Day 83: Antwerp to Zevenbergen

June 17, 2018

The hotel was just on the edge of the downtown walking area, so it was super easy to load up and go for a look. Usually we arrive in these areas in the late afternoon, when they are crowded and hopping, and then enjiy te contrast the next morning, when there are only a few delivery trucks around. There was nothing different about the situation today, onlyfor some reason I felt the buildings looked rather lonely and tattered without the crowds. The crowds had left their mark, anyway, in the form of papers and cans thrown about. This allowed us to at least exchange some greetings with a crew of street cleaners.

Empty, forelorn? streets of Antwerp on a Sunday morning.

When it comes to looking at an old city core, there is always the reliable standby of the cathedral to go visit. We left me with the bikes and sent Dodie in first. Later, I would normally follow and leave her with the bikes. This has become our standard order. When she comes out, Dodie will report on what she saw. Then I will go in and try to spot the things she mentioned. After I come out, she will say something like "What did you think of that 13th century triptych in the crypt?" Then I will say "Oh, I never saw that" and she will say "sheesh". It's a comforting routine.

But this time there was a service going on, and no visiting until afternoon. So we have only Dodie's quick report that it looked fancy. Meanwhile, here is my honest account of what I saw, standing with the bikes:

The buildings around the Grote Markt, with their narrow proportions and stepped roof facades continue to be fascinating. Dodie particularly noted the golden decorations on the fronts, and golden statues at the tops. She surmised this was meant to impress people with the wealth of the owners. Well, I'm impressed! We also noted one or two for sale or rent. Hmmm. One had a restaurant on the ground floor. How about living up above and having the restaurant to pay the mortgage? Well no, as with dozens of cities before this one, we enjoyed the fantasy and then jumped on the bikes, because we always want to go to the next place.

Golden touches on the fronts - and this one is for rent!

Our way to the "next place" turned out to be blocked by a fun event - the Antwerp Triathlon. It would not be right to say that the whole city had come out for this, but there were certainly way more people than in the downtown. An announcer on a PA system added excitement. when we arrived, the male competitors were just coming out of the swim, heading for the cycle. We soon saw that the ladies were already on the bikes.

Police and volunteers were managing the crowds, allowing a few people at a time to cross the paths of the competitors during any gaps in the flow. Police here are called "Politie", and while we are sure they can be tough if needed, we fund them all to be very "polite" and cute young men. Aside from the politie, we did talk to one or two of the onlookers. we have generally found the Belgians to be very reserved - a big contrast with the outgoing French, and more reserved than even Canadians. Actually, we are thinking they may in fact be grumpy. Belgium seems like a pretty nice country - what's their beef?

Friends and family out to support a competitor

What do we notice about this police uniform? - the cycling helmet.

We left the excitement of the triathlon and headed off north, passing first by parts of the port. The ship in the photo, coincidentally is called Canada. For navigation, we had the track we had prepared at home, and as soon as we had passed from Belgium into Netherlands the upgraded form of the junction points system that puts a map of all surrounding points at many of the intersections. We could also follow the long distance route signs, which are an independent type of guidance. Our distance route "LF" for longfiets was LF2b. That one is Brussels to Amsterdam. LF2a would be the reverse direction.

Guiding ourselves from the knoopunts, and posted maps. The green lines are all bikeways!

In the medium sized town of Roosendaal we noticed some action as we cycled adjacent to downtown. We headed in to have a look and found they were having a "50's" festival, with rock 'n' roll music playing and people dressed up in crinoline skirts and funny makeup. There was a display of 50's type cars, though I noticed a 1970 VW van in the mix.

We were interested in some "chopper" type bicycles and asked for the background. The bikes belong to a club that likes to obtain and ride bikes like this. One member explained it to me as "Like a motorcycle club, without the criminals".

As we travelled further along the bikeways, we absorbed the quiet and conservative nature of the countryside, the small neat houses, the sedate traffic, and the people out on their bikes. When we crossed the border from Belgium -Flanders to Netherlands- Brabant province there were no signs to show the transition. Even so, we began to pick up little things. For example, the Dutch always put vases in the windows of their little brick houses. We don't think we saw them in Flanders. Also, there was a little more use of contrasting colour of bricks in the house designs. Finally, we think more people in Netherlands were willing to say hello in passing.

One perennial issue - even in France - is what to do with people riding double on a bike path, and who will not go single file when passing oncoming riders, like us. On the once hand, we could just scrunch over single file and let them pass. But we always think, how come they get to force us into the grass? Don't we have a right to ride just as they are? So then we get to a game where I take the centre of the path and wait to see what the double riders are going to do. If they switch to single file, then I will duck in behind Dodie, and all is as it should be. If they persist in hogging the path, then I will duck in anyway. No use being dead, right. On some occasions, like when we are somehow very crabby, we will just stop - occupying only our side of the path, and let the oncoming folks either finally pull over or in principle stop in front of us. That latter form of confrontation has never actually happened on the bikes, but it has happened on foot. Dodie will be hobbling along on two canes and stop, rather than attempt to dodge some rude younger person who expects her to jump out of their way.

Houses with addition of decorative brick work. Also, everyone needs a windmill in their back yard, right?

All that brave talk about dealing with path hogs is fine, but what do you do with this?

We are now taking it in easier stages as we close in on Amsterdam. For one thing, Dodie's knees are far worse, and she is having trouble sleeping. Also, accommodation is very booked up, and often very expensive. For tonight, we stopped short of Dordrecht, in the little town of Zevenbergen. 68 euros has brought a modern hotel here with a large room, good desk, and fast wifi. They want 13.50 each for breakfast. Instead we will explore the town and hope to find the grocery and bakery. 13.50 is only worth it if we can take away enough to also have lunch from it. But here they are offering to make a lunch "packet", for 12.50! We'll take a pass.

Today's ride: 71 km (44 miles)
Total: 5,544 km (3,443 miles)

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