Strava Link
Distance : 88 kms
Moving time 5:18:28
Average Speed : 16.6 km/h
Elevation: 68m (a consistent rise)Average Speed : 16.6 km/h
Temperature : 19C overcast, threatening to rain.
This was the best day of riding out of the lot...
We headed out from the hotel after more early morning cheese loading. The weather was drizzly
and a little bit unpleasant, so we donned our rain gear as it seemed it just might get a bit heavier
as we progressed.
Our rain gear lasted about 2kms as we were creating more condensation on the inside of our
rain gear than was happening on the outside and we were starting to broil. So layers removed
we set off to have a look around Breda, however, Breda's streets were made from cobblestones
which became very slippery when wet, and with my load on, things were getting a bit tricky with
cornering and staying upright, so I pulled the pin on that idea and headed out of Breda into the
countryside being guided by Google maps towards a little town in Belgium called Lommel, on
the way to Maastricht.
We set off at a cracking pace through some forests, along canals and even along busy roads -
but never on the roads, very much enjoying the safety of riding in this country.
We stopped for a snack break at about 30kms at a unkempt driveway space, and while we were
there a bit dumpster truck arrived and strategically parked next to a line of trees. I thought the driver
was looking for a place to pee, so I took off not wanting to prevent him from his ablutions. Wayne
spotted that he was getting the crane sorted and running and stayed back to watch the driver
manipulate the crane to pick up a very dead animal carcass from about 30m from where we had
been stretching our legs. No photos were taken of this event ... so did it really happen??
This was the best day of riding out of the lot...
We headed out from the hotel after more early morning cheese loading. The weather was drizzly
and a little bit unpleasant, so we donned our rain gear as it seemed it just might get a bit heavier
as we progressed.
Our rain gear lasted about 2kms as we were creating more condensation on the inside of our
rain gear than was happening on the outside and we were starting to broil. So layers removed
we set off to have a look around Breda, however, Breda's streets were made from cobblestones
which became very slippery when wet, and with my load on, things were getting a bit tricky with
cornering and staying upright, so I pulled the pin on that idea and headed out of Breda into the
countryside being guided by Google maps towards a little town in Belgium called Lommel, on
the way to Maastricht.
We set off at a cracking pace through some forests, along canals and even along busy roads -
but never on the roads, very much enjoying the safety of riding in this country.
We stopped for a snack break at about 30kms at a unkempt driveway space, and while we were
there a bit dumpster truck arrived and strategically parked next to a line of trees. I thought the driver
was looking for a place to pee, so I took off not wanting to prevent him from his ablutions. Wayne
spotted that he was getting the crane sorted and running and stayed back to watch the driver
manipulate the crane to pick up a very dead animal carcass from about 30m from where we had
been stretching our legs. No photos were taken of this event ... so did it really happen??
Google maps had us go through a little town called Baarle Hertog and the instructions were not very clear and so we got a little bit lost as we searched for the Bels Luntje. We stopped a couple of young men and asked them where we needed to go. Their english was pretty basic, and me, thinking we were pretty close to the border of Belgium and Netherlands, I asked them if we were in the Netherlands or Belgium. They seemed very confused by the question and had to look around for a bit. They spotted a car registration plate which had Belgium on it, and identified we were in fact in Belgium. They also directed us to the track we needed to be on.
Wayne & proceeded down the track when we came across some markings on the track which indicated we were crossing borders, cool, but then we crossed more markings as we crossed the border multiple times. We understood the actual border line was pretty wonky, but this seemed pretty ridiculous. I think we crossed borders about 6 times in about 10 minutes - more was to be revealed later.
We proceeded along the track and after a while we realised we were actually on a pretty famous rail trail - if you look closely at the sign above for the Bels Lijntje you will see a silhouette of a Steam train in the centre ... but of course we stumbled across this amazing piece of cycleway with no clue about its history until later. It is about 32kms in length.
Along the Bels Lijntje was a watch tower or bird tower, which we stopped and climbed up to get some elevation to have a birds eye view of the surrounds. Very flat, wet & quite pretty.
A funny thing happened as we cycled along this trail was a group of young school kids about 7 years old walking along. When the adult in the lead saw cyclists approaching they blew their whistle, the kids all went to one side to make room and as we passed they chanted something in Dutch. Which may have been something like "keep going, keep going, keep going" or "go fast, go fast, go fast", it was hilarious.
We continued to ride for many kilometres through forests and along canals, then it was time for lunch and a very strategic sign on the path pointed us to a restaurant not 100 m from the path into Ravels, and just in time too as it was starting to get quite hot with the cloud cover having been burned off.
One of the joys of riding along this trail was the number of grey nomads cruising along the canals. Just like the caravans in Australia during the summer, the Dutch and Belgians cruise the canals, which can also get a little bit congested.
We just loved the scenery along this trail.
As we progressed, Wayne promised ice cream at the 70kms mark, well it just so happened to be a fabulous, newly opened homemade ice cream shop on the track we were heading along to Postel (Belgium). It is situated on an apple orchard and had just been opened by a young man on his dad's orchard. He makes all the ice cream himself, including the apple sorbet and Belgian chocolate based ice cream. It was delicious ... if you are on the track you really must stop in and taste it.
We then walked into town for dinner and found a small restaurant that served some Belgian specialties and in house special dishes. There is a steak and special gravy under those frites.
It was a really great day, and I think the best day as we were mostly on cycle ways with very little navigation required. The scenery was stunning and we came across quite a lot of wildlife.
And remember that crossing of the border thing in Baarle Hertog? When we finished for the day we looked up what it all was about - parts of the little town in the Netherlands is a exclave of Belgium, which means that some roads and houses are in the Netherlands and some are in Belgium ... no wonder those young men were confused when I asked them where we were!! They probably didn't know either depending on which side of the street we were in.
And Wayne broke the brakes on his rental bike ... more tomorrow.
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