Anyone who is considering biking in Europe should seriously consider Belgium. After two weeks of a wonderful trip, I can highly recommend this as a destination. On August 30 Norm and I flew to Brussels where we met Tracy, Jim, Ron, and Craig who had just arrived from Colorado. All the bikes arrived in tact in their cozy Air Caddy boxes. After a day in Brussels to unpack bikes and recover, we drove to Oudenaarde where we met Doug from Coventry. Oudenaarde is in the western Flanders area and is the location of the Tour de Flanders. We spent a week in a lovely old hotel in the middle of town and from there explored the area. Friends of Jim's from Germany joined us the first day in order to orient us to riding in this area.
The Flanders area is basically flat with some hills which provide a challenging climb. The real challenge in this area are the cobblestone streets. Believe me, you wonder why your body or bike is still in one piece after your ride on them. No one from the US will believe the number of biking trails there. A whole network of roads exist with their own roadsigns. The guys climbed the cobblestone hills that are part of the Tour de Flanders. I guess descending on the cobblestones was the real challenge. I did not try that. Riding on the flat was enough. We rode from Bruges to the sea one day and explored the WWI battlefield areas another day. And best of all the sun shone every day. Unfortunately Dougie had to leave us after the first week.
The next week we went to Durbuy, a small town in the Ardennes. This is beautiful country and the riding was very different. It is mountain country with assents and descents, one after another. The countryside and small towns are fantastic. Every moment was enjoyable, even the climbs. We went to Bastogne to visit WWII memorials. Very moving. Again the weather was good, the people were friendly, and the biking was super.
As good as the biking was, the meals, discussions and laughs were comparable. Everyone on the trip had a great time and we are all looking for the next adventure. The road goes on and the fun never ends.
