Today is Brugge and Ghent day. Train rides with bikes to Brugge and then a bike ride to Ghent and train back again. The day is looking good, sunny and warmer than yesterdays over cast and cool day off. The train travel is getting quite comfy, not totally but good. Metro from Porte de Namur station a few blocks from us to Gare de Midi where the regional and national trains stop. Onto a regional train to get the Brugge. Google maps gets us to the center of the old town, lots of students and others just enjoying the day. We find a pleasant open air cafe area, lots to pick from, and order some coffees, waffles and panokokuen. Fueled and ready we meander around and find our way out-of-town. Great ride that mostly follows a canal all the way to Ghent and our first stop, Plum Bicycle shop. (A Bob Williams suggestion) Big shop, we find the owner and tell him Bob sent us and we then get the full tour including the basement full of old classic bicycles and other cycling related gear. Fun stuff. A free Plum Cycling store cap for each of us and we are back to riding into the center of Ghent, cafes and a castle. Time for lunch, even though it is late afternoon and into the castle only to find it closed for the day. Oh well, back to the train for a ride home, clean up and back out to find dinner. Bushy and I are both addicted to bike gadgets and data so the next few hours are spent trying to get Bushy’s Joule data uploaded to Strava and Training Peaks. Not the easiest process around. The procedure looks like it will need some morning work, it’s late and time to call it a day.
I awake and Bushy is still working with Joule, Power Agent and our slow WiFi connections. After deleting and reinstalling and setting authorization codes, it finally works. Yes..
Leftovers for breakfast for me and we are on the bikes for our inner city Brussels tour ride starting with someone else’s Map My Ride route which quickly gets discarded as we wander around a huge park area. Next, looking for a Merxck’s bike store. G Maps sets us off for what turns into a great ride with no bike shop at the end. Must be a different town or who knows. We are not trying again, back to town only to get split up about 2k from our lodging. I have the phones and G Maps. I circled back to where I last saw Bushy, only blocks away and he is nowhere to be found. A block from home, he is waiting for me.
Data entry and showers means it’s time for dinner and hopefully an early night, I’m running low on power. The days are adding up.