2025 Tour Day 28 Final Stage - Belgium.

Good morning fishermen!

They started arriving at 7 am, when the pond opened. Today is Whit Monday (Ascension Day), a holiday here. Breakfast at the pond - shhhhh - it is a very quiet sport, even when a fish is caught, no one makes noise. Lots of serious fishermen, with impressive and abundant gear, and also some families with kid sized fishing chairs and many lines in the water.

We had a good long chat with the other cyclist here, Rosa. She came in later last night, on her own. She is quite an accomplished bike touring cyclist (Instagram @Weibke Rosa Luhmann). 

It is good to find people to talk to. She felt the same way. It usually starts with comparing equipment:  "oh, I like your tent, how much does it weigh?" And then goes on to "where have you been" and "where are you going".

She has quite a story having traveled for 14 months from Freiburg (her home in Germany) to Capetown. It was interesting as she very much wanted to share with us her emotional journey. She said when she left she was "light". She loves cycling and meeting people and seeing new places and new cultures. She has sponsors (Ortlieb for one) and is able to support this lifestyle as an ambassador and influencer. She really loved her touring and posting on Instagram. 

However she says after spending many months in Africa, and witnessing daily life, the struggles, the poverty and pain, upon returning home, she feels much less "light".  She admits that she is now cycling to work through these feelings. She has more trouble posting.  She seems a little lost. 

For now, she is cycling around the coast of France to Bordeaux to complete the coastline of her incredible travels. 

We always learn from new people. She travels super light and has made friends in many places, and she uses warm showers too. Note, when she has to take her bike on a TGV (fast train), she gets IKEA bags! Smart. 

We left France today. Au revoir. 

We will miss the Boulangerie, and the camping, the vending machines... We have seen pizza, bread, potatoes, asparagus and today, a full Farmers Market vending machine... (hard to see because of the reflection but it was potatoes, onions, lettuce, strawberries...)

And of course outside the grocery store you can do your laundry. 

We do love cycling in France, and we will be back. 

But now with the EU, you really don't know you are crossing a border. 

This is approximately where we crossed. We only know because the cars before this field had F on their plates, and the cars after had B. 

And once we were in Belgium, the cycling paths were ever more abundant and the cyclists were too. 

As we plan our next week of cycling in Belgium, Marc was looking at cycling routes and looking at a "heat map", which is a map that shows red where other cyclists have been riding in the past 30 days. We often use this sort of map to plan as it shows where most people cycle which usually means the best / safest route. 

Here is what the map looked like - Belgium vs France. Belgium wins! Wow. A lot of cycling to explore here. 

We didn't site see today. We will take tomorrow to explore. We certainly saw many cemeteries and many craters. Both are rather ominous. 

Tonight we are camping at hof Bellewaerde, a farm and campground with a lovely grassy secluded pitch for cyclists. 

 

Complete with a beautiful horse and a cute little pony.  

Strava stats as we start our final stage.