Hugo Jonker

I’m on a biking holiday — first time I’ve done such a thing. Here’s a short summary of what’s happened so far:

Day 11: Banneux – Troisvierges

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On waking up, I could really feel my upper leg muscles. Must’ve been the two hours of uphill of the day before. Moreover, the saddle pain, which had always been looming as a vaguely distant and ominous threat, had begun manifesting. Nevertheless, nothing to be done for it but onwards.

Where the day before, I mostly followed the route I took coming (in Belgium that is), today I figured to deviate. Coming, I had followed the water. And it was nice and reasonably swift. But today, I’d be going uphill anyway, and there was a far more direct route to Stoumont (20km vs. 25km, according to google maps). So I opted for the more direct route. To my surprise, it did not go down. And more not-down. And even directions that can be described as “up”. Somehow, most of those “up”-like directions were nicer than the day before, and I managed around 15 an hour on those stretches.

I passed through Troisponts, and figured it was early but lunch could be had. However, the village did not seem to have a nice place for that (must’ve taken a wrong turn somewhere). So, I figured to try my luck in Vielsalm. On the way, I passed a Motor Inn (sort of a hostel for motors) opposite of a replica of the cave of Lourdes. Weird, but fun. But by then I kind of had had enough of the racing cars, the negligent driving, the general feeling of putting my life at risk just by being on the road in something not having four wheels and a cage construction. So once again I went on, and once again I failed to find a cosy place for lunch. Must be getting picky in my old age :)

Finally, in Courtil, I passed a brewery / restaurant called “Lupulus“. Since this was sort of the last possible stop in Belgium (and thus the last stop, since I had planned on taking the train from Troisvierges for a long time now, due to the body’s complaints as much as the desire to be home and have things over with), I stopped there. It didn’t look convincing from the outside, but I had a meal and a bit of juice, bought the local stuff for Aga, and marched on.

Within a few hundred meters, I realised something was wrong. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but it felt like a “slag” (an aberration of the circle-shape of the rim of the rear wheel). However, glancing down, it did not seem to be that — the rim kept a straight line with every revolution. Nevertheless I could feel a definitive movement with every revolution. Crap.

I biked — carefully — onwards. As long as I was providing the power myself, it felt alright. But the downhill stretches, which previously had been joyful exercises in lazy acceleration, became frustrating events filled with worry and brakes. Going over 25, I could feel the wobble in the wheel, and the luggage’s effect on it, which seemed to amplify one another. Not Good!

Luckily it was not that far any more – another hour or so. Naturally, this cemented my plan to get on the train and not get off till Luxembourg city. Yes, I had made the provision for getting out sooner to enjoy a bit more of a ride, weather, bike, and physical state permitting, but “bike” was definitely not permitting, so no go.

I got back home, put the bike in the garage, and had a looooong shower. The next day, I limped my lame bike over to a workshop, where the problem turned out to be a rupture in the rear tyre. Big thanks Twan for diagnosing this over the phone in one go!

I got myself a new inner tube (never sure how much duress it had been under) and a new anti-leak tyre, and the mechanic put it on swiftly and expertly. Okay, it was quite a hassle for him, but he fixed a few other minor annoyances with the bike, so it is now yet again revisioned :)

I’m on a biking holiday — first time I’ve done such a thing. Here’s a short summary of what’s happened so far:

Day 10: Eindhoven – Banneux

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A long day planned (in Google Maps, it was about 130km), so I got up early and left with my brother at 7.30. Consequently, I was in Belgium before the Aga’s of this world were at work :)
It was cold in the morning, so I wore a vest and socks in my sandals (I know this is a Capital Fashion Crime — it was cold, so fashionistas: bite me! :P). I wound my way through Flanders a bit, and crossed a channel. I pondered following it — it did seem to be headed south — but decided to stick to the planned route. A few villages on, I crossed the damn channel again. This time I checked things. It was the Zuid-willemsvaart — to the best of my knowledge, a channel that runs to (or from) Maastricht. And there was a bike lane next to it.

