Brussels, Belgium to Bergen op Zoom, Netherlands
Today was far from the prettiest ride I’ve done in Europe, but it was one of the flattest. Even though there wasn’t much to see I still enjoyed being back on my bike after the 3 day hiatus. There weren’t any challenges today, just easy pedaling to get me from Brussels to the Netherlands.
The morning started with at text from the bicycle shop at 7:18 AM to let me know that my bike was ready. I did not expect to hear from them so early and the text acted as motivation to get my day moving. Most of the people in the hostel room were still asleep so I quietly got all my bags outside the room and then organized my things where I wouldn’t bother anyone. I brought my bags down to the front door and then headed to the grocery store to pick up breakfast and lunch for the day. Unfortunately, it was too early for any of the waffle shops to be open. I had a quick breakfast and then headed to the bike shop to pick up my bike. They had time to make some adjustments to my breaks and only charged me €18. I would have gladly paid double that just to store my bike in their shop for the 4 nights, so my plan ended up working out better than expected.
I got my bike back to the hostel, loaded it up and was off riding at 9:00. Brussels was an easier city than most to get out of. My GPS did a good job directing me through the center of the city to a bike path that took me north out of the city. Brussels and Antwerp are only 30 miles apart, so as soon as I felt like I was getting away from Brussels I was already entering the outskirts of Antwerp. I mostly followed a bike path that ran parallel to the train tracks. It wasn’t scenic riding, but I didn’t mind because it was perfectly flat and didn’t require much effort.
I made one misstep in between Brussels and Antwerp and ended up well off course due to a road closure. Luckily, I was able to reroute myself through the town of Mechelen rather than going around it and ended up cutting 4 miles off today’s route. It’s nice when an error can suddenly turn into a shortcut.
I arrived in Antwerp around mile 35 and found myself riding through a lot of construction. I decided I would skip making a stop in Antwerp and just try to get through the city as quickly as possible. Once I left Antwerp, I had 20 miles along the water which I thought would be very scenic. I could not have been more wrong. The port area of Antwerp is just one giant industrial and shipping area. The bike path ran close to the water, but I could never see the water because of a barrier which blocked my view. During this section of the ride I also had to deal with a small headwind.
The headwinds weren’t my biggest obstacle though. I got blocked a couple of times by draw bridges. On two occasions the bike path took me to a bridge that was raised, meaning I could not cross it. There were secondary bridges each time, but I had to backtrack and then head half a mile east to the other bridge and then head half a mile west once I’d gotten to the other side. It was a bit annoying and slowed me down more than anything today.
Shortly after crossing my last bridge I entered the Netherlands and the scenery did get much nicer. I was suddenly surrounded by green again and riding on some much nicer roads. I’m hoping this is what the rest of my rides look like. Another day of shipyards is not going to be fun.
I arrived at the hostel in Bergen op Zoom just after 4:00 and got settled in. The hostel did not have their full dinner menu, but I was told there was a restaurant just a 2 minute walk down the road where I could get dinner. When I got to the restaurant their kitchen was closed because they were hosting an event. At this point I was getting pretty hungry and hopped on my bike to head to the closest grocery store which was an Aldi 1 mile down the road. I grabbed enough food to fill me up for the night and headed back to the hostel to eat.
Tomorrow will be a short ride to Rotterdam where I will be staying at yet another hostel.
Ramblin' Dan: Bike Touring Adventures 