Highest Point during the day 420'
End Point:: Brugelette 165'
Total Climbing: 1075'
Climbing Difficulty factor 25
Distance today: 87 miles
Cumulative distance: 255 miles
At 8:45 this morning, I was at the front of the queue of cars on the "Pride of Bruges" waiting for the doors to open. It was a frustrating 10 minute delay until I cycled out onto the Belgian concrete.
However, after that it was fast progress on the superb cycle routes from Zeebrugge to Bruges and halfway to Gent. Here is a typical cycle path which I was on around 10am
I made really good progress, stopping for lunch (bread/cheese bought mid-morning at Spar) with 40 miles on the clock by 1pm.
There were about a dozen women sitting at a couple of nearby picnic tables. I asked them if there was a toilet nearby, then I found out they were all school teachers on their lunch break from the primary school 50 yards beyond. I was offered a loo in the school, which was fun because it was about 70% of a normal sized loo!
In the afternoon, my pace slowed as the flat country of Belgium proved to be a bit hilly. About 3.30, I had a small accident which was really annoying. On a steep uphill, I crashed the gears and my chain went off the top cog of the rear gears. I jumped off to sort it out, but because of the weight of the pannier bags on the front wheels, the bike spun away from me, and my arm/elbow smashed into the rear light and my rear indicator light. Both fell off. Luckily, neither was broken, but both brackets were broken :-( So at the moment I have no rear light or indicators but hopefully I can fix them in the morning with some plastic wire ties which I've brought in my tool bag.
At 75 miles (6pm) I came to Lessines and began looking for a hotel. I couldn't find one locally but one in Brugelette viewed on the internet seemed ok and looked quite close. I booked it on my phone but found it was a bit further than I'd hoped.
I eventually arrived at quarter past 7 with 87 miles on the clock. The last 10 were tough. I don't think I will try to do so far again.
On the map below, the blue spot shows where I am:
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