bike travel – Carbon Conscious Travel

South of Italy by night train

July 1, 2022Posted in bike travel, train travelTagged italy, nighttrainLeave a comment

Last month I traveled from Brussels to the south of Italy for the wedding of our dear friends Jan & Corentin. Since I managed not to fly for three years now, I booked myself a nice alternative for flying: a private “luxury” cabin on the night train.

In short the trip is:

Brussels – Paris by high speed train (morning)
Paris – Milano by high speed train (afternoon)
Milano – Fasano by night train (night)

I took my folding cycle along which facilitated the switch of stations in Paris and Milano a lot. It is of course feasible to do it by subway (Paris) or walking (Milano), but it just involves a little extra time buffer needed.

I booked the Thalys (29-65 EUR one way) and TGV (49-74 EUR) on http://www.sncf-connect.com and the night train (Vagone Letto Deluxe Uso Singolo – Cabina Intera for just 85-95 EUR one way) on http://www.lefrecce.it which worked fine. In total the transport for this trip costs 397 EUR, which I agree, is not really cheap if you can fly for 60-100 EUR. Nevertheless, the views from the train and a night of hotel saved make it worth it. I could take my folding cycle and a big backpack for free, which of course does not work while flying either.

I left for Paris on Wednesday morning, worked a bit in our Brussels office of Hinicio and left after lunch to catch the TGV from Paris Gare de Lyon to Milano. Even with a delay of almost an hour (for which I got a partial refund), I was nicely on time to buy dinner in the station and catch the first of the two night trains that leave Milano for the south of Italy at 21:15. Let’s be clear: luxury on this Italian night train is not at all the same as what e.g. OBB offers for a sleeper coupé. Breakfast was very basic, so better to bring your own food.

We arrived in Fasano at 8am after a comfortable night of sleep, some morning yoga and meditation, while sliding through the Italian countryside. I cycled to the beach and installed myself in http://www.pettolecchiaillido.it for a morning swim and some reading.

Tine and August whom flew to the South joined me for lunch in Ardecuore, a great restaurant in Fasano.

After a walk in Fasano we started talking to some locals that were so amazingly friendly that they offered to take us to Alberobello with its special Trulli’s, round stone roofs.

After spending one night in Fasano we were picked up by our friend Jeanke that brought us to Masseria Corte Degli Asini, the hotel where the other wedding friends were staying as well. On Friday we visited the beautiful town of Ostuni with some of them.

It was a fairy tail weekend with the wedding of Jan & Corentin on Saturday night in Masseria Mozzone just next door, a pizza party, poolparty, lots of talking and dancing. Thanks again to the two amazing guys that organised all this (with a little help of Tabloo Margot)!

I left Fasano again with the night train on Sunday evening to go back via Torino, Paris and back to Brussels.

Lustin safari

December 18, 2021December 18, 2021Posted in bike travel, train travel, walkingTagged Brussels, cycling, hiking, lustin, Namur, tourism, travelLeave a comment

Some months ago I booked a surprise weekend in Lustin, close to Namur. To get there we jumped on the direct train from Brussels-Schuman to Lustin and took our folding bikes along. It took only 1h13 minutes to get from Brussels into this lovely spot in nature.

With a weekend ticket you pay only 12,20 EUR p.p. going and back, only downside is that it requires you to leave Brussels after 19pm on Friday evening.

We stayed in La Fête au Palais, a small hotel on top of the hills next to the Maas river. The boss kindly picked us up at the railway station to bring us up the hill (inform him in advance). The hotel is no-nonsense and nice. The rooms with terrace towards the river are a pleasure to hang out and cost 109 EUR/night. You want to reserve well in advance since it’s fully booked most of the year. The restaurant of the hotel has a beautiful terrace so on Friday evening we ate at the restaurant of the hotel.

While going on a hike on Friday afternoon we encountered a small snake and some lovely shiny cockroaches… The big surprise came in the evening in front of our room when we heard some nibbling noises and got to see some beautiful racoons. They are a true ecological problem in Europe since they are an exotic species disbalancing nature by killing too many birds, squirrels and lots of fruits and plants. Apparently there’s hundreds of them in the Belgian Ardennes.

