June 13, 2017
Diest - Maastricht: full circle
A bit of sun, some clouds, little wind - excellent weather for being on your bike. But our route was probably the least appealing so far. If I had known, I might have planned it differently - which would have meant a considerable detour. And who knows if it would have been better.
We started out through a sweet bit of countryside but it didn't last long. Soon we were on a bicycle path next to a busy highway, and it went on and on.
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2 years ago
The good part: Between the highway and the bicycle lane was a separate lane for cars to park. Never did we encounter a car parked on the bicycle lane, forcing the cyclist to veer out onto the highway. Not the case in Germany where cars consistently park on bicycle lanes. Often car drivers don't care if they block a bicycle lane and delivery vans have no choice if they have to have close access to their destination. It's the responsibiliby of the city planners to design an infrastructure that allows cars and cyclists to co-exist. I have often read praise of Holland's and Denmark's bicycle infrastructure, but Flanders also deserves recognition. Rant over - although I could go on for quite a while.
The busy road took us all the way to Hasselt, a town that I had marked on the map and believed was worth seeing. I think we missed the sights or were blind to them. I didn't even take any pictures!
I was looking forward to the Albert Canal, the next section of today's ride. Another disappointment - construction sites forced us to push our bikes up steep embankments, change our course and try to find the canal again. Nuclear power plants and industry didn't add to the canal bike path's appeal.
We had ridden along the canal following the Maas at the beginning of our trip and were now crossing the point where we had entered Belgium. Janos had marked the point on his Garmin and had a bottle of sparkling wine in his panniers to celebrate the occasion! Who cares if the small bottle was warm and shaken to the max? We were very pleased with our Flanders fling and I was sorry to be leaving. A high five, a swig out of the bottle and on to Holland for the night!
We crossed the invisible border into The Netherlands and had a pleasant ride into Maastricht, an intersting city with a large university and a lively student scene. We had booked a boutique hotel, not that we were particularly interested in the boutique aspect, but it was centrally located and moderately priced. It had no reception and after a confusing telephone call we were told where we could register and pick up our key. A ride through the city, inconvenient, but ok. However, the room was not ok. The windows in the room were all nailed shut and there was no other form of ventilation! It was a sealed compartment, so to speak, and it was stifling. The beds weren't good either.
The day did have a highlight, but all in all it wasn't the best.
Today's ride: 62 km (39 miles)
Total: 779 km (484 miles)
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