Tour de Grand Est - Fin. Arrived in Brussels.

We finished our Tour de Grand Est 2026 today. 

Hello lamppost, what you knowing?

I've come to watch your flowers growin' 

We awoke to another random act of kindness. Yesterday, as I was charging the battery and the lights and the phones, I walked back and forth to the charging station many times. Each time I struck up a conversation with a woman who had cycled in, alone, and pitched her tent, alone. She was from Holland and cycling the Flanders Route (950 km), alone. I find that amazing, on so many levels - doing it all yourself, navigation, mechanics, food and lodging. Wow. 

This morning, just before 7, when I got out of the tent, I found this little note. 

I had left one of our converter plugs in the socket. Wow, that was so very nice of her, it would have been left behind for sure. And, how did she get packed up and off so early?☀️ 

In the end, only kindness matters. 

We did a little suburb riding, there are so many cyclists and so many great routes the signs are informative and plentiful. Love this one with distance, elevation and grade, everything you want to know!

I had to stop for this town sign. It is a village here, but honestly, it really describes what comes out of my mouth when I see a big spider 😉

Heading into a big city always has it pros and cons. First the cons. No more farmer's fields, no more cows, just concrete and traffic and city noise, and other signs...

The bike path actually took us alongside a highway for a distance (with a guard rail between us and the traffic).

Including a cobblestoned underpass for bikes.  Yes, a slope down on cobblestones, leading to a dark passageway, leading to a rather steep climb, up to the highway again. 😳

But as we entered the greater Brussels area, everything changed. 

Every intersection has a red path for bikes, and the cars are incredibly aware of cyclists. They stop for you everytime.  In many places the cyclist has the right-of-way. 

 

And the city streets have tree lined boulevards complete with a shaded bike path in the middle. 

We stopped for our snack break at a park.

We found a shaded bench and watched a class of teenagers doing an orienteering course.  Yikes. WAY too hot for that.  

Our next stop was, of course, Decathalon.

They have promised us two bike boxes for pick up Saturday. Just what we wanted to accomplish. That means we now have these two boxes, and two from another bike shop also promised, so we are covering ourselves in terms of final execution and finding the best sizes. Fingers crossed they are there on Saturday when we have a car rented. 🤞

We made our way back to Zaventem, the suburb closest to the airport in Brussels (we were here last year). There are lovely flowers here, everywhere. In the roundabouts, on the lamp posts and in the gardens. 

Our bikes have been unloaded and carried up to the apartment (why do we always gets the European  second floor = third floor at home).  

Done! 

Groceries have been purchased. 

Beer is in the frig. 

Pizza has been consumed. 

And the numbers have been calculated. 

Stage 1 - Paris to the Vosges

241.82km / 2,209m

Stage 2 - Vosges to Strasbourg (Rhine Valley)

198.84km / 434m

Stage 3 - Strasbourg to Luxembourg 

255.66km / 2,157m

Stage 4 - Luxembourg 

89.91km / 941m

Stage 5 - Back in France 

280.98km / 1,708m

Stage 6 - Belgium 

155.91km / 925m

Totals

1,223.12 kilometers cycled. 

8,374 meters climbed. 

Thank you to all who have been following along. Thank you for every comment, every comment makes me happy. And thank you also to those of you following along quietly. 💕

One final post to come - once we are home, I will post final thoughts, themes and reflections. 

🌸