Blogs from Oudenaarde, East Flanders, Belgium, Europe

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 ... 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