After a good breakfast in the hotel, we filled our Saturday with a nice hike and a long cycling trip along the Maas river. We cycled from the hotel all the way to Namur. Made a stop to picknick, chilled at the local hipster beach bar ‘The Flow‘ and cycled back. In the evening we ate at Pizzeria Venezzia, the local restaurant in Lustin, which is at walking distance from the hotel, following a small hiking trail.

On Sunday we first took a walk in nature, following the local tracks indicated through the woods. In the afternoon we took our bags from the hotel and rolled down the hill by bike.

As you might remember from other blogposts, I enjoy swimming in rivers… The Maas river is a very beautiful and calm river to swim in, with stairs all along the riverbanks.

We followed the Maas river until we got to Yvoir where we took the train back to Brussels (eating vegi takeaway on the train from Jin Xiu next to the station).

All in all, it’s an easy trip from Brussels and a perfect escape into nature both in summer and wintertime. There are also airbnb’s around the railway line from Brussels-Schuman to Lustin. On the hills around the Maas there’s a lot of forests with hiking routes to discover. No excuses to stay in the city!

Cycling in “De Vlaamse Ardennen”

November 3, 2021November 3, 2021Posted in bike travel, train travel, walkingTagged b&b de groeneweg, brakel, geraardsbergenLeave a comment

After a long silence there’s a strong motivation to bring you a longlist of inspiration for low carbon trips: Rome and Vienna by train, sailing, hiking, camping, … We’ll dive right in with a lovely trip we did last weekend to Flanders cycling paradise: De Vlaamse Ardennen.

We left from Brussels on Saturday. It took us only 20 minutes by train from Brussels South to Denderleeuw. We took our folding cycles but you can just pay 4.5€ more to take your normal bike on the train. With Tine being pregnant we made it a short cycling trip (35km) through nature, from Denderleeuw along the Dender river to Geraardsbergen and then to Brakel where we slept.

You can easily extend the cycling part by starting your trip in Aalst (43km), Dendermonde (55km) or even start cycling from the Schelde or Brussels. We knew it was going to be a wet day so even with rain pants on, cycling for 2 hours was enough.

We slept in one of the cabins of B&B De Groeneweg in Brakel. A great glamping getaway in nature with views on a beautiful orchard for only 55€ per night. The host is kind and super helpful so don’t hesitate to ask her whatever you need. The breakfast basket is worth its 10€ p.p. so if you’re not on a tight budget you want to go for that one. These “pods” are actually part of the “Trekkershutten” network, located close to GR hiking routes and big cycling corridors through Europe.

For diner there’s plenty of impressive restaurant options around… but most were already fully booked two weeks ahead, so make sure to reserve and check the menu prices before booking: Moeder Agnes, La Granja, De vijf seizoenen or La Villa.

On Sunday we slept a little longer than average, took a late breakfast and went for a lovely walk in the woods. Based on the application of Wandelknooppunt it is really easy to determine your walk in the surrounding woods. You just save or remember the numbers of the “nodes” and follow the indications along the path. It works exactly the same as the “fietsknooppunten” for cycling routes in Flanders.

During our hike we had a picknick. After returning to the B&B we packed our bags and started cycling back to Geraardsbergen…through the rain. Surprisingly, Tine enjoyed the weekend so much that she kept a big smile even through the pouring rain.

As for the culture part, except for the windmill we visited, you might have spotted a Manneke pis on the background of the second picture… Geraardsbergen claims that their manneke pis is actually older than the Brussels one. (note: it looks exactly the same and both original statues were made around the 1450’s).

Before heading back home we still went for pancakes in Montana – nothing special but cosy to warm up during heavy rainfall. A little sun would have surely invited us to visit Geraardsbergen more extensively, but we had our portion of nature so were totally satisfied.

To go back to Brussels on Sunday evening we took the train from Geraardsbergen. There’s a direct train from Geraardsbergen back to Brussels every hour.

Office work in nature

December 27, 2020December 27, 2020Posted in bike travel, train travel, walkingTagged camping, camping les murets, GR, home working, hony, natureLeave a comment

Due to obvious reasons we’ve all discovered home working this year. Working away from the office gives all kinds of freedom that we never thought were possible, so let’s get the best of it. To find a place to work more effectively and alone I decided to look for a campsite at easy train distance from Brussels, and I immediately baptised it as my favourite working spot of all: Camping Les Murets.

