Land of Waffles, Mussels, and Chocolate
Netherlands & Belgium: Stage 06 – Breda to Antwerpen 60 Km (Sun 10 July 2022)
Weather: 12⁰C min – 23⁰C max, morning clouds followed by afternoon sun
“Believe you can and you’re half way there.” ~ Theodore Roosevelt
Breda was strangely quiet when I left at 8:30 am this morning, then it occurred to me that this is Sunday. Just as well I ate a good breakfast before I left, and carried with me some fruit and nuts, because there was not a shop to be seen until I reached Antwerp, only a couple of well-patronised pubs.
Crossing the Netherlands/Belgium border after riding about 12 km it occurred to me that I really don’t know much about Belgium, other than they love waffles, mussels, and chocolate (all of which I am partial to).
Is French still the main language spoken? If so then my memory recall will be tested because it is more than 60 years ago since I learnt the language at high school … the Google Translate app on my phone might need to come to the rescue.
Is the terrain as flat as the Netherlands? (I hope so because I don’t crave hills at my age) Are the riding facilities just as good? Are towns such as Antwerpen, Ghent, Brugge, Leuven, Brussels etc, really as fabulous as I am told? Answers to these and other questions will be revealed in the next week of riding around Belgium so stay tuned.
You have to look carefully to detect the border … the only visible sign was a little 🇧🇪 on a bicycle sign post. One noticeable difference was the silky smooth bicycle path once I reached Belgium, even better than the ones I have been enjoying in the Netherlands.
Houses here are markedly different to the Netherlands. The order of the day seems to be well manicured and maintained hedges rather than colourful floral displays. All neat and tidy but I think I prefer the hydrangeas.
Pondering about why there were so many maize crops, it dawned on me that Belgians love their beer. Belgium is one of the 100 smallest countries in the world. But when it comes to beer, this little nation is one of the biggest and most famous there is. They take beer very seriously and are proud to brew some of the best-known beers in the world.
Long straight cycle paths and roads make for good cycling, but present fewer photo opportunities. Also, the grey day and lack of colour discourage photography. So apologies if the photographs are below par today.
Being Sunday morning there were lots of groups of cyclists zooming along the beautiful cycle paths, looking very professional in their same coloured riding jackets. Belgium has produced some of the greatest cyclists of all time, e.g. Eddy Merckx and the current champion Wout van Aert. They take their cycling very seriously here.
Having checked into my hotel in Antwerp I am now off to find some waffles, mussels, and/or chocolate. Alas, the first waffle shop I came to was called “Australian Homemade Icecream and Waffles”. I didn’t come all this way to eat Australian waffles that I could have bought at Woolworths back in Sydney!
Hi Kevin, Loving to see you back out on the road. Besides the inner peace I get on my bike it’s followed closely by that guilt free feeling of eating whatever I want. So go hard on the waffles, mussels and dark chocolate. Pommy frites get a workout from me as well.
I know what you mean Jeff. Just because we are getting lots of exercise we justify to ourselves that we can eat whatever we like. My big weakness is pastries, which my cardiologist tells me is one of the reasons my coronary arteries are 50% blocked. But I love them!
Wow – the cycleways do look flat and smooth – you could go on autopilot! I hope you did get to enjoy some pomme frites in their land of origin – a nice accompaniment for the mussels 🙂