Days 3 & 4: Raamsdonk to Brussels
I had stayed up too late the night before and my 8AM alarm came too soon. I was still very tired when I got up, but my hosts provided a full breakfast, one of the only Airbnb’s I have been to that has done that, and I was very appreciative since I had a full day of riding ahead of me. I left before 9:30.
I like to get a big chunk of my miles done right off the bat while it’s cooler and before my butt starts hurting really bad. I don’t know what it is but the butt pain is the biggest hindrance to me biking long distance. I don’t know if I keep getting bad seats or if it’s just something I have to get used to or my body is not meant to be on a bicycle seat, but I always have major pains when cycling. Like it gets so bad that I can’t move when I come to a stop. I’m constantly wincing and it’s hard to enjoy the present when the pain takes all my focus. All that is to say that I took my first break after biking around 12 miles.
I took another break when I passed an outdoor seating area next to a crop field. No one was there so I decided to spread out and try to take a nap but that didn’t work out. Just a little further down the road I came upon the Belgium border. I biked into another country! However my new country joy got jolted when, a few minutes later I came upon a bike crash with a little boy laying face down on the bike path. Others were there with him and had called an ambulance so there was nothing else I could do so I kept going.
Now in Belgium I was on the lookout for the fruit automaats I had read about in a blog. And it didn’t take long for me to find one. Essentially they have vending machines with bread and strawberries along the street. I stopped at one to get a carton of strawberries for 3 euros but didn’t end up doing it right and lost the 3 euros. I figured out I had to press a button to spin the inside and then open the door. The first one I opened didn’t have strawberries and I thought I could spin it once the door was opened. Nevertheless I paid another 3 euros and got some strawberries.
I stopped at a grocery store about 7 miles from the Airbnb to once again get dinner supplies. Most of the Airbnbs aren’t really close to anything else and I know I won’t feel like going back out on the bike for food after cleaning up so groceries work for me. But for the first time the maps.me app I was using for directions took me the wrong way so I had to backtrack to find the place. Eventually I found it after adding a mile or two to the total for the day. The Airbnb was great and I asked the hosts if I could use their TV in the main room to watch the USA world cup game that night. The host turned on the TV to look for the channel and to my surprise the game was already on. I had thought it came on later so if I hadn’t of asked I would have missed the whole game. I ended the night laying in their hammock outside playing with one of their cats.
I could have paid extra for breakfast at the Airbnb but I passed on that since I still had some snacks. However, the host was making some waffles and offered me one as I was walking out the door. It was amazing and made me regret not getting her full breakfast. I asked her how she made it and I am determined to make it back at home (phyllo layers with chive cream cheese spread & salmon spread then put on a waffle griddle).
Shortly after leaving their home I came across a stunning white mansion with a manicured lawn. I looked on google maps later and found out it was a castle.
It was going to be a really hot day, high of 95F, so I wanted to crank out the miles early on. I stopped briefly here and there. I got really thirsty and wanted to stop somewhere but I never found a good place so I just stopped at a store and then later a gas station for an orange Fanta and an orange popsicle. I sat outside the station in the shade for over an hour. Once I cooled down I headed the remaining 8 miles into the city.
Traffic started picking up and I was riding alongside a busy road. I crossed over a train station and then I was basically in the city where the streets became narrower and I couldn’t ride on them easily anymore due to the traffic. So I got off the bike and walked it the rest of the way to the hostel.
I locked up my bike in their gated area, showered, and walked nearby to a grocery store. I was so hungry and thirsty from the day that I ended up getting 2 dinners and 4 different beverages. I went back to the hostel in hopes of watching the world cup game that night but to my disappointment the hostel didn’t have the channel. Another American woman was there wanting to watch the game too so we got to chatting. She had traveled over to go to a couple of the games. We ended up finding a slow, poor-quality live-stream of the game on the old hostel computer to watch. It was nice to connect after being alone all day.
The next day I took a zero day in Brussels.