With my camping gear, notebook and laptop I took the train from Brussels-North to Liege, and a quick train connection from Liege to Hony. From there it’s a 5 minute walk to the campsite. From door to tent it took me a big 1h30 only.

To give you an idea on my daily routine working there:

7h30 wake-up + granola with fruit breakfast
8h00 morning walk to the river, working on paper (structuring, brainstorming, making to-do list,…)
9h-13h working on laptop on the reception terrace (with Wifi and electricity to charge phone or laptop 😉 )
13h00 lunch / picknick (making a fresh salad, some canned fish…)
13h30 hammock time taking a nap, reading a book, working on paper, going for a swim in the Ourthe
14h-19h working on laptop in the hammock without wifi (and without distraction)
19h going for a walk, run, swim in the Ourthe, find a restaurant or food
21h read a little
Sleep – Repeat

For 11 EUR per night you get a nice plot of campground in nature, next to a swimming spot in the Ourthe, access to showers and bathrooms and a terrace with food and drinks. It’s actually cheaper per night than renting your own apartment in Brussels. The campground offers pizza’s, but at 20min walking there’s some other restaurants. There’s a GR walking route passing along the campground, so that will always make for beautiful hikes as a break.

If you know other similar working locations in Belgium, please let me know and I’ll add them to this post. Can’t wait for spring to come.

p.s. for those looking for an alternative career, the campground is for sale and still open in the meantime.

Touring by bike in the Black Forest (2/2)

September 15, 2020Posted in bike travel, train travel, walkingTagged baden baden, bikepacking, Black forest, cycling, Eurovelo, eurovelo15, freiburg, hiking, karlsruhe, ortlieb, surlyLeave a comment

During the second week of our cycling holidays we entered into the woods of the Black Forest. The days were filled with a mix of cycling on mountain routes, some city tripping and a good bit of relaxing and reading.

It was our first time climbing 1000 metres with a fully packed bike. It felt really rewarding to suffer for a bit, before having an impressive view. A long downhill only adds to this positive experience.

Spread over a full week we took the following route:

Karlsruhe
Baden-Baden
Freudenstadt (camping Langenwald)
Wolfach (Camping Zur Muhle)
Freiburg (2-day city trip)

*Museums in Karlsruhe – Make sure to check out the ZKM Centre for Art and Media*

To spread the trip and keep time for some hikes, we took the cycling very slow. Sometimes we only cycled for an hour or two in a day, e.g. the trip from Karlsruhe to Baden-Baden.

Baden-Baden used to be a fancy bathing city where travellers from all over Europe would go relax in the Roman baths. So we checked-in at Hotel Beek and went to the local baths just next door.

The city has plenty of old architecture, with some old hotels, springs, baths, a casino, etc. so we did take plenty of time to discover and stroll around by daytime, at night and again the next morning.

After climbing up 500m, going down another 500m and slowly climbing 500m again by bike, we arrived at camping Langenwald. It’s a lovely natural camping with the best bathrooms we have ever seen in a campground. The place is great to hike in the woods and mountains, with routes leaving straight from the back exit.

After spending two nights in camping Langenwald we continued to our next stop, before heading to Freiburg. On the road we stopped to visit a bear sanctuary, which was nice, since they try to give mistreated bears a better life… but, even on a big plot of land, it’s still sad to see captured bears. Therefor I’m not going to promote it here.

On our way to Freiburg we had to do quite some climbing again. But just like all the other times, the views are extra rewarding after suffering a bit. Luckily we took more then 2 litres of water per person with us, since under the bright sun we were sweating a lot.

In general we only stayed one night in most of the places, so it was nice to stay multiple days in Freiburg. The city has lots of both new and historical highlights. The Vauban quarter is a sustainability hotspot with plenty of innovative ways of building, living and circulating. The historical centre and the hill-side view are another must see.

Bikepacking through the Black Forest in Germany. Cycling from north to south.

If the weather invites you to cool down: buy some beers and swim at the wasserterrassen in der Dreisam.

And since we like to spend more money on food then on hotels, we were happy to discover that Freiburg had quite some nice restaurants as well: Wolfshohle as a fine dining restaurant with a star, The SKAJO rooftop bar, breakfast at Manna, … plenty of nice places to discover.

