Cycling Western Europe
Day 7: July 5, 2007 (Brugge to Ostend, Be)
Route: Brugge - De Haan - Ostend
Weather: cloudy(AM); sunny (PM)
Total mileage: 40 miles

Oops . . . well, today didn't go as planned. In fact, it went rather wrong, but not to worry because this entire vacation has been a serious of random events and spur of the moment decisions.

Planned to leave Brugge early this morning to head west toward the coast and find a ferry back to England either in the evening or following morning. At breakfast, I met a Dutch family with two young kids who are riding through Belgium together. The parents are kind of "off their rocker" (you have to be to do a week-long cycling trip with two children) and the kids are adorable. The whole family is crazy fit and have loaded up touring bikes. The young boy of 10 has a tent strapped to the back of his, and the parents take turns pulling a small carriage with supplies. Hilarious! I decided that I will be doing that with my family some day: "Come on kids. Another cycling trip through Europe (or Asia or Africa or whatever)." Hehehehe. So, after chatting with them a bit over Coco Puffs and talking about our routes, we set off on our separate ways (me to the north and them to the south).

Ended up leaving around 10am and headed along one of the local cycle paths to the coast. It was a great ride in the morning through small villages and farms again. I stopped at a little local pub for lunch (had crepes and tea), where a few other local cyclists were hanging out drinking beer. Seemed that everyone was out riding that morning. I then eventually found my way to De Haan, a small town along the coast in Belgium between France and Holland, hoping to find out about ferries and/or hostels for the night. At one point, I got lost and ended up riding circles around this one rural area with no sign, houses, or people to be seen. Not to worry, though, I had my trusty compass that directed me southwest to Ostend (the port town) where I had heard there were daily ferries to and from Ramsgate, England. Alas, I saw signs to Ostend and headed into the town centre (always a good place to go if one needs information).

More history:
Ostend, spelled "Oostende" in Dutch/Flemish (pronounced in English as "Austin" but with an "end" instead of an "in"), means "east-end" (sort of how it sounds) and was once located on the east side of a small island off the coast of Belgium. Once the sea began working it's way back, Ostend became part of the mainland and Belgium's new northern port city. Eventually, when the Antwerp ports closed down in the 1700s, Ostend took over as Belgium's central harbor, busy with trade and tourist traffic. Recently, it was become one of the major ferry points between England and Europe along the northwestern coast (the others are Dunkerque and Calais, France).

I have to say, however, that the culture and social scene in Ostend is strange. This is probably due to the continuous tourist and trade traffic that goes through the city, but I was not really into being there. Aside from th seafood dinner that I had (complete with "chips"--french fries--and mayonnaise, the European way), there wasn't much else to do. The downfall of my day was when I went to the tourist info office to ask about ferry transport to England that evening and was told that the Ostend boats are only car ferries, they don't take foot passengers or bikes. Damn! That messed up my plans, so I got a room at some local inn (for $40!) and decided to get up early again the next morning to make my way west along the coast toward Dunkerque (or Dunkirk in English), France where I was told there was a ferry across the English Channel.

I was starting to get a bit miffed with all the contradicting information I was getting from different people, though. It seems that some tourist info people don't actually know what they are talking about. I had been told by someone in Brugge that I could take the ferry from Ostend, but apparently not. How utterly annoying! Again, no worries. I didn't need to see the opening ceremony of the Tour anyway. What matters is the Prologue on Saturday.

After a supper of mussels and chips (like I said) along with gelato for dessert, it was off to bed in my own room with a real, high-pressured, hot shower!!!!!!!!!!