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.