Our original plan was to cycle back to Belgium through the Vosges region, but COVID numbers made us change our plans, and stay longer in Germany. One week before heading back home, we went to the railway station for some information on how to get back to Aachen, with our bikes on the train… And we discovered every realistic train connection was completely booked weeks before. We decided to go for the adventure of taking 7 trains in a row to get back to Brussels. And surprisingly, there were no delays what so ever. Transfers went smooth and there was plenty of space for the bikes. Sometimes we had to take off the bags to make some space for fellow travellers, but overall it was a positive experience. On top, the views from the trainride along the Rhine were impressive.

*We were not alone traveling with our bike*s *on the train*

*Views from the train driving along the Rhine for most of the route*

This was our first real cycling holiday of more then a weekend, so we didn’t really know how we would feel about it. No need to say more than quoting Tine on the way back: “Hey why don’t we do the same along the Donau, or the Thames”. I’m sure this kind of trip will be repeated.

Very shortly about our gear:

Tine’s bike had two big waterproof Ortlieb bags at the back, I had a bit more space with 5 Ortlieb bags dressed all over my bike. We took all our camping gear, clothing, lots of food and water.

For the Eurovelo 15 you certainly don’t need special bicycles at all, since it’s mostly flat and you just decide what camping gear you want to take along. My Surly did well, and our Schwalbe tires even better: not a single flat tire during the full two weeks.

Cycling the Eurovelo along the Rhine (1/2)

September 10, 2020Posted in bike travel, train travel, walkingTagged bikepacking, Eurovelo, eurovelo15, eurovelo3, fietsen, Germany, Rhine, Rijn, surly, tourbike, tourismLeave a comment

This year was different. All travel plans were impacted, and so were ours. So what is more flexible then not planning anything, except for packing your bags and putting them on your bicycle?

With the Eurovelo network of long distance cycling routes in mind we could go any possible direction depending on the weather and the number of covid cases. We started on the Eurovelo 3 from Eupen until we reached the Rhine river after a big day of cycling. From there we followed Eurovelo 15 for multiple days, all the way to Karlsruhe.

*Arrival in Mehlem*, *where Eurovelo 3 joins Eurovelo 15*

Figure that for many of our Belgian grandparents, a trip to the Rhine was their first holiday destination. Tourism around the Rhine started as early as 1830.

We followed Eurovelo 3 until Mehlem, and from there we followed Eurovelo 15 for 6 days:

Eupen (start)
Heimbach
Mehlem
Koblenz
Boppard
Oberwesel
Mainz
Worms
Speyer
Karlsruhe

We mixed sleeping in campgrounds, camping in the wild and staying in hotels to have a little comfort. The first night we took a camping in the neigborhood of Heimbach, next to a lake. From there we just took on the following rhythm: cycle until we see something interesting or we want to chill. No clear daily goals in mind. Whenever we get tired we either pitch our tent in the bushes or search the internet for a hotel or a campground.

*Mehlem with Eurovelo 15 next to the Rhine*

*One of the many small ferry’s over the Rhine*

With so many historic villages, nature reserves and wineries there’s always something to visit or to do wherever you are.

It was incredibly hot almost every day. Whenever we felt like it, we parked the bikes and swam in the Rhine to cool down. We were quite surprised to find proper sand beaches in many places, including naked sunbathers.

In an other occasion, we pitched our tent on the side of a lake. We went swimming in the evening before going to bed, and swam again the next morning to wake up.

We packed our cycling bags with camping gear, some clothes and a good bag of food: nuts, granola, fruits, canned fish, crackers, boiled eggs,… Whenever we passed a restaurant at lunch or dinner time, we would opt for a terrace and a good meal, but whenever there was nothing around we would always have our backup food with us.

Since there’s lots of vineyards along the Rhine, all restaurants have good local wines on the menu.

Most of the route was in nature or passing along smaller villages next to the Rhine, but once in a while we had to cross a big city worth visiting. Koblenz was one of them. Worms, Speyer and Karlsruhe were also totally worth spending a full day, doing some culture and enjoying a decent restaurant. On those days we would only cycle about 2 hours and hit the road in the late afternoon.

