Charleroi to Black Beetle Camping

We started to do some climbing as we delved deeper into Belgium.

And then found another watery route to follow.

Somewhere along this canal Joshua realized he had a broken spoke. After some shopping for food we stopped under a bridge for lunch and a quick, rear-wheel, spoke replacement.













This is the Stein Lock Ring tool. It has a place in my heart close to the Stein Bottom Bracket Lock Removal Nut tool. Does Stein make a whole bicycle that fixes itself?






Merci boucoup, Ft. Bragg Cyclery, for selling us this tool. Second time we needed/used it...

For those wondering, total elapsed time: one hour. Most difficult part: keeping my hands clean so that I would not foul the rim tape. Note the flip-flops. These are my new climbing flip-flops.




We headed towards Charleroi, a large city, thinking maybe we were already in the mood to take a train to Trier and continue to Switzerland via the Rhine. Or maybe we'd get some supplies. At least a coffee by the water? A hotel? We definitely needed a bank and it was this need that drove us (at least me, Joshua) into the city even after we realized it was going to be a shit-hole cluster fuck. The road into town was non-stop traffic (American city style) and there was trash (as in bags of trash) piled on the side of the road. In the city center, everything was under construction with entire streets torn down to dusty gravel. On the plus side, everyone was friendly. I (Joshua) had my longest conversation in French ever getting directions to a bank. We parked at a cafe for a coffee and a Coke. Then we hauled ass out of that place without even considering a train or a hotel. Our advice - avoid this city.

Ramona did an amazing job navigating us out the city. She says she was driven by necessity. I think she is really good at wayfinding in cities. This is what we saw as we left the city.

I guess this is cool. In a way.

On our way out of town, we saw a lot of amazing machines. It is possible that you could have heavy bits of metal thrown onto the path in one spot (there were warning signs). Given our experience in Belgium so far, we were very worried that the canal path would just end and we'd have to turn around and backtrack into the city.

Sometimes they provided a 'deviation':






On loose gravel.

But even at the gravel pit, there was some space to go by. Feeling fuzzy.








We didn't even try the campsite that was listed on the map - just found a really nice spot in the woods and set up a really lovely camp. This one was far more secluded as it was nestled deep in the woods under a beech tree. There were ticks again, but far fewer. This time, the fauna of note were these dawdling iridescent purple beetles that were intent on marching en mass across our picnic blanket. Another fantastic dinner with a salad. We went to bed early and slept well knowing that the odds of someone happening upon us were nil. The morning was beautiful. We rose early and broke camp in record time. Our route for the day was planned and we more or less agreed that we would stop early and take a rest day the following day. From the map we could tell there were a few lakes in our future and we thought lakes meant campsites and swimming. We decided to prioritize a shower (or swim) and laundry.

- rolling post

Bruges, Ghent, Belgian Wilderness

Our morning in Bruges was dedicated to finding maps for the rest of the country. They have a comprehensive map system for the northern part of the country, but each map only covers a small area. We learned that there was an easy way to get to Ghent, about 40kms on a canal. So we decided to try our luck without a map for that, and it was a breezy ride and a simple-to-follow route along the LF5.












We figured in Ghent we would find more maps.

At a little bakery we stopped for refreshments and saw our first vending machine that sells Jupiler beer. Soda, water, beer. We had to try it to believe it.

Ghent was also a nice city, but again crowded with tourists, trams (watch the rails), cars, and a few bikes. The LF5 brought us right through the center, where we stopped at a cafe for a bite and a coffee. Then we did a grocery shop, and found a bookstore that had a supply of Border Crossing Maps. We haven't seen the website yet, but it's www.feitskaart.be. These maps are 1:50,000, much more manageable. They also showed good north-south routes, and a couple of east-west routes. These routes are unmarked. They are really just a recommendation from the map makers, and they haven't lead us astray too often. The bookstore didn't have the whole set, especially not the one for the region around Ghent.















We navigated south to a campsite we saw on the Michelin map. That turned out to be much more difficult to find than we had hoped. The first few kilometers were on very rough roads; the kind that had once been paved but have degraded to mostly gravel. Very very bumpy. We also had our first cobblestone climb of the summer. We were always relieved when the route headed into towns.













As it got later, we again thought to find a bed and breakfast, and even asked at one place, which was full. Finally, getting on 8pm, we decided to camp in the trees next to the huge canal we had followed for quite a bit of the day. Wild camping Belgium, side of a horse riding track through the woods, horses clopped by in the morning, but nobody kicked us out.

We hoped to catch up with the map we had bought, south and east of Ghent a ways, navigating with our Michelin map using towns as if they were knoppunts. We ended up making it about halfway that first day, then the second day we found ourselves with a detailed map again.







