Day 118: Groede, Netherlands to Brugge, Belgium

September 14, 2012

We circled back in to the town of Groede to have a look and maybe to find something for breakfast. There is a church in the middle of the main square, surrounded by restaurants. It looked like it might be quite a lively area in season and when things are open, but in the early morning, in September, no one was around.

We chose a side street and just noodled our way down it. We came upon a lady sitting with a coffee outside what was clearly her little book store. The coffee was a good sign, and we asked about a place to eat. “That man probably has bread”, she said, gesturing toward a man standing in a small courtyard across the narrow street. The man said he indeed had two breads, leftover from yesterday, at what was a small bakery – part of a restaurant. When we explained that we were really after coffee and breakfast, he ushered us into the restaurant, and introduced us to Antonio, the chef, just arrived.

It turned out that the restaurant was De Twie Duiven and that Antonio was an excellent chef, of Italian and Iranian extraction. The man was Adrie Oosterling, and while we waited for Antonio to work his magic, making croissants and baguettes and eventually delivering these with meat and cheese and orange juice, and coffee, Adrie chatted with us.

The bookstore on the left, the restaurant on the right

Part of Adrie's pamphet - there is a website we could check out

The bakery that is part of the retaurant

Netherlands and Zeeland flags, showing the strong headwinds

As usual, we had only a sketchy understanding of where we where. Adrie filled us in. Yesterday we had crossed the Westerschelde from Vlissingen to Breskens. In so doing, we had entered a narrow slice of land that lies between the Flemish region of Belgium and the river (the Schelde). Netherlands had long ago appropriated this slice in order to control the waterway, but ethnically it is Flemish. So this is a Flemish slice within Netherlands.

In Belgium, Flemish is protected as one of the official languages, but here people need to take care to protect their heritage. On the other hand, tourists come here (even from Netherlands) because of its unique situation. So it is a special destination.

The white bit below the water is the Flemish bit of Netherlands

Adrie was also a special fellow, a singer and musician who gives house concerts in the restaurant and elsewhere. He was also very knowledgeable on a variety of subjects, including Canada. On thing he mentioned was that Groede had escaped destruction in WWII because it was a Red Cross town, with large crosses painted on the roof tops. Bombing runs therefore bypassed it.

We felt fortunate to have met Adrie and Antonio, and to have sat with them in the beautiful restaurant, being part of this unique street and place for a short time.

From Groede we slowly made our way down to Sluis. Sluis is a border town and receives Belgian tourists. It was quite nice, and you will see the photos below, but not really all that earthshaking.

Following a guidebook we had on cycling in Netherlands, we swung out into the countryside from Sluis, passing by Heilie and then Belgian town of Middelburg before making our way back to Damme, which is under 10 km from Brugge. So now we had entered Belgium, our seventh country on this tour. Coincidentally, our cycle computer rolled over 6000 km for the trip so far. It seems at last we are getting somewhere!

Changing window styles - fewer symmetrical pots and more lace curtains

The heavy clay soil of Flanders - good for crops, bad for trenches

The sign in front shows the locations of many local windmills, plus the history of this one, since 1874

The marker says Canadian Liberation Route

Sluis - this part looks more austere than Dutch towns

Damme used to be the port for Brugge, but fell into decline when the river Zwin silted up (several hundred years ago, I think). It does have a 15th century Stadhuis and some pretty buildings, but we found too much traffic had been allowed to develop right through the market square.

We did stumble on an adventure and a treasure in Damme though. It was the 11h or maybe 13th century Gothic Onze Lieve Vrouwekerk (Church of Our Lady) and the nearby Sint Jans hospital (now a museum).

We were about ready to leave Damme after seeing the main square – driven off by traffic noise on the cobbles – but Dodie pressed on for just a bit more. That’s how we came upon the church, and the tower that stands beside it. An older an had watched us as we cycled past the church, turned, and came again – looking for good camera angles. He turned out to be the caretaker, and very knowledgeable. He spoke French. What a relief to be able to communicate with someone again and not feel like a total dope for not knowing the language!

For one euro each we could climb the tower, which was not only quite a bit higher than the one in Zierikzee, but much gnarlier – that is – really gothic! The crude spiral stairs were very narrow, and became essentially ladders. ¾ of the way up was a bell, that did not look like it was in service, and at the top – a none too high railing. However, the views were great.

Back at the bottom, the caretaker took us into the church. Being a catholic church, it was more elaborate that what we have been looking at recently. It also had, he said, the oldest wood carvings of the apostles in Europe. Again, walking around this place with a man who knew it well added a lot, and for a brief time we could feel part of it.

We followed canals into the Brugge area. There are several of them, and the guidebook turned out to be vague about which are named what. Still, we got to the busy Brugge ring road, and the GPS lead us to the camping, a little east of town in Sint-Kruis.

At the camping, the Registration had a sign that said “back in 15 minutes”. We waiting about that long with no action, so chose a spot where other tents were, and pitched. After a while the registration man came back, went over to where Dodie was putting up the fly and said that was the wrong place to put the tent. I really felt sorry for the guy. Not many can make Dodie move once she has put her pegs in the ground. The tent stayed put.

Tomorrow we will go see what Brugge is all about. Everyone says it is the best of Belgium. Well, we passed a McDonalds on our way to the camping. That’s a start (??).

In Middelburg - quite a few large new rich looking houses. We know Europe has rich and poor people, but the differences in housing has not popped out at us like this before.

The caretaker explains details of a tombstone

Today's ride: 50 km (31 miles)
Total: 6,261 km (3,888 miles)

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