| Day # | 8 | State of Legs | :-) |
| Distance (miles) | Distance (km) | Ascent (feet) | Ascent (metres) | Punctures | |
| Today | 30.5 miles | km | 1467 feet | metres | 0 |
| Trip Totals | 339 miles | km | 11641 feet | metres | 0 |
| Today's Route |
 |
 |
| Route So Far |
 |
Travelogue
We checked out of our Brussels AirBnB apartment this morning and set off on our bikes, with our first objective only half a mile away. For the first job of the day was to replace the lost travel towel that M1 had left in the showers at a campsite earlier in the week. Decathlon opens at 10:00, so we enjoyed an easy start to the day.
At Decathlon, M1 bought a new towel and also, some super cheap (4 Euros!) plastic flip flops so as to have something lightweight, cool and comfortable to slip into at the end of a day's cycling instead of wearing the hot and heavy cycling shoes all of the time.
 |
| M1 modelling his fancy flip flops later that day |
Next, we headed for a game store, having reached the conclusion that one or two games might be fun to have on our trip, especially on rest days. We found the store online and it looked like it would have something suitable. En route, we happened to pass the Monument du Cinquantenaire and paused to take a photo of it.
5 minutes later, we parked the bikes outside the game shop, went inside and after a short chat with the owner, walked out with two new games (of a suitable size and weight), neither of which had we heard of before! Hopefully they'll be fun to play.
Continuing on our way, following a well sign-posted section or Eurovelo route EV5, we were glad to leave the hustles and bustles of Brussels behind (yes, I'm a poet!). The roads in the city were quite busy at times, the junctions occasionally a mystery and it was not uncommon to encounter fast moving police cars and motorcycles, sirens and blue lights on, as they escorted a VIP or two, typically in a vehicle which had tinted glass to prevent you seeing inside. But soon after leaving the city, we found ourselves cycling for miles through the delightful Sonian Forest. It's a lovely forest, with enormous and presumably very old, deciduous trees.
Beyond the forest, we cycled through countryside and small towns, sometimes on those famous and horribly bumpy cobblestones!
Five miles or so from today's campsite, we stopped at the supermarket we'd identified during our Trip Admin yesterday. M1 was dispatched to buy lunch, dinner, breakfast and anything else deemed necessary. He triumphantly emerged from the store about 15 minutes later, clutching a bag full of bread, cheese, tomatoes (do these people eat anything else?!), cucumber, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, bananas, lentils, tinned salmon, olives and pesto. And biscuits. And Snickers bars. And possibly some other things! In short, a veritable feast.
The campsite is nice enough and the entrance to our tent looks out onto a field of maize. It's quiet, with reasonable facilities and... the WiFi works. I'm writing this post from the comfort of the tent.
We had a nice lunch of Camembert and tomato sandwiches with pieces of cucumber and the olives on the side.
As for dinner, there was no bread and there was no cheese, for once. Instead, we enjoyed that versatile and ever changing classic, a bowl each of Camping Mush. And here it is:
Very tasty. In fact the pesto included in it was made with red peppers and chilli and if anything, was a little too spicy! No real complaints though. "Yum" is the word on the street :-)
No comments:
Post a Comment