Dendermonde - Ghent - Lisa and Chuck - Bike n Barge 2023 - CycleBlaze

June 1, 2023

Dendermonde - Ghent

Some Self Guided Riding

Dendermonde - Ghent

Morning run:

Mostly quiet roads until the south end. 

I came upon a pheasant walking down the road. He skittered ahead of me until heading into the grass. Boring, but that is the highlight of my run😬

Pheasant on the run
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Maintenance staircase at the lock
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Many houses have trees trained to be flat. I forget the name for it.
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Karen PoretEspalier trees.. Also beneficial for keeping flies out in the farmlands!
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5 months ago

Ride and Ghent Walk:

We joined Joan’s group again today. Another Bike&Barge group rode from the dock ahead of us. The problem is that the ferry a few km away wouldn’t carry all of us. Hogo took us all on a shortcut and beat them there. Tough characters, these Tour Leaders:)

All loaded up
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It was a lovely day in quiet countryside. Then we hit some cobblestone sectors. They are quite loud!

Donkmeer coffee stop
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Lisa on the cobbles
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Karen PoretYes, you know you are in Belgium when on cobbles..ugh..
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5 months ago
Learne Castle
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Snack time at the castle
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At Learne Castle we spent a while fixing a broken bike.  A washroom break was needed by some riders after we were done this instead of making use of the downtime. This turned into a coffee stop which is never quick. And then the hospitable staff brought out complementary cakes. 

This was too much for  us today so Lisa, Christine, and I struck out on our own for Ghent.


Lisa cheating the cobbles
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Lisa and Christine
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Dampoort
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After more cobblestone sectors, and seeing a few camels (???) we parked the bikes in Ghent and wandered around this beautiful town.

Camels?!?
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We had a couple beers, waffles, and terrible French fries. 

In Ghent
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Castle of the Counts
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Castle of the Counts
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Bikes and Coffee!
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St Bavo’s Cathedral Ghent
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The start of the main drag for churches and church-like trade houses Limburgstraat
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We eventually caught up to the group, which was fortunate as the barge changed mooring location. It’s on VesselFinder.com, but that doesn’t always work (especially if the boat has the signal turned off for some reason like yesterday). 

Back to the boat for another amazing dinner. No photos again:(

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