Headwinds, ferries and good riding: to Sint Amande
The route today was very pretty and passed through some interesting towns and historic sites. The problem however, was that, like the past few days, the unrelenting heavy headwind continued as did the oppressive heat. We pressed on as hard as we could and could not exceed 13 km/hr. It did take a toll as we really wanted to reach the next campground at Donk (an additional 25 km), but we were too tired and stopped in Sint Amandes hoping to find one of the B&B's listed in the Bikeline guide. As luck will have it, we had just about given up and were heading for the ferry, when we passed a house with a "Gastenkammer" sign and they had a vacant room. So we happily stopped.
Since it was Saturday today, the trail was very busy and congested with locals out for a ride, large teams of serious looking road riders in matching team jerseys and a few people like us. People are generally reserved here and especially the "roadies" who never crack a smile or respond to a greeting. Our learning curve is to cope with the lack of personal space on the trail. Riders here enjoy sociably riding 2 or 3 abreast and we feel that they don't understand that we need more room to navigate safely with our load. Our trusty Crane brass bell has really been getting a work out!
We see that cycling is a passion for this nation and whether it is for recreation or for serious training, all ages participate. People, like the Belgian racer, Eddy Merckx, are highly regarded. In fact, they know and admire our Canadian rider, Ryder Hesjedal who has performed well internationally and won the Giro d'Italia. Sadly, we wonder how many Canadians know our hero Ryder.
It is amazing to us that this tiny nation has produced 10 cyclists who have won the Tour de France.
An interesting place to camp and a relief from the mega-sized campgrounds that we have seen and mostly avoided in Belgium.
Coffee is free in most stores! Wow, we will add this to the plus column for what we have enjoyed about Belgium. As much as we are looking forward to travelling in France within the next week, we know that we will be making our own coffee.
Brick homes are very common here. This area is known historically for its brickmaking factories and the bike trail led us by and through parts of the Brick Making Museum. Very interesting.
We couldn't resist going down off the trail to explore this building. It is the remains of a castle with a water garden. Happily we went down and had some ice cream in the shade.