*Koblenz view from the Ehrenbreitstein* *fortress*

Whenever we were sick of cycling we would lock our bike, leave our bags in a hotel (or tent on a camping) and start walking. In Koblenz the hike up to the Ehrenbreitstein fortress is worth the detour. If you’re lucky you can enjoy one of the concerts with impressive views in the background. If you want to keep it cheap you can also stay in the hostel inside this fortress.

*Worms* – *One of the oldest cities in North-Europe with pre-Roman foundations*

*Speyer – Another city with Roman history*

Since the Eurovelo 15 passes both nature and some interesting historic cities along the Rhine, it allows for a very diverse holiday. If you want to cycle more, you just skip more cities and cruise straight to Switzerland. If you need more relaxing, you go slower and can easily have an interesting place to visit every hour or two.

After a full week of cycling around the Rhine, we chose to change the rhythm and dive into the Black Forest for some cycling in hilly nature. You can read all about it in part 2, the next blogpost.

Paalkamperen in Belgium & other concepts that make cycling trips better

February 27, 2020August 11, 2020Posted in bike travelTagged belgium, Brussels, camping, cycling, Doel, nature, paalkamperen, tourbike, tourism, travel, weekendLeave a comment

Next to sharing a cycling route, I want to share a couple of logic principles that I realised while cycling around in Flanders during my last trip. Find the three key concepts at the end of the article.

For this trip I randomly searched a route to go from Brussels to the desolated village of Doel. Then I continued to the closest camping spot and from there the next day to another campsite not too far from Brussels, so I could make it to Grimbergen on time for Christmas evening.

Planning the trip, I soon saw that on day 1 I could follow a very long part of the Schelde river, and on day 2 I could follow the Dender. In between I found the network of old railroads that are now cycling routes.

Day 1: 95km. After leaving Brussels, it takes a couple of kilometers before you end up in the countryside, but as soon as you reach the banks of the Schelde in Briel it’s all nature. You cycle past Sint-Amands on a perfect trail that continues for kilometers.

Depending on the time you have, you can take a straight route to Doel from Temse, or continue until Kruibeke. Before arriving in the desolated city of Doel, you cycle through the Port of Antwerp, along railroads, cranes and industry. In rainy weather it has something moody but beautiful.

From far away you see the nuclear power plant of Doel as a landmark on the horizon.

A couple of kilometers further you enter into the main street of Doel. There you find almost all houses locked up and spooky. This is where a controversial story starts of the extension plans of the Port of Antwerp.

If you do not know the story, just search for ‘Doel’ in Wikipedia. A long story short (sorry): the whole village had to disappear to construct a new dock for large ships, property has been bought and villagers left. The construction permit was not granted and plans were not executed. Very few people stayed, but some new people live there now, with very low rental prices. Nevertheless, the place is very desolated and looks like a ghost town.

After visiting the village, I cycled to the camping spot of “Bivakzone Stropersbos”. Just before entering into the woods, I warmed myself with a good diner in De Boshoeve. It had been raining all day, my feet were soaked and in the tent it wouldn’t get any warmer.

The campsite is located in the middle of the forest with rivers and lots of water surrounding it. It had been raining for days in a row, so I was lucky to find 2 square meters that were not muddy to pitch my tent. With a good winter sleeping bag I managed to stay warm during the rainy night.

Day 2: 60km. On the second day I followed the old railroad to Sint-Niklaas. From Dendermonde to Okegem, I took the route following the Dender river. This route is at least as beautiful as the one next to the Schelde.

I camped at the campsite of Neighembos with views over the Dender valley. It’s located in the back of a private garden, but with an SMS reservation you can stay there for free.

The open air toilet certainly has its charm, but on rainy days you don’t stay there very long.

Day 3: 40km. It sounds like a very short route, but with ripped plastic bags in my shoes and wet feet for three days in a row, I was happy I wasn’t at the other side of Belgium. Again a good lesson learned: proper gear does help. Either rain covers for the shoes, or rainproof shoes.

Cycling around in the neighbourhood is fun: villages with the names of “Woestijn” (= desert) and “Drie-Egypten” made me frown, but the place is beautiful.

On my way back I circled around Brussels to go to Grimbergen.

Before getting to Grimbergen I discovered one of the most beautiful views on the skyline of Brussels: de Heirbaan in Meise. While cycling through nature you see all the landmarks of Brussels in a tiny version next to you, which makes Brussels look very small.

