regular haunt for a few different families, and I was quickly introduced to a couple of them, along with the hostess, Bernadette. We spent a great evening together, and loud bouts of laughter were never far away - as evidenced by the various bar tabs at the end of the night! One of the guys that I met (Ian) is also a pretty keen cyclist himself, so we exchanged details and will hopefully meet up for the start of this year's Tour de France in Liege. The next stage of the ride had (for me) only one possible destination - Ypres, Belgium. For those of you who don't know, Ypres was the centre for some of the bloodiest conflict of The Great War - there were three major battles along the Ypres-salient, including the devastating Battle of Passchendaele and the town of Ypres itself was almost totally destroyed. The day's ride started out very pleasantly - after a short stint I stopped off for a bite to eat and was reacquainted with Ian that I had met last night who warned me of the joys of the climb to come into the town of Cassell. He wasn't far wrong! After a "healthy" climb up to the town I was given a taster of what was to come - cobbles. On a hard-tail (i.e. no suspension) touring bike with plenty of weight on the back, these are not a great deal of fun. My GPS then decided to latch on to every surrounding hill in the vicinity and acquaint me intimately with them. After what turned out to be a very taxing ride for such a short one (only c. 50k) I gratefully arrived at Camping Ypra, and after a brief dinner (pate, cheese, tomatoes, beer) I feel gratefully into my tent, looking forward to the next day. Ypres turned out to be a fantastic day off. The town was rebuilt, at some considerable expense to the German exchequer, to the exact specification as it had been pre-war, and is absolutely lovely. One of the town's main features is the Menin Gate - a memorial to the fallen of the Commonwealth forces of WW1 that have no known grave. There are well over 50,000 names engraved thereon, and again I don't think that I have the words to describe the feeling of just being there. After a lovely day in the city I attended their Last Post memorial service, held every day as it has been held every day since 1928 to honour the fallen. After another night at Camping Ypra I headed out NE to a campsite called Panorama - the highlight of which was the panoramic views of the valley it overlooked, including a scenic view of the local nuclear power station... Today's ride was one of the most enjoyable yet - aided somewhat by a strong tailwind that followed me all day. I'm currently just east of Gent, and will be heading up to/through Antwerp tomorrow. A few quick words on Belgium for you - thus far it seems like an absolutely lovely country. The towns and cities are very neat and clean, the prices are very reasonable (after paying €3 or more on average for a 33cl pression, €2.50 for just over a pint is a welcome relief), the people are exceedingly polite and speak almost flawless English, the roads are in good condition and the cycle paths are everywhere and the beer is varied and plentiful - after only a few days here I feel that I really have a lot of affection for it already and hope that the ensuing few days reinforces the image. As much as I'm enjoying Belgium however I want to head straight up to the Netherlands for a few weeks before returning to Belgium for the start of the TdF at the end of the month. That's the general plan anyway, and I think that that's me for now - speak soon. P.s. - MASSIVE congratulations to Allam and Lorna (Zia and Lannigan respectively) on announcing their engagement - super happy for them both!!