September 1, 2014
Breda - Bergeijk
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 0 | Link |
We had a late start and a sluggish sort of day, in and out of Belgium. First, we took a look at the city centre, then with the help of Mynheer Garmin, we found the way out to our road south, mainly through affluent-looking, leafy suburbs. We got a good look at Breda, if no first-hand information. I could think of worse places to live For the first few miles, we enjoyed a roadside cycle path, then missed a turning and unintentionally arrived in Belgium. Back in the right direction we turned into a sort of conservation area, on the road, but on a very quiet road, with notice boards at junctions, indicating recreational cycle routes. The last few kilometres into Baarle Nassau were on a surfaced bike path, alongside a dirt road.
We stopped for lunch in a small park in Baarle-Nassau, near the Jumbo supermarket where we bought the food. Historical ambiguitues of land ownership mean that Baarle-Nassau shares its location with the Belgian town of Baarle-Hertog, which is a Belgian exclave around 5km inside the Netherlands, but within this exclave are Dutch enclaves and I was told that some houses are in both the Netherlands and Belgium. Who you pay your taxes to, depends on the position of your front door. Some houses are decorated with small flags to denote their nationality. Some have little stone borders around them. If you have an interest in the consequences of a squabbling European aristocracy, then read this, or zoom in. Our lunchtime picnic took place in the Netherlands. I asked someone.
Having already overshot a turning and set foot in Belgium, now from Baarle-Nassau, to get back to the Netherlands we had to negotiate another piece of Belgium, through Poppel and not an exclave. Barbara was very confused by all this chopping and changing. “What country are we in now?” she asked more than once. We stopped for a break in Reusel in what you might call Greater Eindhoven, after which there was more traffic, but we were on a bike path alongside the main road, so the only inconvenience was the noise. The N397 road is prohibited to bikes so we had to turn back and ride round the houses a bit to arrive at Bergeijk, where we spent the night. Barbara was strugging with the pronunciation of the name of the the town which was giving us shelter [Berkhayike, a more than tricky Dutch dipthong following a guttural] She seemed anxious to remember where she'd been. “Try Bear-cake”, I suggested, “Yogi's birthday.”
Today's ride: 71 km (44 miles)
Total: 212 km (132 miles)
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 3 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 0 |