Tour 2025 Day 34 - Arriving in Brussels

The final kilometers of our official Tour 2025 today.  

Our last night in the tent, for a while.

Our last breakfast of oatmeal cooked on the Pocket Rocket, and would you believe we ran out of fuel today, just after boiling enough for coffee & tea & oatmeal. Woot woot. Now that's good timing. 

And also good timing, I am just finishing my cinnamon, it lasted so long and helped so immensely with my enjoyment of breakfast. 

We had fun meeting fellow bike packers Izzy and Alex, they are doing Amsterdam to Vienna. Cycling about 100 k a day, they have a route and are just enjoying the freedom of finding the next campground as they ride. They impressed us last night as they cooked chicken and pasta. And again this morning out came the pots and frying pan for eggs and bacon. Wow. Traveling in (heavy) style. They are a wee bit younger so we figure they can carry more. They just graduated from highschool and are having a summer of biking before starting "Uni" in October. 

The Sunday Market was happening in Grimbergen so we went back to the impressive Church and town square for a look. 

It was a very small market with flowers and a few other vendors. 

When I spotted the waffle vendor, I knew what my second breakfast was going to be today. 

Waffle-on-a-stick. 

We are staying closer to the airport and as such we are cycling the outskirts of the city of Brussels. Sometimes that can be challenging, but in true Belgian style, even the outskirts have great bike paths. Along the train tracks. 

And up and over a very major highway (the Ring Road) we even had our own cycling bridge. 

We also had to cross a canal and the bridge had to be very high for the boats, so there were many stairs. But

both sides of the bridge had large glass elevators for bikes.

We both fit, with our bikes, easily. 

And voila, across we rode and took the elevator back down. Sophisticated cycling. 

Our final stop in Zaventem. One last wait outside the grocery store. Me watching the (loaded) bikes, Marc managing the unknown grocery aisles. 

We have a cute little air bnb for 4 nights as we now have the (somewhat ominous) task of preparing for traveling home with our bikes. We have three days to figure it all out. 

The end.

Some final Strava stats 

Stage 1 - Spain = 151 km

Stage 2 - Narbonne (+ Paris) = 140 km

Stage 3 - Normandy = 603 km

Stage 4 - Hauts-de-France = 122 km

Stage 5 - Belgium = 352 km 

2025 Tour = 1,368 km

Life Is A Highway. 

As I close tonight's post, I am sharing a little Tom Cochrane that has been singing in my head ...

Love's like a road that you travel on
When there's one day here and the next day gone
Sometimes you brake, sometimes you climb
Sometimes you turn your back to the wind
There's a world outside every darkened tent
Where blues won't haunt you anymore
Where the brave are free and lovers soar
Come ride with me to the distant shore

We won't hesitate
Break down the garden gate
There's not much time left today

Life is a highway
I wanna ride it all night long
If you're going my way
I wanna ride it all night long

Through all these cities and all these towns
It's in my blood and it's all around
I loved you now like I loved you then
This is the road and these are the hills

From Barcelona to Brussels paths

The Normandy coast and battlefields lost,

Knock me down, back up again

You're in my blood; I'm not a lonely gal

There's no load I can't hold
Road so rough; this I know
I'll be there when the light comes in
Just tell 'em we're survivors