August 23, 2023
Sluis to near Westkapelle
It cooled off quickly in the evening last night, and this morning everything was damp and foggy and pretty cold. The sun eventually came out and did a pretty good job of drying off our tent.
Tobias was pretty excited about going on the boat today, though he kept asking if it had a playground and a swimming pool like the big ferry we took to Corsica. We biked most of the morning so we could make it there before lunch. The route was lovely, winding around the sand dunes with views over the coastline. It was really busy on the bikes - only 1/3rd of Dutch kids are back at school so most are still on vacation. Sometimes we'd get caught in slow bike traffic but there were so many oncoming cars we couldn't get past.
We missed the 1pm ferry departure by 2 minutes, but that gave Tobias plenty of time to play on the playground while we waited. There was another loaded bike tourer on board with us - a guy doing a solo trip with his 3.5 year old daughter from Antwerp. He had a really interesting attachment on his trailer for attaching her bike. It was just a simple hook for the bars, attached in the same way all the stuff clips onto the Thule trailers, and the rest of the bike hung down behind. Something to keep in mind when Tobias progresses to something bigger.
The ride wasn't too long and brought us to Vlissingen where we found some shade to get Tobias into the trailer. The afternoon was much of the same, but with a slightly stronger headwind. We carried on around the cycling path along the coast, along with all the people headed to and from the beach. It feels like we're home again where there is more bike parking for the beach than for cars. We've noticed more trailers than we've seen in the past few years though. Maybe it's just because we lived in the city where the bakfiets was most people's choice, but here the kid trailers outnumbered them by far.
Just before Westkapelle we headed inland to find a place to camp. Its a small spot and we have the site backing onto the playground which is perfect. Tobias would have been happy scooping sand to make a tower all afternoon, but James and I got pretty bored of it after half an hour (and he didn't want to do it alone) so we bikes back to Westkapelle and had a beer on the beach while Tobias scooped more sand. We've never bought plastic beach toys because there always seems to be an excess lying discarded at the beach. Today he acquired an ice-cream scoop. Besides scooping, he also really enjoys rolling around in the sand and getting it all over his face and in his nose, ears, and eyes. I'm not sure if all 2 year olds do this or just ours, but it puzzles me.
We were pretty late back for dinner so James cleaned Tobias while I got it ready and hung out the washing. I don't have too much faith in it drying because it's already cooled right down again and there is moisture all over the tent. And there is actually a bit of rain forecast tomorrow which is a shame. At least the wind should be blowing in the right direction to get us across the delta works.
| Heart | 1 | Comment | 0 | Link |
Today's ride: 49 km (30 miles)
Total: 3,123 km (1,939 miles)
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 5 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 0 |