Sunday June 23d - 18k - mostly accidental. Cool, breezy, 15°C to 16°C
Vie from the Bell Tower Ypres
Yes we climbed to the top
Looking up at Ypres Bell Tower
My bike off train Ypres to Ghent
Then Ian's bike
Another train Ghent to Brussels
Our special BMX spiked pedals
Called shin biters for good reason
If only Google Maps worked
Today was our day off except for the 3k we did cycling to the Ypres Train station to go to Brussels and the 15k getting totally lost in Brussels. We spend the morning visiting the flanders Fields Museum in the Centre of Ypres - so well done - The memories of WW1 are so real in Western Europe. After lunch, we took the train, with two changes, into Brussels where we got hopelessly lost for 3hrs, finally arriving at our B and B, the Maison Royale at 7pm.
Sleeping in is good, I've decided. No dog to wake you up insisting on a walk. It's 7am when we rise and hurry to shower and pack and be down to breakfast. It's bacon and eggs - a nice change from bread and jam, but Belgian breakfasts are typically less bready. It's cold and wet outside. We've seen most of what we wanted to see in Ypres, Hill 60 and the Menin Gate (variously spelt Menin or Menen), and the only other place I'd earmarked was Poperinge - but there was really nothing to see there, it was just significant because this was where the British troops had R and R in WW1 and it was also the place of "Shot at Dawn" soldiers - those British soldiers who were shot for desertion or acts of cowardice - there's been several BBC documentaries on the topic. Probably a more depressing place to visit than anywhere else on the Western Front.
We decide to visit the Flanders Fields Museum in town. It was convenient to leave our bikes and baggage at the Demi Lune B and B, then walk down to the museum. It's packed. Apparently it's always packed, with many visitors from Belgium as well as international. Every museum puts a different slant on WW1. This one tells the story from both an international perspective of countries and politicians bickering long before the Bosnian Serb shot the Archduke Ferdinand, and also a personal perspective describing the lives of many of the individual soldiers on both sides of the war.
The belfry has only recently been opened and we climbed the 231 steps to the top to see a spectacular view of the surrounds. We spend almost 3hrs wandering around the museum - there's so much to absorb about WW1 but the more you know the more you realise how insane it all was. Back to have a quick coffee at the Oliphant Hotel before picking up our bikes and baggage left at our B and B. A short 3k circuit around the town and past the old walls (ramparts) to the train station where we by two tickets to Brussels.
It's started to rain again. The temperature is still around 15ºC. A good time to hide inside the station waiting room. The train arrives and the guard helps us on with the bikes. There's two stops on this trip. First is Korcnik, second is Ghent and each time, we encountered very helpful very friendly people who helped us on and off trains, and up and down stairs. One guard even donned his yellow safety jacket and guided us across the tracks instead of going down two flights of stairs to another platform and up again.
It's important to avoid getting caught in the pedals in these manoeuvres. They're BMX pedals with spiky studs so we can wear normal joggers that grip to the pedals without the need for cleats. Clipped in shoes make your feet tired from the one position all day and the shoes aren't very serviceable for hopping off and wandering around town or just getting a coffee, or popping into a supermarket. But these spikes are biters if you get your shin caught.
Brussels at last and it's 3.45pm. Time to go to the international ticket counter and check out the Eurostar for tomorrow and buy two tickets plus bikes from Brussels to Luxembourg for next Sunday. We've got plenty of time now, but not much time next Saturday night when we arrive back from England. And besides it's just a 15 minute trip up to our B and B. Wrong!!
After heading out of the Brussels Zuid station with my lousy unreadable map, we showed it to a man who could speak very good English and he confidently directed us around the corner, under the railway bridge and then to ride 3-4km along the road with tram tracks. After about 30 minutes and still no evidence of Rue Marcq where our B and B was located, we stopped to ask someone how to get there. He took one look at the map, waved his arms around and indicated we were a long way away. Go back to where we started from. This can't be true. Someone else might have a different better answer. But no, an elderly couple (same age as us) directed us back to the start at Brussels Zuid. But where was Metro Saint Catherine, supposedly the train station next to teh B and B - shrugged shoulders. It was like asking someone near the Milton Train station in Brisbane, how to cycle to Shorncliffe!
Back at Brussels Zuid and an hour has passed. Someone else points and waves fingers in he opposite direction. Off we go again. It's a complete maze of narrow streets. Still not obvious where we are headed. We stop to look at some street maps at a bus stop, but we are so far off track the map doesn't include Rue Marcq and we still don't know where we are and Ian's GPS isn't working. Another passerby stops to help. He doesn't know and he stops a police car. More waving and directing up the road. Off we go again. Another hour has passed. That's already two hours of getting no where and its cold and already 6pm. Finally we see some signs to Sainte Catherine Metro bt another hour of riding in circles and we're no closer. It's now almost 7pm and 3 hours since we left the station for a 15 minute cycle.
We need to find an internet cafe so we can google Rue Marcq - and real quick. The only cafe with WiFi is closing but he gives us the code and we're logged on. Within 1 minute I find we are less than 100 metres from Rue Marq. At last.
7.15pm and we're knocking on the door. Matthieu greets us and Brendan carries our bags up to the 3rd floor. They make an odd couple - Matthieu is tall, white and podgy. Brendan is short, black and muscley. We're zonked and we've only done 18k today - 15 of it wandering the streets lost in Brussels. But we did pass an express Carrefours near the internet cafe, so we walk back to it to buy the obligatory cheese, ham, tomatoes and mache plus a beer and a bottle of Mateus Rose.
Back on the bed, we spread out and celebrate a minor victory. Mache with mayonnaise and a glass of Mateus is really nice.
Mateus Rose to drown the sorrows
Dinner of mache and cheese