Aalst

October 1, 2016

Ghent is a big city and a city of canals. This morning we set off navigating along the canals thankfully with the aid of our great cycling map of the area. Eventually we found our way to the River Schelde and the dedicated cycleway that was to take us for a long way on our route today. It was very easy riding, perfectly flat and the wind of the last couple of days had disappeared.. The agriculture along the way did not look as bountiful as it had in the previous few days. What did delight us was when we got to one small place aroung 10am and suprise, suprise an open cafe. We thought we might be able to get a waffle as well but he doesn't start making them till midday however the coffees were great and he had a very friendly cat.

Eventually we left the river as it meant we would cut off a lot of distance. Well it may have cut off distance but it certainly didn't cut off time. It wiggled along on small roads never seeming to get in to the country and we had to be constantly vigilant if we were not to miss any of the magic numbers. Eventually we found our way into the centre of Aalst were there seemed to be a fair on and by some miricale were able to find the Information so we could get a map to find our way to the Ibis which is a little out of town

Only one more day of riding - I fear looking at the weather forcast we may get a bit wet and cold. It feels strange that it is all coming to an end but looking back it seems as if it was a really long time ago that we were putting our bikes together in Zurich Airport

Someone is kind to these geese that were along the track

This 1937 photo showed hay being taken across the river

Today's ride: 51 km (32 miles)
Total: 2,934 km (1,822 miles)

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