Four days in Belgium by bike over a long weekend. Javelin from St Pancras to Dover Priory on Friday morning (oddly the tickets seemed to get cheaper the closer we got to the departure date rather than being cheaper if you book earlier - hmm), then the scratchy cycle route down to the harbour (a Heath Robinson assemblage of roads, cycle paths, pavements and bits of paint which compares very unfavourably with the equivalent bike path on the Dunkirk side). That said, cyclist passport check and DFDS ferry check-in at the Port of Dover was very easy, bikes at the front of the queue to load on, and there were good bike racks with lashings on the car deck. However, there is nowhere for cyclists to prop bikes or shelter dockside at Dover if the weather is bad or, as it was in our case, very sunny.
As cyclists we were first off the ferry at Dunkirk, and set off along good cycle-paths towards the town proper, evidence everywhere of the migrants trying to get across the Channel – camped in the woods, bathing in the canal, wheeling supplies from town along the cycle-paths in shopping trolleys, and generally killing time at bus-stops and cafes in Loon Plage and Grand Synthe.
Our first stop was the monument to the evacuation at Dunkerque, but at 15.00 everywhere else was shutting up shop, both cafes and supermarkets closing or closed. We carried on along the coast (old railway line through the dunes) to Zuydcoote, where a locals café, La Cabane aux Delices, was serving cold beer and good baguettes. Inevitably the next bar we hit east of Bray Dunes was also open, and even had a good heavy metal covers band playing in the garden, but we kept going (despite some mutinous grumbling) along the coast to Nieuwport. Our overnight accommodation was the Domein Westhoek beach resort in the dunes – good bar, good bike storage (including power for the e-bikers amongst us), and a short walk down to the front for the first moule frites of the trip on a glorious sunny evening, kicking off a long running theme about just how windswept the North Sea promenade might, or might not, be in winter.
Day two, breakfast at the Westhoek and down to the harbour, stopping to look at the Belgian and British War Memorials and the sluices used by the Belgians to flood the Yser plain to balk the German advance. SE out of town on the dedicated Western “Front” cycle-path, before turning ENE towards Brugge via quite country lanes and small villages. First opportunity for coffee was de Blaaspijp in Koekelare, which looked a small and inconspicuous bar from the street, but turned out to be a serious local live music venue (with good coffee). Then through steadily more prosperous villages and eventually suburbs until Brugge, accompanied much of the way by a vintage Porsche club outing – over a hundred 911s of various ages and some glorious seventies paint schemes burbling around in convoy. Brugge attractive as ever but heaving with tourists taking selfies, in places it was necessary to walk the bikes even on main roads, but we had a good lunch in Dweersstraat before joining the brilliant Gent-Brugge Canal-side cycle path to speed us on our way to Gent and the Hotel Carlton on Kon. Astridlaan – big comfy rooms, secure parking (and power for e-bikes), and excellent breakfasts. Out into Gent for beer at Barrazza, steaks at t’Koninghuis on Oudburg, and back to Barrazza for more beer as it was that good.
Day three, excellent breakfast at the Carlton (did I mention how good the breakfasts were?) then back onto canal paths towards Roeselare and Iper. Generally easy going apart from a short stretch where the towpath was closed for maintenance resulting in a detour round an industrial estate and bits of bypass, and some stretches where the canal was a very sinister and algae-induced shade of green. Stopped for beers at t’Stil Ende Nancy, a lovely redbrick bar on the canalside at Izegem, and then a good burger lunch at Café St Georges in the station square at Roeselare. Left the canals and headed SW towards the front, calling at Passendale, then down the almost imperceptible slope to the British Tyne Cot and German Langemark cemeteries before arriving in Iper entering the old town via the Menin Gate. Checked into Hotel O on D’hondstraat (a bit of a warren but good value, good bike storage etc and just off the Cloth Hall Square), down to the Menin Gate for the immensely moving Last Post ceremony along with hundreds of others on a warm summer Sunday evening, and beers and dinner (more moule frites) in town.
Day four back towards Dunkerque Port, stopping in Poperinge to respect the cells used to hold British deserters before execution, and the execution point itself, in the old Town Hall. Coffee and cakes at Le Lion Blanc in Herzele, before a last-minute "democratic" change of plan, to try and get lunch in Dunkerque, breaking direct for the coast via Wylder and Bergues. Successfully lunched on the promenade at Le Malouin, before retracing our steps to the ferry port. Very limited shelter for cyclists (but at least there was some) and once again rapid boarding and good bike arrangements on the DFDS ferry. At Dover managed to get lost getting out of the terminal but joined a pack of cyclists all sprinting back to the station along the inadequate cycle path in time for trains to London.
A good four-day trip with time to savour the Belgian North Sea Coast, to look at the Belgian front line, have an excellent evening out in Gent, and scope the Ypres Salient and the Menin Gate. Brugge a scrum, but otherwise superbly set up for bike touring: excellent cycle paths, bike friendly hotels.
