The last few days were pretty shitty.
I had constant headwind and a quite strong one.
Last time I experienced such a strong headwinds was at the top of Denmark ( where this is normal).
But I havent expected such headwinds here in Netherlands and Belgium and I am not even on the coastline, but quite inwards.
I left the Netherlands ( decided not to go to Rotterdam and follow the coastline because of the wind ), and crossed into Belgium.
I have learned very well by now that the wind goes most often from SW so if you are planning to cycle west of France, Belgium, Netherlands and beyond, its advised to go from south to north if possible.
A huge church in Belgium, refusing to fit into the picture.
Now I got you.
Sleeping in some woods in Belgium.
No shortage of bikes here
Little bit of Bruxelles
Camping just before the border of France. There was a nice cycling road starting several kilometeres before the border with france and entering into France. This mean I could sleep somewhere here (as the night caugt me) and so I did. The road was only for cyclists so there was no much traffic.
After several windy days, the rain come.
After I have crossed the border from Belgium to France, I had 2 days of constant rain. And the temperature has dropped. Still I decided to ride it because I didnt want to stay anywhere.
Miserable me (les miserables)
Hiding form the rain under thre bridge.
Since the main point of this trip for me was to hike in the Tatra mountains in Slovakia, enjoy the Baltic coast of Poland ( which I missed last year when I crossed Poland ) and enjoy Denmark mainland (I have been to Copenhagen last year), I have pretty much done this now and the rest was just a backup plan.
If I end with more time left , my thought was I can always spend some more time in France.
That was the main reason I chose to ride counter clockwise going into Baltic countries first.
Also for the first time I have sat down and looked at the map ( and the time I have left on this trip ) and concluded that I cannot continue towards the coast of France.
So now I am going straight to Paris and then north Italy avoiding the alps.
So this is the last stretch of my journey, and it has been nice in all possible ways!
I am not in a hurry but I do need to keep the pace to arrive home in time.
Love these structures in parks in France.
Rainy atmosphere
One night I slept in some old shed / bar, it protected me at least from some rain.
Riding these gravel singletracks alongside river become more and more common as I ventured deeply into France.
More and more canals, here was still very head-windy.
Dirty me (les dirties)
This sign started to make a lot of sense. While riding next to the riverband you really need to be careful at some places, otherwise loosing concentration for a bit could easily make you dive into these diry rivers.
Abandoned ship.
This was actually part of Eurovelo 3. I was not planning to ride here but Komoot bike ride brought me here.
This looks like I am sleeping next to the road, but these roads are forbidden and all vechicles except cyclists and ended up here one night ( looking where to sleep ) and welcoming this table with both arms.
Wooden arhitecture in France.
Looking forward to seeing some France on my way back ( so far I only saw the Chamonix region ).
France is big of course and one could spend months just cycling here.
Paris here I come!
No comments:
Post a Comment