Cycling in Flandria
Several months ago, on the Easter week-end, me and my friend Joe decided to go cycling to Flandria. I love this region, its architecture, language and people. And I love cycling)
At the beginning the plan was to get to Knokke by train, from Lux-city via Liege. Don't ask me why via Liege, I know that it's weird, just believe that day it was the best option:) From Knokke we were planning to cycle to Blanckenberge along the seashore, and then - to Brugge, staying somewhere there overnight. He-he, have our plans ever worked out?
I've bought a cross-border ticket (which happens to me very seldom) in advance. The bike ticket was 10 euro (!), and it's only for one station: Elwen-Gouvy! Belgian railways...
In the morning, on Easter, we've met in the train. Good beginning: we're sitting in the 1st class (thanx to controleur!), eating home-baked cookies. And... the 1st surprise: Joe's got his bike ticket for the same 10 euro to Knokke! I didn't know that it's possible, and asked only to Gouvy... In Belgium, another controleur allowed me to travel with my ticket to Liege (after he had learned from me how unfair is life:)).
In Liege we've changed the train. It was already a question of principle: I've hung the Elwen-Gouvy ticket to my bike pretending that it's a ticket to Knokke. It worked!!! The controleur saw that there's something on bike and left satisfied)
Flandria... It's hard to explain why I love it so much. You can only feel it when you're there: sea, Flemish language and bike culture. Everywhere!
Are there any crazy people who'd like to swim in such a cold weather and wind 16km/h?? Anyway:
I've never seen so many bikes on the streets as in Knokke. They are everywhere, it seems, even more numerous than cars. The 1st time in my life I was cycling in the traffic of bikes! Amazing...
Kids on recumbent, how do you find it?
Velodrome has been discovered on the way to Blanckenberge:
Due to a very strong wind, +10'C near the sea are felt like -1'C in Luxembourg. We've left our idea to ride along the seashore and took a bike line next to high-way:
Cycling in wool socks on hands: Russian style) Really, it was so cold! I was so happy that I put on my winter jacket, 2 or 3 cardigans, 2 pairs of gloves and socks on hands! That's +10'C in Flandria :)
By noon we've arrived to Blanckenberge. It was already not so bikeful as Knokke, but still very nice.
Y Umlaut :) It exists)))
We didn't stay in Blanckenberge for a long, just grabbed some food in one of local fish shops and moved further, to Brugge.
Brugge... is Brugge) Even don't want to write here anything, just look at pictures:
This is cool. It's in Japanese, it means "A bike can be rented here". Simple and clear))
By the end of the day we were already quite tired. We walked around the city centre, tried chocolate in different shops (it was the only purpose of visiting them:)).
We didn't manage to find a couch in Brugge, and went to Bruxelles, where Joe's friend lives. I've never thought that the city is so hilly: the place was on the summit of the hill. It was already dark, we were walking with our bikes up and up, guided by electronic voice from Joe's backpack - what a useful thing, GPS in tablet!
The next morning we went cycling in the city centre. I couldn't resist from another chocolate tour - coming to different chops and trying there everything. I love it! In 2 blocks I already couldn't look at sweets))
In the city tourist office we were told about the web-site www.fietsnet.be. It's a route planner, very useful if you want to cycle in Flandria and on the South-West of Holland.
At noon we took a train to Arlon, from where we cycled to Klengbetten. That was the end of our wonderful bike trip to Flandria.
More photos here
At the beginning the plan was to get to Knokke by train, from Lux-city via Liege. Don't ask me why via Liege, I know that it's weird, just believe that day it was the best option:) From Knokke we were planning to cycle to Blanckenberge along the seashore, and then - to Brugge, staying somewhere there overnight. He-he, have our plans ever worked out?
I've bought a cross-border ticket (which happens to me very seldom) in advance. The bike ticket was 10 euro (!), and it's only for one station: Elwen-Gouvy! Belgian railways...
In the morning, on Easter, we've met in the train. Good beginning: we're sitting in the 1st class (thanx to controleur!), eating home-baked cookies. And... the 1st surprise: Joe's got his bike ticket for the same 10 euro to Knokke! I didn't know that it's possible, and asked only to Gouvy... In Belgium, another controleur allowed me to travel with my ticket to Liege (after he had learned from me how unfair is life:)).
In Liege we've changed the train. It was already a question of principle: I've hung the Elwen-Gouvy ticket to my bike pretending that it's a ticket to Knokke. It worked!!! The controleur saw that there's something on bike and left satisfied)
Flandria... It's hard to explain why I love it so much. You can only feel it when you're there: sea, Flemish language and bike culture. Everywhere!
Are there any crazy people who'd like to swim in such a cold weather and wind 16km/h?? Anyway:
I've never seen so many bikes on the streets as in Knokke. They are everywhere, it seems, even more numerous than cars. The 1st time in my life I was cycling in the traffic of bikes! Amazing...
Kids on recumbent, how do you find it?
Velodrome has been discovered on the way to Blanckenberge:
Due to a very strong wind, +10'C near the sea are felt like -1'C in Luxembourg. We've left our idea to ride along the seashore and took a bike line next to high-way:
Cycling in wool socks on hands: Russian style) Really, it was so cold! I was so happy that I put on my winter jacket, 2 or 3 cardigans, 2 pairs of gloves and socks on hands! That's +10'C in Flandria :)
By noon we've arrived to Blanckenberge. It was already not so bikeful as Knokke, but still very nice.
Y Umlaut :) It exists)))
We didn't stay in Blanckenberge for a long, just grabbed some food in one of local fish shops and moved further, to Brugge.
Brugge... is Brugge) Even don't want to write here anything, just look at pictures:
This is cool. It's in Japanese, it means "A bike can be rented here". Simple and clear))
By the end of the day we were already quite tired. We walked around the city centre, tried chocolate in different shops (it was the only purpose of visiting them:)).
We didn't manage to find a couch in Brugge, and went to Bruxelles, where Joe's friend lives. I've never thought that the city is so hilly: the place was on the summit of the hill. It was already dark, we were walking with our bikes up and up, guided by electronic voice from Joe's backpack - what a useful thing, GPS in tablet!
The next morning we went cycling in the city centre. I couldn't resist from another chocolate tour - coming to different chops and trying there everything. I love it! In 2 blocks I already couldn't look at sweets))
In the city tourist office we were told about the web-site www.fietsnet.be. It's a route planner, very useful if you want to cycle in Flandria and on the South-West of Holland.
At noon we took a train to Arlon, from where we cycled to Klengbetten. That was the end of our wonderful bike trip to Flandria.
More photos here