One and one is two, so I deviated from the planned route and went to the channel. It was far calmer (virtually no motorised traffic), nice and green, and you overtake the occasional boat. I got to Maastricht at 12:30, surprising myself. Two-thirds of the way, and in five hours! I wasn’t even terribly tired nor hungry! So I decided to have my lunch in the small part of Flanders south of the border of Maastricht. The part that valiantly struggles against the Romans, errr, the Walloons :) Had a nice chat with various Flemish folk there, and took a long break and a nice lunch. (what is it with having Sealand’s mussels there? It was plastered all over the place, both in Flanders and in Walloon… you don’t see that around Eindhoven.)

Afterwards, I biked on, figuring it wouldn’t be that far. I got to Visé in decent time, and then the uphills started. My legs informed me that it wasn’t flat any more, and my speedometer dropped dangerously close to single digits. Wow. A few of the hills along the way surprised me with their uncanny ability to keep on going up. Even if you think you spotted the end of the hill further on, the road would just curve and you were welcomed to another portion of the lengthy uphill.

At times, I wondered why Heidi wasn’t set in these nice, rolling hills. It seemed quite appropriate. And then a car would race by, trying to break the sound barrier, at about a hand’s width, and I got it.
(Or, at least, I thought I did — I just read up on Heidi on the above link and saw it doesn’t come across quite as situated in a happy and unspoiled environment as my faded memories made it out to be.)

The last uphill was, yet again, particularly daunting. I arrived around 6, and figured I could have gone on a bit, but why bother? I had done enough for one day — as my leg muscles kept telling me ;-)

I’m on a biking holiday — first time I’ve done such a thing. Here’s a short summary of what’s happened so far:

Day 9: Zaltbommel – Eindhoven

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I started off, and there were Ominous Dark Clouds in the sky. Aukje had checked though, and no rain nearby. So we set out (she and the kids accompanied me the first piece). It got darker and windier… oh boy! After I waved them off, I raced (well, counterwind, let’s say I did my best) to Den Bosch, hoping I’d find some shelter before the rain would find me. At restingplace De Lucht, I contemplated staying and waiting till it passed, but the clouds were a bit too far off. I’d had to wait an hour at least, I figured. So: on I went. After I crossed over the Maas, I felt relieved. The darkness was in Gelderland (a province) and it wasn’t setting foot in lovely Noord-Brabant! :)

Then happened what I expected the day before: I biked on rather relaxedly, and suddenly found myself almost at the place to be. With enough time to do some sightseeing/shopping — so that’s what I am about to do now :)

I’m on a biking holiday — first time I’ve done such a thing. Here’s a short summary of what’s happened so far:

Day 7: Spike City – Utrecht

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Today, I followed the bike route network here in NL. I figured it wouldn’t be that far, so this counted again as a day off (the fourth in succession: going to Breda didn’t count, the rest day surely didn’t count, going to Spike city also didn’t really count, and now it was again on the order of 80km — a relaxing day).

The thing about the bike route network is that it gives you gorgeous, relatively relaxed biking routes. Meaning that they are very definitely not the shortest route between two points.

Today I biked 107km. That ain’t a relax day in my book. That’s what I get for underplanning!

It was a bit a struggle to find some of the signs. Though generally speaking, the bike network is well signed, oftentimes there is but one sign signalling a change in direction. Miss it and you’re off the route.

While that was annoying at times (especially at T crossings, where the sign was all but unfindable, or actually absent), the routes do go through very nice areas. I biked through the outskirts of Rotterdam, and it was peaceful and quiet. Mind you, this is the second biggest city in NL. And it was peaceful. And quiet. That’s some route!

Gorgeous, and going through the green heart in the Netherlands. Very nice. Also: very much a place without places to sit down and have a drink. (unless you brought it with you, but you know what I mean: a terrace). I finally found a place to have lunch at about 4 o’clock… :s I wasn’t terribly hungry, but kind of annoyed with the lack of a place to sit down and be waited on. I guess I was getting a bit spoiled, so far :)

I’m on a biking holiday — first time I’ve done such a thing. Here’s a short summary of what’s happened so far:

Day 6: Breda – Spike City

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This day, I passed “my” monument (at the Moerdijk bridge) — it’s mine because it’s from my birthyear. It was also the first day where I followed the ANWB fietsroutenetwork (well, partially). There were loooong stretches of straight roads through peaceful, natural environments. Would’ve been even better with less headwind — I guess you can’t win ’em all. At one point, a heron crossed the cycle path, and even though I came from its right, it refused to give me right of way and just moved stately out of the way. Yeah, nature was all over me.

