FNRttKust 2017

This time last week we were all making our way to Brussels.  Except for Claud.  Claud's train never left Swindon.  That was a great shame.  Claud was wearing Lion of Flanders cycling socks and everything!

I made my way to Brussels with the help of my sister Kris who drove my bike and I to Lichtervelde train station.  Me not finding my lock was on my mind, and Kris suggested we visit the local bike shop - there was plenty of time.  I'm pleased we did.  Not only was I able to buy a lock, I had a good laugh with the owner and stepped back in time 30 years.

"Hooglede velomaker"

He made a couple of philosophical statements, like 'you can buy a bike in every sweetshop, but you can't buy sweets in a bike shop'.  Or did I mis-hear that?  His point was that bike shops are disappearing.  Well, if you are in Hooglede (which is near Gits), you might like to pop in before this one disappears.  You can't buy sweets, but you can buy pots and pans and have your dry cleaning done to boot.

Kris left me in good spirits and totally up for the ride, the fifth and final edition of the Flemish Night Ride to the Kust.   Once in Brussels, after a super fast train journey, I was even more smiley as I saw Tintin and Snowy popping up from behind some buildings.

Kuifje and Bobbie

I made my way to the Grand Place and had my customary waffle with strawberries and a hot chocolate. Yum!  It didn't take long for Fridays to arrive.

The Fridays!

We left at 11PM as planned - amazing!   We were lead out by our Brussels specialist BalkanExpress.  The Eddy Merckx factory was a photo opportunity not to be missed.  At Groot Bijgaarden we were joined, as planned, by Frank, a local randonneur and friend of the Fridays.

It was a quiet night. We had no mechanicals, no rain and no headwind.  The most noise we heard was being shouted at in Aalst, as usual.  No, not as usual, more than usual!  I had told Frank that we usually get shouted at and he replied 'just shout back'!  So we did, and the punters loved it.  Think I heard an 'Allez Eddy'.

Some of the more unusual experiences were being stopped by a hedgehog (makes a change from the kangaroos)

It's a hedgehog!! (photo by deckertim)

and yorkshire preferring to walk the route than cycle it.

yorkshire

The middle of the night stop is at only 60km, so we can't be hallucinating yet.  But when you enter our hosts' house and see the tables 'groaning with food' as StuAff put it, you think you have arrived for something more wonderful than a mad cyclists tea party in an 'Alice in Wonderland'  kind of world.  I wanted to try everything and began regretting eating that waffle in Brussels!

Thank you sooooo much!!

Yorkshire was sure that this stop was overhyped, but 'it turns out to be quite the opposite' she said.  There was soup, two types of soup, quiches, three types of quiches, croissants, three types of croissants, chocolates, lemon cake, brownies, bread, cheese, ham, fruit, yoghurt ....

And then we left holding a take-away bag with more of the home-made yumminess.

On to Bruges, making good time, even ahead of time.  This is going swimmingly.

Smedenpoort - Bruges (photo by deckertim)

I love the stretch between Bruges and Ostende.  That's when the sun comes through.

However it's also the stretch and the time of day when Sunday cyclists come out for their training.  I want to emphasise that cycling clubs in Belgium are at the top of the pecking order.  They have priority over everything and everybody.  You see, amongst them will be the future Tour de France winner.  So if they want to go four abreast whilst we hug the path edge, single file, then that is what needs to happen.  Don't fight it, let the future Tour de France winner and his entourage do his thing.

There is no point being annoyed at the road works either, is there.  But I must admit that I was ggrrr'd to find the smooth tarmac of the 'Groendreef' dug up.  We were nearly there and I had visualised sailing into Ostende, through the park, onto the esplanade ... Never mind, it's not too much hardship really.  Just like club cyclists on the tow path, we should expect some road works somewhere along our 143km route.  It's 142 now, yet again a couple of kinks have been removed, thanks to Frank's advice.

Going along the esplanade was a treat.  That is proper Ostende.

Ostende (photo by deckertim)

Caruso didn't disappoint either.  What a breakfast!

Sums it up.

