Across Belgium

Our first stop was in Sint Niklaas where we met up with our friend Hilde again, which was great.
Biking through Holland and Belgium is easy because of the so called "het knooppunten netwerk" which is a network of bike ways, consisting of trails, paths and small quiet country lanes. Each intersection (knooppunt) has a number, so one can plan a route by listing the numbers of the intersections and then physically following them.
They are not always the shortest route between towns, but they usually go through the most scenic and interesting places.
The numbers are displayed at regular intervals and the intersections are between 500m and 8 km apart. They are not displayed in a standard fashion, so they could be high or low on an existing pole, have its own little pole or could be on either side of the road. After a while one gets the hang of it and realises early on when a sign is missed and the going back to the last known sign is not too far.
We encountered some interesting obstacles on our way across Belgium, at Wetteren the route went across the river Schelde, much narrower here, over an elevated footbridge. I had to push the loaded bikes up a channel beside the steps and down again on the other side. These are the times that Veronica is particularly happy that she is a girl !
The second time she was so happy again, was after we ignored the signs that the track was blocked, and I ended up having to lift the bikes over some large steel beams laying across the path. It was fortunate it happened on a Sunday, as the workers would certainly have send us back. Which would have prevented us finding "knooppunt 28" and we may have been lost for ever !

However we found our way and ended the day in a small hotel in Horebeke, next to the church. The clock chimed every half hour which caused a frantic exit from the tower by the resident crows and pigeons. You'd think they would have found more suitable places to roost by now.

The restaurant and bar in the hotel was shut till 18.30 and the only place open apart from the church was a small pub in someones house. I enjoyed a good Belgian beer there but did not get the impression that they see a lot of tourist.

The next day was another day of battling the wind and dodging the showers, and the temperature hardly rose above 15C, which is comparable with our NZ winter.

We again encountered some serious stretches of Cobbles called "Pave" and  the hills of the Ardennes with some long climbs and descents, but also long bits called "fals flat" where the road rises enough
to slow one down, but not steep enough to notice. I wondered if I had a name change as Veronica kept calling me "Slow Down" but realised that she was not being nasty. She is doing well though and keen to get going each morning.

We arrived in Tournai, the oldest city in Belgium going back 2000 years. The Notre Dame cathedral is a world heritage site and being repaired after a tornado in 1999 shifted one of the 4 towers by 80 cm ! The outside is completely surrounded by scaffolding which in itself would have taken years to erect.

Tournai also has many museums of which we visited a few on our first rest day.

The city is like most old cities in Europe and has a fortified old inner city. The river passes through the middle of it and it still serves as a living highway for transport.

Quite big self propelled barges negotiate the winding course and fit beneath most elevated bridges. Few need to be opened, but one in particular is interesting as the whole 2 lane section is lifted vertically on 4 legs rising out of the banks.