Biking in Belgium

Our first full day in Bruges, we awoke to clouds and some light rain. We had planned to rent bikes, but now we weren’t sure. We hemmed and hawed over breakfast. “Maybe it will be nicer tomorrow.” “But what if it’s worse?” We decided that although it was cloudy, the weather was still sufficient for a bike ride. For 6 Euro we rented bikes from our hostel. The man at the reception table gave us a good route which took us to Holland, the North Sea, and back. Off we went!

Biking on cobblestones is harder that it looks. Europeans make it seem so easy. It’s quite uncomfortable, but if you can get over the constant jostling, the scenery is quite nice. Soon enough we were on pavement and really cruising. Before leaving the center of Bruges, we stopped to check out some windmills.

A little info on the bike paths in Belgium: Imagine standard farm fields with dirt roads connecting them. Now pave them. This made up about 30% of the paths we took on our ride. Now add some canals as main thoroughfares, a few country roads with bike lanes, small gravel paths, and narrow off-road paths connecting everything. Each stretch of path/road had a number marking it. All we had to do was follow the signs for each next stretch of path, which were generally well marked. It was a very smart system and it made our bike trip very easy to navigate.

The beginning of the trip started with a long stretch of bike path next to a long tree-lined canal. Occasionally, we’d pass a small town, or a lone house. Parts of it felt suburban—but you know, in a European suburban kind of way. Soon enough it felt like we were in the middle of nowhere—farm fields as far as the eye could see. Eventually, our route took us on gravel roads that snaked between marshland and cornfields, fields of uprooted onions, wildflowers, lush green grass, amazing Seuss-like trees, countless cows, stunning horses, baah-ing goats and sheep, and geese bathing themselves in backyards. It was wonderful. It was a cool, crisp Sunday, which made us think of fall Sundays in Minnesota—opening up the windows and letting the cool air float in, curling up and watching the Vikings (lose) and drinking a cider or beer, or both. But never mind that—we are in Belgium! Onward we biked.

Eventually we biked into a Sluis, Holland and had a nice cheap lunch on a patio. Sluis is a small town with quite a lot of tourists. Crowded streets, filled patios, paddleboat rides--Sluis had it going on!

Eventually, we hopped on our bikes and headed to the North Sea. After a couple of hours, we reached the Knokke-Heist area. From what we could tell, it is a wealthy beach town with country clubs, golf courses, and a lot of HUGE (and seemingly) empty mansions. As we got closer to the beach, the buildings got taller and denser. Much like the U.S., the shore was lined with beach condos, but these buildings still had their own unique Belgian flare.

It was insanely windy on the beach, so we didn’t stick around for long. We walked down to the water to stick our hands in the North Sea, pick up a few shells, and admire the view which included many wind turbines installed beyond the shoreline.

We were already pretty tired by the time we headed back to Bruges. I was nervous that the ride back would be a shilthorn like experience—grueling and never ending. The further we got from the coast, the less windy it became, and the more pleasant the biking. Within an hour or so, we were biking back into Bruges city center ready for a beer!