Dolly's Bike Blog

The Orientation meeting yesterday was preceded by beer, wine and nibbles, a chance for tour members to meet and greet:  we already knew 3 couples from our previous Pennywise tour, also connected with a couple from Wisconsin who had been at MTR 2018 in Grand Rapids and on the post-tour had met our HOOTs friends Jim & Betsy; also Norm from Virginia whose daughter attended Haverford and graduated with our daughter (the young women know each other from the Haverford alumni group in Seattle) – small world!  Tour leaders Steve and Karen went over safety rules and a bit about cue sheet reading.

The get-acquainted dinner was at Amadeus Restaurant, next door to our hotel.  They specialize in BBQ ribs – who knew that was a Belgian specialty.  Again more socializing – I am sure it will be a fun group – almost all of the teams are Pennywise veterans.

After an extensive European breakfast (think croissants, bread, fruit, cereal, eggs, sausage, pastries), Steve went over the specific turns for today’s route to Oudenaarde, south of Ghent.  After negotiating the “get out of town” challenges, including traversing a university complex, much of the outbound route was along a canal, where we saw numerous barges.  We also stopped to talk to a local who was picking up walnuts that had fallen from the trees after the winds and rain of Sunday.

Arriving in Oudenaarde, we met up with Steve and Roni from New Jersey and together went to the Centrum Ronde van Vlaandere, a museum about the history of the one-day Tour of Flanders, which ends in Oudenaarde (and begins in Antwerp).  We ate lunch at the Peloton Cafe, before heading back to Ghent.

Our return route wandered through farming areas, where we saw corn, potatoes, and possibly beets. We managed to get into the city just in time for bicycle traffic mayhem as the university students were dispersing every which way on foot or by bicycle.

Bill and Karen from New Jersey had organized a get-acquainted visit to a local bar with over 500 beers.  Don and I went to meet up with some of the group, even before showering.

Deciding about dinner we checked for recommendations on Yelp and walked to Balls & Glory, cited for typical Belgian fare.  We each had a meatball, Don’s pork, mine chicken, with stoemp (mashed potatoes with carrots and greens) – again who knew that meatballs and mashed potatoes were typical Belgian fare, but they tasted great.  The restaurant was obviously popular with the university students as we had 40+ years on any other diner.

44 miles, 12 mph

We made the right decision, cycling from Middelburg to Ghent on Saturday.  It rained all day on Sunday, and, at times, the wind was quite strong.  Rather than hide from the elements, we took a train into Brussels to spend the day exploring.

From the train station, we wandered into the Cathedral just as the 9:30 am service was ending, so we enjoyed a bit of organ music.  Amazing the ornateness and statues that decorate the interior. Continuing to the Grote Markt (Grand-Place) where the City Hall, numerous old Guild Halls, and the Brussels City Museum (Maison du Roi) are located.  With City Hall tours fully booked, we opted to explore the City Museum.  In addition to artifacts and models of the city dating back to before 13th century, it now houses the original statue of Manneken-Pis, considered a masterpiece of Baroque statuary art.

With the rain getting heavier and the winds stronger, we took refuge for lunch in a quiet cafe and hoped for the weather to improve.  For a short period of time after we ventured back out, no rain and we contemplated a leisurely walk in a northern neighborhood.  The weatherman did not cooperate, so instead we ended up at the Royal Museum of Fine Arts, learning about Old Belgian Masters.  Highlights were artwork by Pieter Bruegel the Elder and Rubens.

Back in 1958, I had visited the Brussels World’s Fair with my parents. Mostly I remembered the Atomium, now considered the symbol of Brussels.  We took the Metro to the north and followed crowds toward the Atomium, only to discover most were headed to a movie theatre nearby.  The views from the top level of the Atomium were minimal as the rain had returned, but we enjoyed the construction history and the many artifacts, wandering from sphere to sphere.

Back by Metro into the heart of Brussels, we happened on Le Bistro, a neighborhood restaurant which we found out was among the top 10 rated in Yelp.  We sat next to a young man from South Carolina who had just arrived in Belgium mostly on business and enjoyed the conversation as well as the food.

Back on the train to Ghent:  19,855 steps, 8.78 miles walking for the 12-hour day!

This morning our goal was to do laundry and take care of some telephone and bicycle needs.  The closeby Wasbar (combination coffee shop and laundry location) proved to be quite popular and our 3 loads of laundry took about 4 hours.  Alas, we can start the tandem tour with plenty of clean clothes.

The PennyWise Cycle Tour group arrived around noon today from Brussels and have been busy assembling their tandems.  We will meet later this afternoon for orientation, then a group dinner.  The next adventure is about to begin!

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