To conclude, this was a nice route, getting lost on my tour bike, camping in nature and reading books in the tent while it’s raining and 3°C. I’ll do this route again during the summertime.

The three concepts that can make your cycling trip a blast, no matter if it’s a one day trip or a full week holiday:

1. Paalkamperen: plenty of beautiful nature camping spots spread over Belgium. You can use them for free all year round. If you start planning a cycling-camping trip, it’s a good way to start planning around some good sleeping locations. All of them have a dry-toilet, a dedicated camping zone, some have a fire pit or a bbq. Check out the map on bivakzone.be. A similar system exists in The Netherlands.

2. Old railway lines: you might have found out yourself already that all over Europe old railway lines have been converted to cycling paths. Most of them cross nature in a safe and efficient way, so if you use them for longer distances it ensures you of a nice trip. Check out this overview for Belgium or if you want to try it out in another country: UK railway lines. If you would rather cross Europe on even longer distances, than make sure to have a look on Eurovelo. You can find routes that go straight from Brussels, over the Alps all the way to the heel of Italy (Eurovelo 5).

3. Canals: take a map, see if there’s a waterway and chances are big there’s a nice cycling path next to it. I cycled along the Schelde and Dender rivers for hours. It’s fast and it’s beautiful.

Bicycle flirting with the Dutch border: Hasselt – Maastricht – Heijenrath – Liege

December 14, 2019August 11, 2020Posted in bike travel, train travelTagged belgium, cycling, hasselt, heijenrath, nature, the netherlands, travel, tripping, voeren, weekendLeave a comment

If you are looking for a short weekend escape that requires no planning at all: take your bike on the train to Hasselt and start cycling. Pay 4 Euro per bike and ask the train responsible to open the door for bicycles and you just roll-in and attach your bike in the dedicated spot. Our plan: Hasselt – Maastricht – Heijenrath – Liege.

Cycling through the historic center of Hasselt is worth it. We left on a Friday evening, so we stayed one night in Hasselt. The next morning we cycled to ‘Wandelgebied Bokrijk/Kiewit’ where you can cycle through the water. What is most special about it is that you seem a lot smaller for the swans and ducks… and they seem at ease to get close or just float along while you are slowly cycling through.

We did not visit Bokrijk (still on our to-do list), but the woods are fully accessible and nature is stunning. If you’d like to you can easily spend the day just there. But we had a plan to visit the Dutchies across the border, so we continued.

From Bokrijk to Maastricht the route is rather easy if you stick to one rule: stay on the left side of the Albert canal. Some applications send you to the right side, but on most of the route this side is locked with high fences and obstructions… we ran into them multiple times. On the left side of the canal the road sometimes takes a bit of a detour around some buildings or a yacht club, but overall you’ll find your way. Parts are in nature, other parts are intriguing heavy industry.

These ships are not necessarily very low emitters, but the below ship transports 156 20-foot containers at once. That means that the same amount of trucks has been kept of the roads. These kind of inland-ships can transport from 50 up to 300 containers at once. So it does play its role in making the transport of goods more sustainable.

Next to being a lovely sight, the sheep also serve a real purpose along the canal: deplete the soil so that scarce plants can again stand a chance of survival. The feces of too many sheep are helping to deplete the soil faster.

After less than two hours cycling we arrived in Maastricht. In Maastricht we had lunch in the old fire brigade building ‘Brandweerkazerne’. We cycled around to visit some of the highlights such as the beautiful Frontenpark, Bassin, the red Sint-Jans church and square,… and strolled around in the famous bookshop in the church ‘Dominicanen’.

When the evening started to fall we head on to our final location of the day deep into nature: Heijenrath. A small village surrounded by impressive nature waiting for you to hike, cycle and camp. We stayed at Hotel Heijenrath since towards the end of November the weather is not that pleasing for camping… but there’s a super cheap campsite behind hotel Kreutzer to make it a low-budget weekend. (The campsite does have some holiday homes and sad caravans, but with the sun that should look less depressing).

The evening brought a good dinner. The next morning brought a morning walk before breakfast and a big hike after breakfast. The village has multiple loops to hike through the forests and hilly fields.

