The rooster that crowed all yesterday evening started up very early again this morning!! It woke me at about 5.00am unfortunately and I really didn't sleep again after than - just dozed a bit. With a few locks to get through today the Elodie actually sailed while we were eating breakfast. Sander is the deck hand as well as the chef and he did an excellent job assisting Zac through the locks and feeding us at the same time! After we had cleared two (or was it three?) locks, Zac moored the barge and we all disembarked quickly so that the Elodie could continue on her way. She had a lot more distance to cover today on the river than we had to cycle on the road. Today we crossed the border into France. If Nina ... read more

Overcast again this morning!! So, with wet weather gear on - just in case - we continued our ride upstream along the Schelde/Escaut to the south and southwest. Once we rode out of Ghent (and before we rode into Oudenaarde), today's ride was an easy one along towpaths and through more farmland, a few villages and the occasional piece of forest. We arrived in Oudenaarde, the capital of Flemish Ardennen, at about 2.30pm. We beat the Elodie into town again!! With an hour to kill before our brewery tour some of the group went to the tapestry museum situated on the canal and the rest of us rode into town. After meeting up with the Elodie and very quickly loading our bikes, we rushed over the footbridge over the canal for our 3.30pm tour of the ... read more

This morning the weather has taken a turn for the worse. It is a bit cooler than it has been for the last three days and a bit wet!! Not to be deterred by a bit of drizzle, we headed off to do a canal boat tour. We bought our tickets and just missed out on getting straight onto a boat. After waiting patiently for about 20 minutes with no-one else turning up, we were taken on a private canal boat tour!! A private tour is worth €207.00, but we only paid the standard price of €6.90 per ticket. How lucky is that?! Next we bought some Tia Maria that we tracked down in an 'English' bottle shop/tobacconist yesterday on our way to the Beguinage. Coffee liqueur has been really hard to find in Belgium!! After ... read more

After a delicious breakfast served to us in our room overlooking the canal, we headed into the Markt planning to climb the Belfort (the bell tower featured in the movie 'In Bruges'). The Belfort opens at 9.30am so, by 10.30am when we arrived, there was quite a queue! Since we don't have to do this today we decided to try for an earlier start tomorrow morning and, hopefully, a shorter queue. From the Markt we ventured around to the Burg where the Basilica of the Holy Blood, a Roman Catholic minor basilica, is located. The upper chapel of the church houses the venerated relic of the Holy Blood. The upper chapel was rebuilt in the Gothic style during the 16th century and renovated a number of times during the 19th century in Gothic Revival style. It ... read more

This morning's breakfast was strictly 'Continental' - pain au raisin, pain au chocolat, croissants, bread rolls, sliced bread and cheese and jam. What a carb overload!! Fortunately there was a fruit bowl so we managed to eat something that wasn't bread or pastry!! Although a little bit cool today, it is mainly sunny and fine. We headed towards the Grand Place via the local open air food market in St Catherine Place. The Church of St Catherine was shrouded in scaffolding and cloth undergoing a major cleaning and restoration so we couldn't really see what it looks like ... apart from very big! Our next stop was The Bourse, the old Brussels Stock Exchange building, which is located on Boulevard Anspach. The Brussels Stock Exchange was founded in Brussels by Napoleonic decree in 1801. This building, ... read more