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Published: October 13th 2017
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The home stretch!! Ghent to Bruges. No hills, well almost, hey Henry??
Chiel stole the show at the start of the day when he insisted on showing us not once, but twice, how clever he was at manoeuvring Elodie out of tight spots. (I think the university students were having too much fun in O week so they decided to relocate one of our life rings)
After we negotiated the tight canals coming out of Ghent and reached our drop off spot we faced an easy 47km, mostly along canal paths, with the requisite patisserie at morning tea time and a pleasant lunch spot (with bonus café close by). At one stage we were matching our speed with a power boat, which was ok, except it shattered the peace of the canal.
The highlight of the day (apart from the final arrival at Bruges) was the stop at the bike museum. A stranger collection of unusual bikes, you will never find. I would try and describe them to you but a picture tells a thousand words so please see attached photos. What the photos don't show is some of the antics members of our team got up to
- the beer bike pedaled furiously by Kerrie, Ian, Jenny and Kathy without a beer in sight; Brian, Jenny and Vicki's massive spill on the tri-shore; Ian's attempt to ride the bike with the tractor tires or the host's out-of-tune song on the bike drums. A great deal of fun was had, without too many serious injuries!!
The absolute highlight of the day was when Elodie hove into view as we approached Bruges. Never a prettier sight has been seen!! Our backsides were mightily relieved when we dismounted for the final time and, although we were delighted to complete the ride, we were a little sad that our holiday is coming to an end.
After a celebratory drink on the upper deck and much hugs and high fives, we took a stroll through a very busy Bruges (bloody tourists - not us, we are locals - our home is just down the road).
Our final dinner onboard was another sensory extravaganza with a delicious carrot soup, duck with potato au gratin, followed by crepe suzette. It is going to be so hard to go back to 'normal' meals (no offence Jenny, but you know what I mean).
The merry band of riders...
...in the early morning light Some celebratory speeches were made and there was much gay banter between guests and crew. We presented the crew with some liquid refreshments and Henry, our patient and good humoured guide, with his "No Hills Henry" shirt.
We will spend tomorrow roaming around Bruges (it is forecast to be a balmy 23C) and will meet up as a group for dinner tomorrow evening. Unfortunately, Vicki and Pru have to leave tomorrow afternoon so our group is starting to disintegrate, in a physical sense, but, I am sure, that we will remain bound by the fond memories of our time together on Elodie.
Total bike riding distance for the trip: 498.2km. Let's call it a round 500k's in 11 days. Not bad for a bunch of baby boomers with mixed biking experience (some with very little!!). This distance is the equivalent (or close to) of riding from Sydney to Holbrook down the Hume highway, or Port Macquarie to the Gold Coast or, for us Western Australians, from Perth almost to Kalbarri. Now the challenge for us all is to keep up the riding when we return to our largely sedentary lives back home. Good luck and happy pedaling!!
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