After losing three hours to repair my bike and tape 5 holes in my inner tier we head off towards Voeren. Sinterklaas and the marching band made our afternoon into a true feast.

All through the route you criss-cross over the Dutch-Belgian border and see these stone border marks as on the below photo.

We had dinner in Blackthys Hotel Voeren and saved this location for a next time. Food was really good and the village and surroundings look very pleasing to spend the weekend and go for a hike. After that we cycled back to Wezet where we took the train to Liege and back to Brussels. If we would not have lost the 3 hours we could have easily cycled along the Maas river of the Albert Canal to Liege. In our next trip we would also consider adding a visit to the Eben-Emael fortress.

Traintrip to relax in the Provence

November 1, 2019Posted in bike travel, train travel, UncategorizedTagged arles, brompton, cycling, France, nimes, provence, tgv, traintravel, travelLeave a comment

Are you ready to join us on an exclusive trip to the Provence? Earlier this year we took a direct train from Brussels to Nîmes in the south of France. We stayed with a group of friends at Charles’ impressive countryside house to live the good life.

A one way ticket for this direct train was 140 EUR per person, which is not cheap…but given the direct train, it is really a very fast, comfortable and beautiful ride. We find it way more comfortable than going by car or by airplane. We have sushi on the train (sold in Brussels south station) and enjoy a good apéro while sliding through the countryside.

Upon arrival Charles and Gagou were so kind to pick us up and take us to their Mas de Bronzet, but if needed you can also easily take a local train or cycle around in the region.

The house is truly impressive and has plenty of history, as it is one of the traditional “Mas” in the region. It has a huge domain with olive trees and a beautiful swimming pool. The house can be reserved on airbnb as well… but in that case you might want to go with the whole family and have your parents pay for it.

The purpose of the trip was to relax, talk, cook together, visit some villages, go for a morning run,… and that’s exactly what we did. We tipically spend mornings having breakfast and reading by the pool, while in the afternoon we visit a small village.

In the evening we did multiple group meditation sessions in the chapel next to the house. The old stone chappel gives already a vibe of calmth that gets you immediately into the right mood to spend half an hour focussing on your breath and mind. Once we are all zen, we’re ready for the apero and diner.

Since it can be rather hot in the region, cooling down in the pool is a must to survive. So a daily portion of swimming brings some sports and refreshment.

After bronzing by the pool, it’s time for some visiting:

Our first trip goes to Les-Beaux-de-Provence (combined with a stop in Saint-Rémi-de-Provence). The small pitoresque village on a rock, overlooks fields with olive trees and vineyards. It’s the perfect place for an afternoon stroll and for watching the green scenery.

If you had enough sun, there’s also the Carrières de Lumière just next to the village, which is good to visit…but the queue was just too long so we skipped it. Maybe try this out when it’s not high-season.

For the second trip we take our folding bikes and head off to Arles. A drive of less than an hour, through the fields and next to the Rhône river. When arriving in the old center of Arles you soon understand why so many artists and photographers found their inspiration there.

You can easily spend multiple days visiting Arles. Take a walk around all the historic buildings like the Arenas, the churches and just get lost in the small streets.

A place you must go for dinner is on the terrace of Le Galoubet. You will have to make a reservation, but the menu is really worth looking forward to. Another restaurant option could be Chardon, not far from Le Galoubet.

For the next trip we head to L’isle-sur-la-sorgue. It is significantly further away from Beaucaire, but completely worth the trip if you love antiques. The place has plenty of galeries and shops next to the river where they sell furniture, decoration, airplane parts for your living room, modern art,… plenty of things to keep your eyes gazing around for multiple hours.

As a last trip, at only twenty minutes by bike from the house, you can go find Beaucaire. The city lays next to the Rhône and is less of a touristy place. It still has its cosy farmers market next to the harbor and a citadel/castle to visit. It’s a good base to go food shopping and just hang around for a bit.

So, that was quite some visiting and relaxing, wasn’t it?

These were five intense and beautiful days in the provence with a group of lovely people. To be repeated as soon as possible.

