It is Thursday evening, about 10.30 pm, and the sun is just dropping below the horizon. After a wonderful dinner (lamb again!!) at a restaurant on the edge of the canal less than 200 yards from our B and B, Dale and I broke down the bikes and packed them away, ready for the flight tomorrow. And I am now sitting in the kitchen with a glass of wine, savoring the last moments of light and a cool breeze, and it seems like a good time to pen a few final words about our experiences.
Last night, we stayed in a marvelous little hotel in the center of Brugge, and we had a chance to walk around last afternoon and evening. Brugge is a very well-preserved and renovated city that is, I am sure, to some tastes a bit artificial and a tourist trap (home to lots of lace shops), but I found it more charming than that - maybe the excellent beers and one of the best bouillabaisses I've ever had contributed to my good feelings, but the town center, collected around several small squares, flares off in many directions down narrow cobbled streets and provides lots of strolling possibilities. It is apparent that the cultivated medieval look of the center is preserved by deliberate social decisions, and the town does look as if it has been lifted from one of those Dutch and Belgian paintings of the middle ages. It doesn't look quite as naturally quaint as Chartres, but it does a fairly good job.
Today, another longish drive (120+ miles) to Amsterdam, and the place where this adventure
started a month a go. We were welcomed warmly by Suzanne and the two dogs, and spent a pleasant afternoon wandering and packing. Tomorrow morning, we take the trusty van back, and go to the airport.
We've driven some 1,500 miles in the last month, and done some 900 miles on the bikes, circling Netherlands, Belgium and France. And while I do feel proud of the distances we've covered, since we've expended a few calories and dealt with a few challenges, it's been the people we've met and the hospitality we've encountered and the enthusiasm for our goals that those people have shown that has so impressed me. Before this trip, I had been through Paris and Amsterdam a few times on my way to other countries, but I had never spent any time outside these cities, and certainly not wandering through the countryside. What amazing things we have experienced: the Dutch cycle road system, surely a model for any flat urban and suburban area that is choked with cars; the Belgian beers and rolling countryside, but the depopulation of small villages in agricultural areas; the endless rolling hills of eastern France, small towns and villages (if it doesn't have a boulangerie, then it's not fit to be called a village - that's the Pepper rule); the slopes and foothills of the Alps in the Lake Geneva area, with its chalets and pretty villages; the appearance out of the blue of Sistenon, a jewel hidden from view; the Alpine stages with their multiple climbs, cowbells and greenery; the savage steepness of the Pyrenees, with climbs wending their way under ski runs and lifts; the feeling that we missed so much with our short trip to Bordeaux - what a trip a separate visit to Bordeaux and the Pyrenees would make; the majesty of Chartres; and the bustle and endless delights of Paris (even if the Louvre chose to be closed on the only day we had available to see it).
And, as we did our daily runs, we knew that there were people back in the States looking at our progress, and there were times when that knowledge kept me going. When the climb got particularly steep, I could feel hands on my back pushing me upwards, and for that support I am grateful. And I am more than grateful for Dale and Gwen inviting me to join their adventure - Dale's advertising of what it would be like was pretty effusive, but it underestimated what it has been like. And I am grateful for Ann, my wife and David and Allison, my children letting me take this time to do the trip, and for encouraging me to get out there and do my training runs. Less than a year ago, I had to have surgery on my left knee to repair cartilage from a soccer injury, and this trip and the preparatory work I did to rehab the knee has turned out to be the best possible therapy - therapy with a goal is so much better than therapy alone.
So thanks to all who have visited the blog, and Dale and I will have to think what entertainment we can put together for the future - anyone for a bike ride across America? Or maybe cycling over the Himalayas?
