We were scheduled to bike to Ghent from Middelburg tomorrow, after a rest day.  Alas, Mother Nature was planning a nice storm tomorrow: serious winds AND rain.  After considering numerous options, including another train ride or two, we decided to shorten our stay in Middelburg and head for Ghent today.

We knew we would still have some of the southerly winds that have been at our face most of the week, but not the gale forces from the day before, and hopefully not the heavy rains.  And we succeeded in avoiding the worst; only light rain for the last 5 miles.

It was overcast virtually all day.  We started with a ferry ride from Vlissingen after less than 10 miles.  This ferry service started back in 1828, used to carry cars, but after a tunnel was built further east, the ferry only serves pedestrians and bikes.  While it wasn’t crowded, we were surprised by the number of passengers, including 10 young soccer players and 4 adults, we assume headed to a match across the waterway.

We crossed the Westerschelde to Breskens.  This is a major waterway leading toward Antwerp and we saw several large barges.  With the weather threatening, we opted to go off the pink line and choose a more direct route for parts of the day.  One thing we have learned this past week is that virtually every major road in Holland has a bike path off to one or both sides.

The border from the Netherlands to Belgium was not marked; we just began to notice a change in the bike paths.  I must say that we were spoiled in the Netherlands.  Dedicated bike paths everywhere.  Twice we were honked at for not riding on the bike path, and once an older woman yelled at us for going the wrong way on the path (wrong side of the road).  It actually takes some adjusting to get yourselves on the bike path instead of taking a lane on the road.

The rain was forecast for 2 pm in Ghent and it arrived on time; we arrived at the hotel about 2:45 pm in the heart of the old city.  We walked around for about 2 hours, then returned to the hotel to shower before going out for dinner and to an organ and oboe concert at the St-Niklaaskerk right next to the hotel.

We will take the train to Brussels in the morning and do some sight-seeing, even in the rain (better by foot than on a bike).

43 miles