Biketravel from Ieper to Boulogne-s-Mer

July 19, 2019June 10, 2020Posted in bike travel, train travelTagged belgium, boulogne-sur-mer, camping, cycling, fjalraven, France, ieper, opale, surly, tourism, travelLeave a comment

Looking for a nice bike trip to the sea? The roads from Ieper to Boulogne-sur-Mer take you through flanders fields, green valleys and impressive views on the sea. We took this trip together with Louis’ cousin Olivier whom grew up in Poperinge.

On Friday evening we took a direct train from Brussels-South station to Ieper. If you take a regular bike you just need to pay a 4 EUR ticket for your bicycle and try to catch the train responsible to see where you could best park your bike. In the newer trains there’s a dedicated spot with a special door for bikes and wheelchairs only, in older trains you might have to lift your bike up high and park it in the entrance of the train.

To go from Ieper to our camping spot on the Kemmelberg we took some detours, drove through the village of Kemmel, the park with the city hall and had dinner on the terrace of De Hollemeersch. We pitched our tent into the wild and enjoyed a good night of sleep (50°46’29.9″N 2°48’05.9″E).

On saturday morning we bought our breakfast in the old bakery “d’ovetote” in Dranouter, where they still make bread in a wood based oven. And of we went into France: Belle, Hazebroek, Ebblingem, next to the water to Arques, a flat tier and then to Saint-Omer for lunch in the rue Louis Martel.

After that the trip continued through the fields and woods all the way to the coast of Boulogne-sur-Mer via Coulomby and Bournonville. This route was mainly on double roads where you can advance well, but you share them with quite some cars. So for the way back we proposed another (way more calm road).

A good brake to eat bananas + muesli bars and drink liters of water is of course mandatory. And Tine was enjoying it!

Since we did not really do a lot of preparatory route planning, we searched on google maps on the way where we could take the smaller routes and enjoy driving through the fields, in between the typical hedges next to the road.

And while approaching Boulogne-sur-Mer the impressive tower of the cathedral is welcoming you. Just before reaching it you enter the fortified city center into the narrow streets. It’s a beautiful old city center worth taking the time to visit.

…but since we wanted to camp we did not stay there, but continued another couple of kilometers to camping Phare d’Opale Tohapi. The road google maps sent us to, did not exist, so we headed to the beach to drive (big tires) / pull (thin tires) our bikes to the next road.

The campground itself is rather a trailer park, so nothing special, but on the side there’s some camping spots with a 5-star view to the sea and village (picture below). Good enough for a safe camping spot and a good shower. After a little more than 110km we pitched the tent, skipped the shower and went for aperitif!

The village of Le Portel is not the most beautiful one, based on a meters high concrete dyke that could survive every climate change water rise, but it had some good restaurants and nice atmosphere.

The seafood restaurant to go to is “Le Portelois”, it has a cosy terrace on the dyke and good food! No tourist trap here.

By coincidence we were there on the evening before the 14th of July festivities, and thus shared the village with thousands of other French people that were celebrating.

It seems like 14th of July (Bastille day – the French national holiday) is celebrated as intense as new year, with impressive fireworks that lasted way too long.

On Sunday morning we bought a good baguette and cheese to have breakfast in the old city center of Boulogne-sur-Mer. Tine had her coffee, and so we were well prepared for another 100km back to Poperinge.

We were expecting google maps to send us back on roads with cars like the day before, but we got a slower and way more beautiful route proposed. It was a blast: small grass and stone paths through fields and valleys, from village to village! In short we took the following route. Passing by Liques, Tournehem-sur-la-Hem, Nordausques, Volkerinkhove, Wormhout, Herzeele, and Houtkerke on the border between France and Belgium.

We celebrated 14th of July with free lunch and beer from the villagers of Tournehem-sur-la-Hem.

A good drinking / evacuation break once in a while, combined with a short prayer on the road, gave us enough energy to continue.

We never saw more flemish lion flags than in the North of France, also called “Flandres”. All the villages there have really flemish names. The older local villagers in that part of France speak West-Flemish and French, a very odd thing to discover. And no better place to discover this than with a Picon in the bar of Gisele in Houtkerke. The bar got stuck in time somewhere in the fifties. The owner is more than 80 years old and only speaks french patois or West-Flemish.

After a good lemonade we hit the road to Poperinge and finished our trip by taking the train back to Brussels later that evening. A nice and intense weekend. Don’t make this your first bike-tour, but if you’re used to some cycling this is an impressive trip!