So that was the fifth and final FNRttKust.  There are options for next year.   It could even be self running.  Date, time and location is known, people could just turn up. There is the 24 't Hoekske in Gent and the Bruges station break is convenient enough.  In Ostende, there are plenty of options.  Caruso was initially chosen because they open at 7AM - not that we ever got there at that time!  

Thanks to everybody who has joined and contributed to the FNRttK ride over the last five years - it went from strength to strength.  The last version has been billed 'the best ever'. It certainly was the longest, ETA was spot on for the first time, had the most riders, we ate the most food and had the least mechanicals.  It will be hard not to turn up next year ...

Photos are here: Photos
Photos by Tim: Photos by Tim

FNRttKust 2016

Night rides are always an adventure. An adventure more for some than for others. The tandem riders, R and S, had the best share of it having to deal with a longer (3 hours) and longer (5 hours) delay at the Eurotunnel. They pulled out all the stops to get to Brussels. BalkanExpress was a hero in assisting them with options for parking/riding/meeting us. The Eurostar travellers got a potential delay fright also but were not affected. And this year, it was Gordon who had the pre-ride puncture. My 9 minute train delay is not worth mentioning.

No, my real sense of adventure came when a police car strolled along side us. 'Titus!', I was screaming in my head. Titus is our own Friday bobby, but Titus couldn't make the ride this time. I was aware that not all of us were wearing hi-viz vests, we were not always sticking to the cycle paths, what else? Are flashing lights allowed, are they mounted too high, too low? We're all going to get arrested. Instead of cycling all night, we'll spend the night in a police station. Weak tea ... no, coffee in a paper cup. I thought all this in a flash, when the police man wound down the window, smiled and said in English: 'One of your riders has a broken chain'. Oh, is that all! A chain breaking is one of the more 'advanced' mechanicals you can have on the road, but now, it didn't matter. It also doesn't matter when you have chain repairer extra-ordinaire mmmmartin taking charge. Well done mmmmartin on doing the allegedly impossible which is to fix an 11 speed chain with a 10 speed chain link.

Chain repair about to begin

We left Brussels later than planned, but that didn't matter either. We were all present. I texted our middle of the night hosts to say we're setting off an hour late and after getting a reply of 'no worries', the ride could begin. Hurrah!

Let's go!

I really, really enjoyed the event. This was helped by hearing re-assuring comments of appreciation during the ride. I was worried how the towpath detour near Aalst would be perceived. I don't mind going off-track when I'm on my own, but in the company of others, I go a little twitchy. But I should never have, BalkanExpress, John and others were at hand to put us right and nobody seemed bothered.

That was the point where I relaxed my shoulders and thought what a wonderful team effort this ride is. Everybody puts energy into logistics, the bikes, the route, the riding, and, maybe unwittingly, the atmosphere. I guess that's the spirit of the Fridays!



The Fridays!

After Karen said "See you next year", and several people mentioning they've already put next year's date in the diary, I now can't wait for the 2017 edition, which will be the 5th anniversary.

For that I have a grand Ostende finale planned. Well, grand-ish! Although I think the Oosteroever and ferry option was better than going the ongoing-road-works and tramline-plenty way, I have a third option in mind. I'll do a recce. If it doesn't work out, we'll stick with the ferry (with optional Fort Napoleon and sea view detour).

The North Sea

The other optional detour we'll factor in, is the Bruges scenic tour. It appears that the 'kletsekoppen' are not everybody's cup of coffee, especially when you're on a tandem. Going through tourist free Bruges is a unique experience, but you certainly don't have to risk your upright position for it.

In my mind it was a mild night, but in reality it wasn't. It was a bit nippy. But no rain! Ten days earlier the forecast was for 9 hours of rain. We didn't have a drop of it, although something was falling out of the sky when we went past the Aalst brewery.

'It's better than my Christmas' replied John after I likened Karen and David's table setup to Christmas. A three course meal we had, with cutlery to match! That asparagus and pea quiche was superb! So was the soup, and the humus, and the cake... The fact that, as vegetarians, they even bought ham for us, shows to what extend they cater for us. Very generous and absolutely splendid. We can't thank them enough!

