Beer, chocolates and cheese!

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Geo: 51.2946, 3.19955

Today we were supposed to cycle 53km on a round trip via De Haan on the coast and through more rural scenery. What seemed like a grand plan last night over a couple of bottles of "ZOT" beer at the local cafe/pizzeria evaporated this morning as we creaked down to breakfast.

My chances of staying on "to bring in the harvest" diminish further as "Mr Van Damme"
makes another smug appearance.....this time patting Helen of Troys knee in front of us! He is about 35 freshly divorced and looks a little too comfortable in the cosy domestic new set up. In my opinion, has a life expectancy of about 9 months with our hostess. She wears the trousers and calls the shots big time me thinks.

"I think the car battery may go flat if we don't use it" I pipe up.......a lame excuse but Cathy took the bait and the bikes were rusting fast as we set off towards Zeebrugge and the coast in the car. What took 1 hour yesterday was covered in about 30 seconds!

Belgian seaside towns are slightly surreal affairs with well healed "euro fogies" strolling around well kept promenades and peering into shops selling strange knick knacks. The same types pile into rather plush restaurants at around 1130 and consume vast plates of moules and frites washed down with Vin Blanc. All the women seem to have the same legs: brown, longish and slightly muscly (from all the cycling). It is a different world and although probably only 75 miles from the Kent Coast as the crow flies there are no signs of "Kent Man" who can be seen "flobbing" around the back streets of Ramsgate "burping" his way out of KFC and into the local pub. These are true "Poirot" types who are built for a leisurely life. I really do not know how they manage to keep the lifestyle up financially. In in UK we are busting our backsides to stand still whilst this lot are all driving around in new cars and sipping beer. NOT FAIR!

We are held up at a swing bridge crossing near Zeebrugge whilst a couple of enormous ships pass through a canal in front of us. Amazing to see the whole structure in action!!

Then off to beautiful Bruges. Stuffed with tourists (not ourselves of course) walking at half pace. Picking up more cycling maps from the Tourist Info we head back to "our supermarket" just to make sure we have enough beer, cheese and chocolates.

"OOOHHH LOOK - MUSTARD! "....."OOOOOH LOOK - PASTA! " - "OOOH LOOK KNORR STOCK CUBES!" Cathy excitedly announces each exotic product as we pass dutifully down the isles. The trolly is filling with all sorts of unusual products such as "Heinz Butter Beans" and "tinned olives". I think there is some sort of shopping regression therapy available for this behaviour. I can only put it down to limited supplies in New Zealand. In every country we have visiting together from Calcutta to Fiji, she sniffs out the must mundane product such as cheese triangles or tinned tuna and treats them like it is the first time she has ever come across them. In this instance, it was Mustard. Mustard you can find in the most small town corner shops in the UK. SHE HAD TO BUY IT! Running out of purchase ideas she suddenly announces that we need "DRIED MUSHROOMS".The whole reason we came to Belgium....of course silly me.....as she rushes off to ask some poor shelf stacker where they can be found. In Helsinki she dug out the Deputy Manager of dried foods to find the "SPECIAL SALT FOR SPRINKLING ON FISH" or was it the "CHOCOLATES" only found in Finland...........

Tomorrow is our last day here but we are well stocked up.......

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