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Published: October 11th 2017
After a difficult day yesterday where the French socialists hampered our progress, we started off behind schedule today but Chiel did a great job playing catch up. We were woken to the throb of diesel as Chiel negotiated the now functioning locks and made progress towards Tournai. We disembarked at 10.00am where Elodie was due to take on fuel. We covered the final 8km to Tournai in good time and Henry very kindly gave us an hour to explore this wonderful town.
We really enjoyed Tournai and the cathedral, undergoing a massive renovation, is truly a work of art and will be well worth a return visit after 2020 when it is complete.
It didn't take some of our group long to realize that we were now in Belgium and that means chocolate and waffles!!! (Thank you Kerrie and Mike for our treat after dinner tonight).
After Tournai, we were faced with a long ride, mostly along the canal paths, to make our goal of the brewery at Oudenaarde by 3.30pm. Fortunately, we had tail winds and made excellent time. We arrived in Oudenaarde early enough for a quick visit to the town centre and still get to
Cathedral
Tournai
It might be shrouded in scaffolding but the beauty still shone throughthe brewery by 3.30pm.
We had been warned by Henry about the idiosyncrasies of Hector, the brewery tour guide, which proved to be remarkably accurate, my dears. The tour was incredibly informative and very amusing. What Henry had not made totally clear was how free the beer would flow after the tour. How sad we were when we were informed that Elodie wouldn't arrive until 6.30pm. This meant we had to drink more beer!!
Stats for the day: 52km on the bikes (our backsides can attest to that). Far too much beer consumed.
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