To Kortrijk

August 12, 2023

Two weeks of head winds

It is two weeks since we left Bremen. I think we are travelling the wrong way as we have had a head wind everyday. Some of the time it has been relatively gentle but always constant and a lot of the time quite strong - about 26km/h or more. Considering this I really feel we have done quite well

Out of Ghent was easy - early enough to have little traffic. It was a bit over 5km before we got out of the main part of the town. Now we came to some amazing spiral cycle bridges that took us over the railway, the motorways and the canal. They looked formidable in the distance but were wide and well graded so easy to ride

This took us into the ‘horse belt’ which seems to surround every major city. There were beautiful houses with big well kept gardens clearly where those that had done well in Ghent lived. The agriculture was really dominated by potatoes but there was also corn, dairying and we saw one colourful patch that looked as if it was tulips - seems a bit late to me

When we came to Deinze we went into the town and were lucky to get a good coffee. We remembered passing through here years ago but that time it was a better route along the canal. Today we were following the official route the F7

The bridge over the canal at Deinze - we should have followed the canal

When Ken was a boy in Mosgiel he said the order of things for a lot of people was to get your teeth out, build a new house, get married, plant the front yard in potatoes then have a baby a year later. We wondered if these people were following this way of life

It was now everything really deteriorated. We were spat out onto a busy road it had some scruffy looking business alongside it, a narrow completely broken cycle track and a full on head wind. It was far too busy to ride on the road safely and went on for around 7 or 8 long kilometres. What a relief when we turned onto the lovely canal and were able to ride the last 4 or 5 kilometres in peace

Arriving into Kortrijk our hotel was on the main square we stopped for soup in a place that was far to fancy for us

Then to our hotel. We had had to reserve the pent house apartment as there was no other accommodation available. It certainly is luxury and bigger that our house at home Ken has been to the supermarket and we will eat in tonight

The playground in the main square with th church spire in the background

Today's ride: 49 km (30 miles)
Total: 687 km (427 miles)

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Robyn RichardsOh boy, you've been unlucky with the head winds! That first week after Bremen was the worst for us, and today we were travelling east. Enjoy your penthouse!
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9 months ago

Tricia GrahamTo Robyn RichardsJust the wrong way to go. We have been constantly going west. Have a short day tomorrow and then will have a day off
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9 months ago