Bruges Day & Beach Day

After the car fiasco yesterday, we slept better than we’ve slept in a long time. Good old Red Pennant, have been better than we could have hoped for. The car was towed away to a local garage, owner Carlo is convinced he can fix it, hopefully in a few days. Red Pennant have been in touch today, checking that we are ok and did we want a courtesy car? For now the answer is no thank you. If the car is only going to be a few days in the garage then we will manage on the tandem.

Talking of which, The Boss has a ride planned for today, a bit of sightseeing. We are heading over the border into Brugges, just a 37 mile loop he tells me. Cycling over here is so much better than at home, I’m sure if we had the cycling infrastructure that they have here I’d have the confidence to ride on my solo bike. Through beautiful countryside and pretty villages, half way there we stopped at the seaside town of Knokke, a wander along the beach then into an Italian for lunch. Greeted in French, of course, you’d expect that wouldn’t you in a Dutch Italian restaurant! The waiter made my day, olives and bread appeared just to tide us over till we’d decided what we wanted off the menu. Spinach and ricotta cannelloni in a nuclear tomato sauce was just what I needed to fuel my little legs the rest of the way.

Bruges is beautiful, bustling with tourists. Last time we were here we found an underground bike park, a bit like a multi storey car park but just for bikes, hundreds of them, so that’s where the bike spent it’s afternoon. All parked up for free too. We’ve been here twice before so after a bit of a mooch we decided to find a bar with a bit of shade. Plonked in just the right spot to watch the world go by we sit back and relax. We even chatted to the locals on the next table (from Coventry). Before heading back we treated ourselves to Waffles with Maple & Kinder Beuno, because you have to, don’t you?

The ride back started with about three loops of Bruges centre because he couldn’t see the GPS in the bright sunshine, he later blames this for the days mileage hitting 42 miles. We stopped in the pretty town of Sluis to use the supermarket and fill the panniers on the Tandem to busting point – it’s a good job it’s electric assist.

The bike definitely felt heavier on the way back, nothing to do with all the shopping, it might have had something to do with the olives and waffles though. Needing to rest my saddle sore bum on the way back I seized the opportunity to request a pit stop as a windmill appeared on the horizon. Well, we are back over the border and into The Netherlands, so it would be rude not to take a photo.

The next day sees us still car less (Carlo has it). Hopefully it won’t be too much longer before we get it back. Someone turned the thermostat up on that big golden ball in the sky. Slathered in factor 30, picnic blankets and extra water stowed in the panniers of the bike, we head down the road a few miles to the beach. It’s busy, but it’s more than big enough to accommodate everyone. There’s no breeze off the sea and we are melting. We’d planned on an afternoon on the beach, after a quick paddle and just an hour and a half we were done to a crisp. Back on the bike to try and create our own breeze and seek out a bar and some shade.

The heat (29⁰C feels like 33⁰C) is defeating us so we head back to site and chase the shade around the caravan. We marvel at the human nervous system as minute bugs are landing on us in their hundreds and we feel every one of them land, The Boss says he feels like a taxi and none of the little buggers are paying. We receive a phone call from Carlo, the car will be ready tomorrow if we can be there for 11am … exciting news.