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Cindy's Biking Adventure

Belgium !

8-6-04

Hello Everyone!

Greetings from Brugge , Belgium . This is our second day in Belgium . It seems a century since we left Bruce in Lille France . The cross into Belgium was quite uneventful. We crossed a river and we were in a different country. The terrain has totally flattened out and the headwinds have picked up. We cycled to Leper and visited an unbelievable WWI museum. The area was quite affected by that war. Many Belgians were taken into neighboring France and Holland as refugees.

The British also took many of the refugees and played a *big* part in the battles that took place in the area. It is a beautiful city. We then cycled to Diksmuide via a bike trail along a canal. Pretty cool! We found camping and settled in. The owner gave us lots of info for Brugge.We cooked pasta and enjoyed a salad and beer at the campgrounds for dinner. The weather was hot again, but cooled in the evening.

The next AM we took the canal a little farther north and then turned east for Brugge.

What a city! Awesome! We found a great campsite and biked back into town to lot around. Lots to see. We stayed in town and had dinner. Good thing, because it rained last night! That would have been a bummer in the campsite. It rained again thru the night, but we were well protected in the tent. Today, we did a walking tour and then we will cycle into Holland this PM. A little rain this AM, but clearing.

 Some of the observations that C.A. and I have made is that the people in France are a lot more friendly than in Belgium . We are really noticing a difference among the cyclists. They are pretty rude and aggressive. Oh well. The people that we have asked for directions or other things from seem friendly enough though. We definitely stick out among them, as we are wearing helmets! There are bikes *everywhere* here.

 You might be wondering what we are surviving on. Breakfast is usually a pastry fresh from the pastry shop. Lunch is fresh bread and cheese with a little Nutella on bread for dessert and energy. Nutella is a chocolate spread. Mmmmm!!!

Dinner is usually pasta, and whatever else we can scrounge up! We have been adding fruit to one meal a day.

 My mailbox was full when I got on, so I apologize to anyone that tried to send me email. I hope that this note finds you all well!

Cindy

= = = = = =

Bike Trip Update

August 10, 2004

Bonsoir!  Oops, sorry, I'm not quite debriefed from my short French visit last week.  I've talked to Cindy a couple of times this week as they wind up their trip.  I'll fill in the last few days, but first, as promised, here are two stories from my visit:

When we went to the Eiffel Tower , we found that you have 3 choices - stop at the first level, stop at the second level, or take the tram all the way to the top.  The cost escalates a little for each level, but we decided to go all the way to the top - how many times are we going to be in Paris ?  You take the elevator to the second level, then switch to another elevator for the rest of the trip.  Since there are less elevators once you get to the second level, there is a pretty long wait in line to go up.  Well, we were about 15 minutes into our wait when a "gentleman" hopped over the little railing and settled in front of the couple in front of us.  The guy in front of us (who happened to speak Spanish without a trace of an English accent and English without a trace of a Spanish accent) started talking to the guy in English, saying he was wrong to jump in line, etc.  The "jumper" stayed put, and kept implying that since the other guy didn't speak French he couldn't tell him what to do.  The interesting part was that he seemed to be German, but spoke French as well.  Anyway, the "good" guy was very calm, never raising his voice and making a very strong argument, saying that everyone else in line had waited so why should he get special treatment.  Finally his wife got the attention of a guard and they escorted him out of the line, to the delight of everyone behind us.  Every once in a while the good guys do win!

Another interesting thing occurred after the ladies had started biking from Arras to Lille on my last day there.  I was trying to scout ahead and find camping for them and a hotel for me, but I wasn't having much luck.  I called on my cell phone to try and meet up with them to plot our strategy.  I told them I was at the intersection (a roundabout, actually) of Highway D919 and N17 on the way to Seclin.  I don't know what the exact difference is, but N highways seem to be a little busier than D highways.  They said they had just passed that intersection, and would meet me there.   At this time for some reason I could call Cindy on my cell, but she couldn't call me - who knows why.  So I waited a while, then called them and asked where they were.  They said they were at the intersection, and they were near a Renault car dealership and a gas station.  I said I was at the same intersection, but there was nothing there.   I looked at the map, and told them to meet me at a different intersection, D361 on the way to Carvin.  As I got there I had a weird thought and took that road all the way through Carvin to the other side and lo and behold, I was at the intersection of D919 and N17 by a Renault dealership and a gas station!  They had put in a detour and apparently renamed a stretch of another road D919 during the construction so when I thought I was at a particular point on the map, I wasn't there but on the other side of the town.  It was very frustrating, mostly for them because they were biking and I was in the air-conditioned comfort of our rental car!!!  But we finally got together and finished the trip.

Now for a brief update from Cindy: they made it into the Netherlands on either Friday or Saturday, I can't remember which.  They found the people in Belgium to be very unfriendly, but the Dutch are much more accommodating.  It is very hot - almost 100 degrees on Monday and Tuesday.  They camped just west of Amsterdam on Monday, then were in Amsterdam today.  They rode along the coast Saturday and Sunday, so it was fairly flat, but windy.  They are running into some heavy headwinds.  They met a nice Dutch family at a mini-camp on Sunday, and they keep running into them each day because they are biking the same route and stopping at the same camps.  They went to the Hague on Monday and met a nice native who served as their personal guide for the visit.

They had a minor crash on Monday, I think, when their bikes got tangled together.  No major injuries, just a couple of scrapes.

It was raining on Tuesday, but didn't start until they had the tent up and were inside eating.  Cindy had another broken spoke as they made their way into Amsterdam today.  They pulled into a bike shop at 12:00 and it was fixed by 12:45 .  They got directions to the camp site, but got lost and didn't get there until 4:00 .  They have biked about 660 miles total.

That was one thing that Cindy wanted me to try and get across - with every high on the trip there seems to be a low, and vice versa.  They got the bike fixed in less than an hour, but then spent 3 hours finding a campsite that was just a few kilometers away.  They didn't think there was camping in the park they are in today, but then were told there was.  They couldn't find it, but then got directions from someone that got them there (ironically the first thing they were told was "get out of the park and start over, because you'll never find it going through the park, even though it's in the park").  They find places to get groceries, then find that the campsite is farther away than they thought and don't get there for another couple of hours.  They're never allowed to get too high or too low because something always comes up.  But they are having a great time and will be full of stories when they get back.

Tomorrow they will spend trying to arrange transportation for themselves and their bikes back to London , then Thursday is a full day of touring.  Friday might be a day bike trip, then they have the weekend to wrap up whatever sightseeing they want to do.  They have to be back in London for a late morning flight to Washington , DC , then Cindy comes back to St. Louis on Tuesday.

Well, I think that's enough random thought for one email.  Hopefully I'll have another update at the end of the week.

Bruce

Final Stage: Final Update