I'm definitely confused by it, especially when it comes to the greetings. In Flanders I'm told it's 3 kisses to say hello, in Walloon, the French speaking part it's 1 and then of course there's all the other nationalities that live here so it could be 2 or a shake of the hand. But I guess it's good that I've learned all this as it means I've met a lot of people!
David Kitching showed me around Brussels the first night and tried to explain why the drivers in Brussels are a bit nuts. There are cycle paths and as long as you're on them it's ok but if a cyclist ventures onto the road, they'll get the horn!!
We met with other Irish folk and of course we had loads of friends in common in true Irish fashion. We went to an amazing mushroom restaurant - Café de Spores, even the dessert had mushrooms in it - surprisingly delicious!
I'd a nice cycle to Antonella and Marzio house through the parks and wood on Friday, I even learned about Irelands wind energy production along the way!
I hadn't seen Anto and Marzio in 6 years, it was so good to catch up again! I spent the weekend with them and their friends, went to a honeymoon party, breakfast party and birthday party and a tour of Brussels- super weekend! And they fed me loads of food, fueling up is definitely my favourite part of cycling!
Myself and Marzio hit the road on Sunday to cycle 60km to Alda and Ed's house. There was cycle paths along all the main roads at the beginning so that was great and then of course they disappeared so we had to do some route finding but we got there, only 30min late - very good by my standards! Ed had a great dinner and desert ready for us. I met Alda and Ed 6 years ago when I was hitchhiking from Italy to Switzerland and we stayed in touch so it was great to meet up again. Alda brought me to Leuven on Monday. It's a really nice university city. Lot's of interesting buildings and gardens and bikes everywhere. They even have a very cool underground bike storage park.
oh and we helped save some ducklings that were lost and fell down the drain on the street.
Alda joined me in the afternoon as I made my way to Petite Gesves. It was great having the company and the local knowledge to find the bicycle route. All went smoothly when we were on the route but of course all good things come to an end and not long after Alda waved me goodbye the cycle route also disappeared. I ended up changing my route a bit, not really on purpose more just cause I was on the wrong road. I also learned that when a road sign says it's a dead end even though it looks like a road on my map I should probably believe the sign, I guess some mountain biking is no harm!
The main thing I've learned though is that touring is a lot slower than cycling. Before I left I thought 20km/hr would be the average pace I'd be doing but I definitely overestimated my speed. By the time I include all my getting lost and checking my map I reckon 15km'hr is more realistic, although that was before I hit the hills to Gesves, I was at 2km/hr at one stage!! Hopefully though 15km will be the average.
I stayed with Eliabel and her family in Gesves. It was my first warmshowers.org experience and it was great. They live in a lovely house and were so nice and welcoming. I really appreciate everyone hospitality, it has really helped to make this trip.
And so today I headed towards Marche en Famenne. It started with a lot of lovely downhill which I presumed would also mean a lot of uphill but I was wrong which was great. I visited a lovely town called Durbuy and then I followed a perfect bicycle path all the way to my destination where I'm staying at a lovely farm house where a group of friends live together.
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