I was supposed to have dinner with my niece, uncle and aunt, but unfortunately, the latter two could not join. Had a very nice dinner with my nephew and niece instead, and long chats with my niece on life, the universe and everything.

While the first part of the trip was cool for the achievements (actually making it to NL, for example), by now I really started to enjoy the part where I got to spend some quality time with some very nice people. I don´t usually get this opportunity, and while I didn´t plan it for this purpose, it is a major upside.

I’m on a biking holiday — first time I’ve done such a thing. Here’s a short summary of what’s happened so far:

Day 3: Maastricht – Eindhoven

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Today was going to be fairly easy: mostly flat, about 80km (if I didn’t get too much lost :), and another nice day with nice weather. I crossed back into Belgium by going west out of Maastricht, and was very pleasantly surprised to find I had arrived in Flanders. People spoke Dutch!! Roads had bike lanes! Often even separated! After 2 days in Luxembourg and Walloon, it was a godsend. I left Maastricht in the morning at about 10:30, had a few breaks, and even a beer (I passed the Martens brewery at one point, and figured to celebrate it with a Martens pils. Conclusion: so not worth it — and thas was before I got back on the bike).

I arrived at about 17:00 in Eindhoven, and brought my bike immediately to the bike mechanic for its first revision. I had a nice evening at my parent’s place (yey, my new toner arrived!).

I’m on a biking holiday — first time I’ve done such a thing. Here’s a short summary of what’s happened so far:

Day 2: Bovigny – Maastricht

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The long day. This day, I was going to bike from (basically) the northern border of Luxembourg to the southern border of the Netherlands. Over the Ardennes. About 100km — which is quite a bit for me on flat terrain. I had been worried, especially after the headache of the previous evening. Luckily, it had vanished in the morning, and a healthy breakfast (and an early checkout time) put me on my way around 10am. It actually went quite well. The uphills were a struggle, of course, but the roads I had picked were not too heavy with traffic, and it was a pleasant day to be biking. Crossing the border under my own power was kind of magical: I had actually biked (at that point: close to) a hundred kms to enter NL! Again, in Maastricht, I missed the hotel in the beginning, and it took me a bit to find it.

The hotel was a sauna. Again, it had been a hot day. The hotel did not have any air conditioning, and the windows in the rooms could hardly be opened. Where outside, a gently breeze brought some relief and made it warm, yet bearably, inside, absent the breeze, oof…

Not a good night’s sleep, but the breakfast was good, and then I was ready to be on my way again!

I’m on a biking holiday — first time I’ve done such a thing. Here’s a short summary of what’s happened so far:

Day 1: Howald (Lux)- Courtil (B)

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The piece Howald-Ettelbruck was very nice (mind you, near Mersch, there’s a car sign “Mersch 3km” pointing left, and a bike sign directing you right. Go left, follow the road to its end, then go right, again right at the end, and then to the station and follow the “piste cyclable” signs again).

In Ettelbruck, you canNOT go on the N7 (or whatever the main road is) to Clervaux. Which sucks. I opted for the Piste Cyclable: PC16 and PC21 (or somesuch). It was A Big Mistake.
I got to Göbelsmühle, and then the PC did not continue. I was lost, but a mountainbiker appeared from the forest, so I asked him how to go on to the next place (Kautenbach). He indicated that you could go through the forest, though it was a bit narrow at points.

Turns out, “a bit narrow” doesn’t quite cover it. It was a small hiking trail on a slope. After 5 gruelling kilometers, I got my bike and my weary self to Kautenbach. Called Aga, and learned that it was another 60km of very hilly terrain to go on. I did not have the strength for so much more (having already done about 70km), so I took the train in Kautenbach to Troisvierges (about 30km). While it had been pushing 30 degrees all the way, and sunny, when I got to Troisvierges, it had rained there and was about 19 degrees. I biked another 20km (4 of which due to looking for the hotel), and had a runny nose and a headache by the time I got to my hotel. But: I made it! I biked out of Luxembourg, mostly under my own power! Hooray!