Anyone for spiced pumpkin soup?

We leave replenished for the longer than you think Gent-Brugge stretch. I'm going to give up on worrying about the Bruges stop also. We'll time the ride to go to the posh Carpe Diem tea rooms for 7AM, if we're later, then we'll go to the quicker Panos at the station.



Perfect for a quick stop - but loos are 'normally' closed till 9AM

The night was topped off with an amazing sunrise. The sun over the misty canal always makes for good photos.

R & S' observations on the cycling behaviour on the towpaths prompts me to add a few notes on this. You know that coureurs are god in Belgium. And club cyclist are pretty high in the pecking order. They own the road and in our case the towpath. I kept shouting out when cyclists were coming our way, but I also kept looking behind me to see if everybody was ok. It can be scary when they race through us.  But you can't tame the proud Flemish cycling lions. Best we stick to single file and hold our breath on that stretch, when the Sunday morning club runs are happening.  Still, R & S got the last laugh when the tandem engineered a free ride with the Maes fiets club.

Spot the tandem

Here's to a fantastic edition of the FNRttKust. I was pleased to hear everybody who was going home, got home OK, and everybody who was continuing their journey got on their way.

Sante! Well done everybody!

The rest of the photos are here: MyPhotos

Flemish NRttKust 2014

The first May Bank Holiday is one of my favourite weekends of the year.  It involves going over to Belgium to see my family and celebrate my mum's birthday.

Happy Birthday meim!

After only the second year running, the weekend will now always be associated with the Flemish Night Ride to the Kust also.    

Brussels to Ostend via Ghent and Bruges

The 140km route from Brussels to Ostend via Ghent and Bruges was a dream to cycle.  Only a few cobbles and a stretch of unsurfaced towpath interrupted the smooth sailing tarmac route through quiet villages and medieval capitals.  

The 'rough' section

Seven of us, lead out by BalkanExpress, formed a companionable group where each looked out for each other, helped out with navigation, pointed out kangaroos, spoke French, Flemish and a little English.

We were blown away by the hospitality of our hosts at the middle of the night stop.  Lost for words we were, a thank you doesn't seem to do the trick.

Hard to leave ....

My sister surprised us again, with a seemingly effortless ride on her hybrid bike.

Flandrienne

She was invaluable in pointing out local traffic signal quirks, including that we were standing in the middle of the road rather than on the square in Bruges.

Middle of the road

Once in Ostend, we were spoilt for choice again at patisserie CarusO (just noticed that the O is in upper case).  mmmmartin lead the way saying that the 'petit dejeuner copieux' is the only way to go: orange juice, yoghurt, white roll, brown roll, ham, cheese, coffee/tea/milk chocolate, all sorts of spreads and scrambled egg to boot.   I hope we do this trip again, then I'll try their speciality called 'Misérables'.  I hadn't heard of this before despite the claim it's a Belgian classic.

Patisserie CarusO

It was time to part our ways, and my sister and I went over to the beach where we found it very quiet and inviting despite the number of people around.  It would have been nice to sit and soak up the atmosphere for a while.  Instead we cycled over to the station, bought our tickets and boarded our train.  

A big thank you to all involved, especially our wonderful hosts for getting up in the middle of the night to feed us.  There was no mistaking we had reached the correct house as the candles and string lights were drawing us in.  The door opened to a table laid out with an abundance of soup, croissants, cake, biscuits, bread, tea, coffee, juices ....  just wonderful.

This was a amazing, 'treasurable', night carried out in Fridays' spirits of the highest order.

Karl Marx was here 1847

Flemish NRttKust

The pictures tell the story: here

Do you know what a Flandrien is?  It's a cyclist who rides until he can't remember his own name, somebody who is silent, never complains, has enormous physical strength and perseverance.  Flemish people like to think they're natural born Flandriens. I'd like to add that if you come off your bike, pick yourself up and continue to ride, then that would be a characteristic of a Flandrien also. So with that I'm going to award something very special, it's the unique Friday Foreign Flandrien award and it goes to Susie.  Who wouldn't be proud of a triple F status?  By the way, Wiggins won the International Flandriens award last year, he was born in Belgium after all ...

