France

After taking many rest days in Belgium, I was determined to get to Paris quickly. So, I decided to do Ypres to Paris (340km) in 3 days instead of 4.

On the first day, I hit 2000km's! I celebrated by eating a Snickers bar, which is not a proper celebration because I eat those pretty often.

As soon as I crossed the border into France, I no longer had the Belgium Fiets Route Network to follow. I was on my own to decide what roads to take and what towns to go through.

The northeast of France is mostly rolling farm land and small towns with very few people and even fewer shops. While I think the rolling farm land is beautiful, it is definitely nobody's first choice when it comes to bike touring in France.

The second day, I woke up to heavy rain knowing I was going to push through it. It ended up being my longest day, distance wise, by about 30km. So 130km total, and rained heavily almost the entire day.

I also decided to take the road along the canals for most of the day, not knowing that these roads were shit. Rocks, grass, shrubs and mud. They were everything but smooth tarmac.

But, rain and crappy roads are only an inconvenience, and I ended up making it to where I had planned without even coming close to freaking out. 

It was nice to see myself recognize something being inconvenient but not letting it ruin my day or hold me back. I had overcome my first significant challenge. I think I can do this! 

The next morning, the rain was gone, but everything was still sufficiently soaked as I packed it up to make the final stretch to Paris.

The day started with an unexpected castle:

I then cycled past some ruins:

And then slowly made my way to Paris.

In Paris, I stayed with Magali, Patrice, and their daughter Gwenn. I am really upset with myself for not getting a picture of the three of them as they were incredible hosts who I had a lot of fun with.

From Paris, I worked my way by train to Munich, with a short half day ride along the way. The train from Paris took me to Colmar:

And from there I rode 55km to Freiburg:

And the next day, a train took me the rest of the way to Munich, where I will start the next leg of the journey, which will take me all the way north to Norway!

Belgium

On the second day towards Brussels, I crossed the border back in to The Netherlands, shortly before crossing the border into Belgium!

That night, I found a host on Warm Showers, Piet, who took me to a barbecue at his brothers house, where they filled me with great food, and many Belgian beers. Including some really good homebrew! During dinner, I learned the best techniques required to make proper mayonnaise.

We listened to the Belgium-Wales qualifier on the radio before going to play Viking Kubb, a really great Swedish yard game.

The next day, Piet and I shared more stories during breakfast. He showed me pictures from his 6 month tour of Europe, and before we knew it, it was 11 and still a little bit rainy, so I decided to stay 1 more day with Piet and help him cut up some wood for the winter. He had received a pile of free wood taken from a recently demolished house that was I think 400-500 years old.

The next morning I rode to Brussels, where I would take yet another rest day to see the city. The highlights for me was touring the Cantillon Brewery and the Grand Place.

Piet's friend, came and met me in Brussels and gave me a tour of the city.

Then it was a short ride to Ghent. On the way, I stopped at the Delirium Brewery to see if they had a public bar I could drink at. 

They didn't. But they did have a bar for the tours, which had to be pre-booked with 15 or more people. Though, when I asked if it was possible for me to drink a beer, they walked me up to the bar, poured me a free glass of La Guillotine, and then walked me around for a quick private tour!

I then left the brewery to cycle the remaining 10km to Ghent. I pulled over to check my map, and someone came up to ask me about my trip, and where I was going, and told me about a trip he was planning, and I think mentioned something about going to pick wild elderflowers. He then invited me to stay with him in Ghent.

This was Charles. A young chef who also likes to travel by bicycle. His place was right in the center of the city. He and his girlfriend made me a gourmet dinner, then we walked around the city for 2 hours, and then went back to eat his homemade elderflower ice cream with Belgian strawberries. What a treat! This is one of the joys of bicycle touring. Only a matter of hours before this I was planning on camping alone that night, eating something like rice and beans, and maybe taking a quick walk to the main street of the city alone.

In the morning, I was once again fed like royalty before leaving to ride to Bruges.

Another short ride, followed by another rest day in Bruges.

Bruges is just a bunch of old buildings. I paid 8 euros to climb a tower to get a view of below, where I just came from! What a shithole.

The next day, I was relieved to finally be leaving Bruges. I started the journey to Paris. I was planning on it being 4 nights. The plan for the first day was to take a 20km detour to Sint Sixtus Abbey, where the West Vleteren Trappist beers are made, and then ride to Ypres.

When I arrived to the Abbey, I discovered that they are closed on Fridays. I then learned that it was Friday.

It is an interesting feeling to cycle all day, with nothing to think about but the "best beer in the world" that awaits you at the end of the day, to arrive and discover that you can not get this beer. 

No big deal. I came all this way. I was going to drink this beer.

I immediately decided that I would be spending another day in Belgium. The campsite in Ypres was only 22km away, so it really wasn't that big of a deal.

I continued on to Ypres and camped near the city center.

The next morning, I rode back to West Vleteren, and finally was able to get the beer! Some claim their 12 to be the "best beer in the world", and it did not disappoint. 

It was here I ran into a couple of guys from Montana that I met at the campsite in Bruges. They were camping at the same campsite in Ypres, so we agreed to meet up again and went out for beers again later that night in the city. 

The next day I left to cross the border to France.

June 4-12

My 3 months in Europe started in The Netherlands.

I arrived at The Hook of Holland at 8am on June 4 by ferry without a map and not knowing a single word of Dutch. I was expecting to find a place to buy a map right away, but since I didn't see one, I started cycling towards Amsterdam. Which, luckily, just meant follow the coast.

The bike paths are so plentiful and so well signed that I eventually cycled the entire 63 miles to Amsterdam without ever buying a map.

Cycling in Holland is amazing! Every road has a separate bike path, which all have their own traffic lights. The land there is flat as can be, and it was warm!

It was very different than my entire tour in Scotland.

The next day,I had a rest day because I was going to the USA-Netherlands friendly. 

I rode in to the city center with my host in the middle of the Amsterdam rush hour.

I spent the day exploring the city, I went to the Rijksmuseum, and went to see the incredible line to get in to the Anne Frank House. 

And then the match.

From there, it took 4 days and 191 miles to get to Köln. Much of that time was spent following the Rhein River. And on the second day, June 7, I crossed the border in to Germany!

As soon as I crossed the border, I began to see Beer Gardens everywhere!

I took another rest day in Köln to go to the USA- Germany friendly. I drank a lot of kölsch, which is the beer of Köln, and saw the Dom.

From Köln, I changed directions and headed west towards the magical land of beer and waffles: Belgium!

Three Months in Europe by Bicycle

For anyone who doesn't know, my parents were unexpectedly transferred back to the USA in the middle of my 6 month trip in Europe. Which means, I no longer had my home base in London.

I eventually made the decision to send everything back with them except for my bicycle and the 4 bags that go with it. I wanted to spend the rest of my time here traveling on my bicycle.

I returned my month long Europe train pass for a refund, and started planning a whole new itinerary for the next three months. 

This decision means I will not be seeing many of the places I had planned on, but the ones I do see, I will get to spend a lot more time there as I slowly pedal my way through.

At approximately 40-60 miles per day, I have planned a route that I may or may not eventually follow.

The first leg would take me through the cities of Amsterdam-Cologne-Brussels-Brugges-Lille-Paris.

I plan on getting a train from Paris to Munich, where I will start the next leg, which would hit the major cities:

Munich-Salzburg-Prague-Berlin-Copenhagen

From Denmark, I hope to catch a ferry to Norway to do a third leg from Stavanger to Trondheim.

This is just my current plan, which could change entirely by tomorrow.