24/07/2019 – ‘This is highly unusual’

After a leisurely start to the morning, I sadly missed the 10 o’clock ferry by a matter of minutes (50 to be precise). This meant I was on the 12 o’clock ferry getting to Dunkirk at 3 o’clock France time.

I didn’t have a plan of where I wanted to stay for the night so I thought I’d see how it went. On the ferry I met some really nice people, in particular a biker who had spent years of his youth travelling all over the world and excited for me and the rest of the trip.

Docking in France, I made a beeline for a supermarket and after a refuel, I headed straight to Belgium. The roads were amazing, the cycle lanes were huge and there was not a hill in sight.

Before I know it I was racking up the miles and after a brief stop in the centre of Dunkirk was heading towards the Belgium border. I wasn’t really sure what to expect but the boarder was simply a French flag and a Belgium flag next to each other on the corner of the road

It was a fantastic evening, not too hot, not too cold and a slight tailwind. The cycle path followed a canal then headed off through fields, still, flat as a pancake.

I needed to decided where I was going to stay the night, cycling through Ostend I found a campsite and thought this would be ideal.

After a good nights sleep and another late start, I headed off towards Bruges. Having seen ‘In Bruges’, it was a must see place and I have to agree with Harry ‘It’s a fairytale town’.

Next stop was Ghent and it was getting quite hot, progress was slower but I got there in time to realise that there was a festival going on in the middle of town. This would have been great if I could have stayed the night somewhere but all of the hostels were fully booked.

After a brief walk round, I headed for Antwerp. It had been a long and hot day and I was struggling. Upon arrival at the hostel I spent about 5 minutes filling up their tiny glasses with some kind of lemon infused ice water at reception before even asking if they had a room free.

Again, after a leisurely morning (a pattern is starting to develop here…) I left Antwerp and on the recommendation of one of the workers I headed to Galderse meren near Breda where there was a fantastic lake to cool off in.

It was so refreshing that I didn’t take any photos of it. It was getting late and i had to find somewhere to camp, I knocked on a couple of doors but there was no answer but then finally, an answer.

I explain my situation and he goes ‘Hmm, this is very unusual. What am I to do with an Englishman.’ After a brief pause he comes back with ‘You can stay in my garden.’ This was such a relief as it was getting late and I didn’t fancy a late night cycle trying to find a campsite.

After a lovely evening chatting, eating and drinking, I headed off to my tent. Not before having a swim in his pool to clean myself first though.