We left Antwerp - and the day seemed to go like this crazy bike we saw riding off - wacky, ridiculous, but still funny and adventurous...
1. To get out of the city we had to use this crazy fanicular/tunnel/lift thing to get under the river - it was so incredible, and so wacky - I cannot believe how much they invest in cycling infrastructure in this country, for Aussies it's unbelievable
Waiting on the queue for the lift
2. We are now following a cycling path route for the first time - all this time we've been choosing our path and Mike has navigated for us, but now we are following the "Schelderoute" path to Roubaix, so just need to follow the signs and arrows - easy peasy. And after getting out of the industrial part of Antwerp, the cycling is so beautiful and easy, and lots of people are out there either bird watching on bikes, strolling on bikes, or time trialling on bikes - but there are no cafes or facilities along the route, which is sorta weird and unexpected. So on Upside Down Day, we stopped, pulled out all the snacks we had and just ate them all - lollies, apples, old fusty crackers...
Mike is eating chooclate on top of fusty cracker
Beautiful scenery interlude
3. Major Accommodation fuck up (sorry about the language, but it's warranted) - we booked some accommodation at our 3.30pm food stop (great restaurant), a local dude's attic, perfect location for our path - we rolled in at 5.30pm ready for a good shower, good feed (we'd gotten supplies at local supermarket), really cute location, amazingly pretty ride, and we waited. And waited. And waited. By 7pm, and after 5 voice mail messages, and two emails to the owner, we had to find somewhere else. We'd now done about 37km for the day and were knackered. So, after a few phone calls, we found a place 5km away... YAY! So off we went. Dirt tracks. Wrong way. Go back. Getting darker. Made it to hotel about 8.30pm. Showered. Roses to bed. The rest of us needed a drink. So off we went.
4. Trying to get back into our hotel fuck up (sorry again for the language) - after a lovely wind down at the local pub, we headed back to our room around 11pm. Keycard and code needed to get back in. Didn't work. Couldn't open the door. No reception - closed at 10pm. No-one to call. Couldn't get back in. Tiny quiet town. Cold. Roses asleep upstairs - didn't want to wake her. Roses texted (bizarre coincidence), knew she was awake. Roses comes downstairs to let us in. Phew. Roses saved the day.
A very strange day for all of us.
Still smiling. And laughing.
Cody and Roses took it all in their stride and kept marching on.
Local people very friendly - the people across from the place we were waiting outside offered us their backyard to camp in, and if they weren't heading off to Brussels that night we could have stayed on their sofas! So nice.
The adventure continues.
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