Sint-Anna

Tuesday August 30th
In Which I Catch a Red Faced Bike Thief Red Handed

There is little doubt that, when planning a six week bike ride across Europe, we will encounter every type of weather along the way. When you are a cyclist you must continue to ride in both fair weather and foul. While some are content to cocoon themselves away in air conditioned buses, the long distance rider has no such defense against the elements. The upside of this is that there really is nothing quite as sublime as cycling alongside a river in the early morning, when the sun is still low in the sky and the air as fresh and clear as crystal.

Once again we awoke to a perfect morning. Although my backside was still very tender from riding on an unfamiliar fat bike seat I was keen to get rolling. I wheeled my bike to a suitable start position and waited while the rest of the peloton formed around me. Soon we were all raring to start. Tom lead out and the rest of the yellow shirted riders lined up behind in a long conga line

I had decided to take up a position near the rear but, before I could start, I could hear Gerry was not happy. "Where is my bike?" he called as he was getting increasingly more anxious. It looked like someone had been at the bikes during the night and stolen one of them. Not a great start to the day I thought. I rode around the vicinity helping Gerry search for his bike, but it could not be found anywhere. Fortunately there was still another (presumably spare) bike remaining in the car park. "What number is that one ?" I asked Gerry. "Number 27", was his reply.

Number 27, Number 27, why did that sound familiar ? Probably because it was the number of my bike. To my utter shame I discovered that I had been merrily riding around on Gerry's missing bike, helping him look for the thief. I swapped bikes, trying to pretend that I had done it on purpose for a joke, but it was not my brightest moment. The morning had already gotten off to a less perfect start when I was too slow to grab a roll from the basket and then had to set off without any lunch. Maybe I was still in the middle of a sulk when I picked the wrong bike.
Finally Gerry was astride the correct bike (and I was back on mine) and we set off in pursuit of the rest of the group.

The first few kilometres wound back and forth along the meandering river bank. The sunshine gradually dispelled the chill of the evening and all were in very high spirits as we chatted and pedaled our way along.

A short distance along we came to riverside sanctuary where there was a shrine to the Virgin Mary. It was surrounded by a peaceful cool haven of shady trees and flowers. A small booklet allowed riders and walkers to record their prayer requests. Another feature of this lovely place was an outdoor toilet behind a 1 metre high screen. It was possible to take a relaxing "comfort break" sitting here surrounded by the beauty of nature. Rome might have the Sistine Chapel but only Belgium has the Cistern Chapel.

Our lunch stop was a large outdoor rest area where we met quite a number of fellow cyclists from other bike/barge tours. David was a little appalled when he discovered that the Gent's toilet was an open urinal where all the passing ladies could walk by only a few feet away from the men passing. The embarrassment was so much that he found that he could not get nature to take its course. In fact his bladder only decided to fully release its contents a couple of minutes after he had hitched up his shorts. Life is like that sometimes.

Our destination for the day was the large city of Antwerp.

Although it does have some older sections, it certainly could not be called a Medieval City. Many of the sections were obviously only constructed quite recently. It appeared to a relatively clean city but I could not help but feel that it was a little too austere for my liking.

We spent a couple of hours exploring the city centre before riding the short distance to our boat which was moored in the nearby huge port. This short ride was made all the more interesting by the fact that it took us directly through the red light district. Even in the mid afternoon all the shop fronts and doorways were occupied by scantily clad young (and some not so young) women trying to sell themselves to passersby. A somewhat sad side to life in the big city.

That evening we all dispersed to various restaurants around the harbour area. It was a beautiful warm evening and a wonderful opportunity to get to know some of our fellow travelers better. It had been a terrific day, even with the less than perfect start.Read more