Cycling Belgium Day 3: Wonderfully Flat & Beautiful

2013_07-28--Belgium Cycle (60b) 28 July 2013 The thunderstorms from last night faded to a strong rain, and that was long-gone by morning. During the storms, I was a little worried about a tree branch breaking and waking me up, possibly with some pain. There were a lot of trees around me, as the picture shows. I’m half-way through packing up my site in this picture.

???????????????????????????????After packing up, I found some wifi in the lodge for the campground where I stayed. I was surprised at how many people had beer with their breakfast, but I have heard that Belgium prides itself on its beers. Cycling and enjoying the sights tends to keep me away from sitting still with a beer, but I hope to enjoy one soon, maybe two.

After that, it turned into my favorite kind of cycling. In the morning, that’s a bit of coffee and writing, and in the afternoon, it’s a lot of sights and very few hills. Belgium has both. The pictures tell the story better than I can, so I’ll show them and just add some comments.

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The crop on the left shows one of the many vegetable fields that have been part of this trip. I’ve cycled by many fields of onions, potatoes, carrots, red lettuce, green lettuce, and a white veggie that Gabriella introduced me to. I love the taste but can’t remember the name right now.

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I’ve been on more cycle trails than I ever thought one place could have. Some trails also have cozy benches to take a break on.

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Then, a local surprise showed up in the distance.

I’ve been telling Gabriella that I talk with her while I cycle. When I saw the sight below, I said to her, “Most neighborhoods would look better with a windmill nearby, don’t ya think?”

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And then, some more little surprises showed up.

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The day ended on a cycle path near a canal, for a few miles. I cycled for 54 miles on this day, but it didn’t feel that far, since the trails were so flat. I pushed myself on the trail shown below, to reach the campsite a little sooner and enjoy a shower. Normally, I cycle at 10 mph. I was able to reach 15 for a while on this trail.

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4 thoughts on “Cycling Belgium Day 3: Wonderfully Flat & Beautiful

  1. well Steven – I envie you for making this great journey with bike and tent. mind you, I would take my bike!
    thanks for keeping us informed

  2. thanks for ‘talking’ to me as you go 🙂 the ‘vegetable’ you’re thinking of is fennel, by the way…
    I love the windmill – yes, I do think!

  3. Erich,
    I’m happy to hear you’ve enjoyed reading about my little journey. I wish I were in a sailboat for a few years, but my little bike and tent works pretty well–especially when I pass by people on those strange full-sized bikes. 🙂

    Gabi,
    Fennel! I should have remembered. Even better, I should have picked one. The taste of freshly picked fennel would be wonderful, although I would feel guilty if I picked one. The windmills were good fun, shows the very long history of sustainable energy.

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