Sometimes we had to make decisions like: should we go up this cobblestone hill or the hill that's paved? Or (below), should we take the route that meanders on a small roads or just roll down this big straight hill alongside the busy, noisy street?

Belgians like this form of boat bridge:

We rode into a small town, near another (supposed) campsite, and stopped to get some water and a beer at a friendly looking bar. The four or five people inside all gave us perfect directions: a le feu, tournez a droit. Tournez a gauche a la "Champion" (supermarché), et continuez sous le pont. À la deuxième gauche, tournez a gauche et c'est a droit là. This is the french speaking part of Belgium.

Sadly, our hopes were dashed. Big green field, nobody tent camping. We were unapologetically rejected by a busy-body youth with a cell phone who made a call to the manager. The "campsite" was more like a residents only, permanent-RV park. We filled our water and used their bathrooms on the way out and headed for a nearby wood. We were more exposed than the night before, but only to a path that was used by mountain bikers, joggers, dog-walkers. No one seemed to notice us nestled in the trees and ferns. Ticks everywhere - the little tiny ones. We had a nice dinner of tortellini and white pesto. For desert, some appelbak pastries. Then early to bed after a comprehensive tick check.

Turns out that we are good wild campers.

-- rolling post

Campinglandia to Belgium

Finally camping again! Dutch campsites abound - we have seen more campsites in the past couple of days than we did in all 10 days of looking for them in the UK. And what pretty campsites. The photo above is morning, it was hot in the tent at 8am.

Pretty riding, too. Still with that big headwind.























And huge sea dams, with beach areas on the ocean side.

The bike lane is more of a guideline than a rule.

This dam is open.

These dams are opened every 12 hours to let the tide flow in and out. Here the tide is going out. Behind us, the bay is essentially below sea level, so the ocean is ultimately trying to get in. But the tide is going out. The two forces create powerful standing waves, like those you see down east Maine and in the bay of Fundy. The difference here is that the standing wave is something like 3 kilometers long. There were also some huge (deep) whirlpools.

Biggest windmill yet (see the RV at the bottom).

Bollards do not have to be posts.

In this one they are closing the gates.

It took a long time, the dam moved downward barely perceptively. But the water was changing dramatically all the time.




Rolling into the storm. We had an afternoon break while we waited for the rain to come, but the rainy areas seemed to skip us. By 5.30pm we were at a campsite, and rain was definitely coming, so we set up in a hurry and...










...finally use the tarp! It poured. A bunch of times. We stayed dry.

We had a good time eating dinner and giving each other foot massages.

Good morning baby cow. In this country you can often find camping bij de boer, which is camping on the farm. This farm had cows, chickens, a goose wandering around (and another one locked up - geese can be evil), and an old-looking, black duck.








Another fantastic sunny (if a bit breezy) day saw us into Belgium.

I think that was the border behind us.

We followed a canal straight into Bruges. It might have been called the Damme Canal or that might be Flemish for canal. As the day progressed our heading changed and the prevailing west wind was more at our back.




We had some fantastic kilometers on good road surfaces into the city. The knoppunt system was still with us (parts of Belgium have recently adopted it), but alas we had no map - knoppunt or otherwise - so we navigated by sign posts, the sun, and cathedral spires. We entered Bruges with no plan other than to find some maps and stock up on water. The city had other plans. The cobble stone streets (which we later found out were locally called 'baby heads'), manic car drivers, tram tracks, horse carriages, buses, cyclists, and pedestrians all crammed onto small streets all conspired to put us both in a state of shock.

Late in the day, we decided we'd better just find a room. In a bookstore, we got a Michelin map of Belgium (1:350,000). Better than nothing. After a couple of full places, we decided to just pay up and stay in a hotel that had a closed garage where we could leave our bikes. Searching for a cheaper alternative was getting more and more painful. We ate our dinner in the room and then went walking around town. Bruges is beautiful. There are many reasons that people visit the city from all over Europe and the world. Things are a bit crowded, and cars are still allowed in the city center, if in a limited manner. Why anyone would drive in that city is beyond me, but those who do seem to be very angry about their predicament.

After a beer at one of the many cafes on the main square, we went to a small but distinguished beer bar on a very small side street. The menu had way too many beers on it... and many had super high alcohol levels. 8%, 9%, 13%!?!!?

So we just had a couple.

Belgian IPA!? Thank goodness.

Chouffe does an IPA!!!?!?! yay!

And while drinking strong beers late into the night, 

what better snack can you have than cheese cubes with mustard?

- rolling post