There was a wonderful photo of the start of De Ronde Van Vlaanderen, in Ghent 1930, in the 100 year celebratory magazine of Het Nieuwsblad (March 2013).  It shows the peloton on a tramlined,  cobblestoned road.  Shame I can't find the picture online.

Those tramlines are still there, and they'll be a feature of the safety talk at next year's Flemish NRttKust.  Mind you, we'll be avoiding tram lines at all cost.  At least until we reach the coast.  Because on the coast, is the longest tram line in the world, as researched by mmmmartin.

Maybe that is what we should do?  Maybe we should ride to Knokke.  That could make us ride just north of Ghent.  And people wanting to get the tram would get full value of the longest tram line in the world, as researched by mmmmartin.  Knokke also has train connections back to Brussels and would be closer for the Delftse Posts amongst us.

Finding a middle of the night stop might be harder mind.

For the middle of the night stop, we could fill my sister Kris' pannier bags with pastries and coffee/tea flasks.  I had given here a lecture along the lines of 'don't come kitted out for a trek to Kazakhstan'.  But, my goodness, she do so well!  Never cycled that distance, never cycled at night, brand new bike, recovered from a back injury only days before.  Kept up with everybody, took wonderful photos, contributed to navigation.  I apologise to her for my sense of humour failure as she brightly suggested we cycle the scenic route home from the local train station, on the way back.  I feel so bad, but yep, my sense of humour had gone.  I felt battered and shattered and only wanted to get home as quickly as possible.  I'm very pleased for my sister that she enjoyed herself.  I think she might just have come out tops with her bike taking all the curbs, bumps, cobblestones and tram lines on the way.  She went to work on Monday and felt none the worse for the night ride.  Just amazing.

Other thoughts of the weekend:

• Kris and I sitting outside on La Grande Place eating waffles was great
• No rain during the ride
• No mechanicals
• Hearing cuckoos a couple of times
• The little plover (? I think) in Ostend
• Cycling through Bruges was absolutely wonderful.  I was so in awe that I didn't take any photos.  We were already tired by then, and hunting for break stop was priority.  But next time (if we go through Bruges again), we should wonder around more.  Seeing Bruges empty can be fully appreciated if you've been to Bruges on a typical touristy day.
• The many professional looking cycling groups going at great speed along the canal.  I would hold my breath in as two opposing groups were crossing ... just next to us.
• Hearing the word posh so often (???)
• Celebrating my mum's birthday
• Coming home (Hanwell), parking, opening the door and hearing a 'YESsssss' from several houses along the street.  A moment later, an even bigger cheer was heard.  The first Yes, was Brentford saving a penalty, the second Yes, was Brentford scoring the winning penalty goal.  The Bees are going to Wembley and I'm going too!  
• The a low of the news that my parents pet sheep died on the Monday, 16 years old she was
• The high of my dynamo light with USB port arriving
• The sky high of bumping into V for Vengadetta at work, who told me about his plans on making electronic shifters for somebody who needs both left and right on the same panel.  Just brilliant and inspiring

What could be improved?

• Definitive route.  Contrary to what mmmmartin thinks, I'm no good navigator.  I do have a good sense for when I'm lost, which is most of the time.  
• More scenic route.  The Gentsesteenweg may not need many waymarkers, but there is a lot of sameness.  I love a warts 'n all route, and you do get that when mapping the most direct route between A and B.  I've seen Belgium now, like I have never before!  
• We'll have scope for a seaside breakfast place, since the ride takes longer than expected, more places will be open
• Meet at the station? Cycle through the Grote Markt together?

I loved the company and appreciated the team work.  I'm already looking forward to next year.  There is some great feedback (max 20 riders is a good call from BalkanExpress).  mmmmartin could be our transport correspondent, BalkanExpress could be the Brussels - Ghent guru, and my sister and I will explore Ghent to the coast.