Another magnificent day, weather in the 70's. Once again we were having trouble getting up early. By the time we sort out all the gear, get all the batteries on the Garmins, computers, telephones, radios charged and collected, go over the day's route, plan our meet up points, have breakfast, it is 9:30am. I had initially thought we would be on the road by 7:30am, but that is just not practical. We're starting to experience some equipment problems with car charger not working properly in combination with computer and Garmin. That makes Gwen's navigation job very difficult, particularly since we carried no paper maps of Belgium. Once we get to France that problem goes away, as we have the large 200 page map of France.
Roy and I had a tough day. Roy had assured me the previous day that the winds would be coming from the East (made sense to me), but, we faced a 10-15 mph head wind the entire day as we headed due east. Our lodging was in a small town of Amay 75 miles out from the start. Our plan was to ride through Amay and on to Spa, with Gwen picking us up in Spa and bringing us back to Amay. Stage 3 the following day started about 5 miles from Amay. By the time we got to Amay and decided to check out our hotel ahead of Gwen's arrival, the room and the outdoor bar a block away looked awfully inviting. Riding another 50 miles into that wind at 3:30pm seemed doable, but not practical. So...we sat ourselves outside in the sun, had a couple of beers, and when joined by Gwen, turned a bad day into a festive one. Our inn was amazing, a very quaint chalet owned by a Duchess, with all the gawdy tapestry, gold trims, faux decals. Our innkeeper was charming, originally from Germany, wearing a "Venice Beach" tee-shirt, a place he had visited forty years ago and made the effort to preserve that shirt in almost new condition. He recommended a little restaurant adjacent to the bar, a woman friend with a small but uniquely Belgium restaurant. We had a charming meal there, the only customers for the evening. One of the two women spoke no english at all, so communication was challenging but enjoyable.
By the end of the evening we were all relaxed and tired. We were looking forward to the next day, heading back west, south of our Stage 2 Route, running west of Brussels and down to Cambrai.
Roy and I had a tough day. Roy had assured me the previous day that the winds would be coming from the East (made sense to me), but, we faced a 10-15 mph head wind the entire day as we headed due east. Our lodging was in a small town of Amay 75 miles out from the start. Our plan was to ride through Amay and on to Spa, with Gwen picking us up in Spa and bringing us back to Amay. Stage 3 the following day started about 5 miles from Amay. By the time we got to Amay and decided to check out our hotel ahead of Gwen's arrival, the room and the outdoor bar a block away looked awfully inviting. Riding another 50 miles into that wind at 3:30pm seemed doable, but not practical. So...we sat ourselves outside in the sun, had a couple of beers, and when joined by Gwen, turned a bad day into a festive one. Our inn was amazing, a very quaint chalet owned by a Duchess, with all the gawdy tapestry, gold trims, faux decals. Our innkeeper was charming, originally from Germany, wearing a "Venice Beach" tee-shirt, a place he had visited forty years ago and made the effort to preserve that shirt in almost new condition. He recommended a little restaurant adjacent to the bar, a woman friend with a small but uniquely Belgium restaurant. We had a charming meal there, the only customers for the evening. One of the two women spoke no english at all, so communication was challenging but enjoyable.
By the end of the evening we were all relaxed and tired. We were looking forward to the next day, heading back west, south of our Stage 2 Route, running west of Brussels and down to Cambrai.
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