August 22, 2023
Poeke (BE) to Sluis (NL)
We had breakfast as part of our stay last night so getting away was pretty simple. Tobias is entranced with his new toys from the boys and played with them all through breakfast and then we had to get them out every time we stopped today.
The first half of the morning wound along small farm roads without much traffic. There is a lot of corn growing in this area so we spent a bit of time speculating about corn cultivation. Lander suggested last night that we take the Ghent-Brugge canal to Brugge then turn north to Sluis, rather than riding directly north west to get there. It was a nice choice and once we reached the canal we had a nice wide cycle path with nothing to get in our road and slow us down. We shared a picnic table with a Belgian couple on a 3 night trip to the coast at Oostende since there were no free picnic tables to be found.
We rode to Brugge without too much issue, just at the end was some roadworks and we got detoured off our canal and onto a busy road. We set the route to pass right through town but Tobias was asleep so we didn't stop for long. We then joined another canal which would take us all the way to Sluis. Tobias woke near Damme so we stopped to check out a molen and had a wee ride through the town before heading north again. Just before Sluis we crossed back into the Netherlands without much fuss or a sign at all. But according to the map we are home, and walking around the town tonight all the shops were familiar again.
We headed straight to the camping on the other side of town to set up our tent, then rode back in for some groceries and an ice-cream. The campground was doing roast chickens tonight so we supplemented our veggie pasta with roast chicken.
Tomorrow we head to the coast and then north up Zeeland to camp somewhere near Middleburg. There are so many small campsites in this part of the Netherlands. It seems like every farm has a few pitches on the side as well.
Today's ride: 54 km (34 miles)
Total: 3,074 km (1,909 miles)
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