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Cycling
in Belgium Back in issue 55 of VISA (March 2004) you may have read about our experiences cycling on some of the Scottish Islands. In 2005 we decided to venture further afield and cycle in Belgium. One of the driving forces in this decision was the availability of a ferry from Rosyth to Zeebrugge. We could therefore follow our usual rule of starting the holiday by cycling away from home. This time we cycled to the railway station in Aberdeen, caught the train to Inverkeithing, cycled the few miles to Rosyth, boarded the ferry and had an uneventful overnight journey to Zeebrugge. As usual we had trouble booking cycle spaces on the train. Having struggled with Internet bookings for cycle spaces before, we tried telephone booking this time. The tickets simply didn’t appear, and we had to telephone the contact number several times and arrange to collect replacement tickets from the station on the day of travel. So, I think we have reached the stage that next time we take our bikes by train we will book everything at a station so we can get our hands on the tickets well in advance of our travel day, and thus remove some at least of the last minute worries about actually getting to the ferry. The return train journey proved that cycle space booking is essential, as 5 bikes were squeezed into the four spaces available on the train. Zeebrugge
is the sea port for Brugge (Bruges) and after arrival at the ferry port
we made our leisurely, if wet, way to Bruges and our first night hotel.
(This was the only day of rain in an otherwise hot and sunny holiday.) To help find your way there is an excellent set of cycle route maps the “Fietsroute-Netwerk” (“Fiets” is Dutch/Flemish for “Bike” so don’t get confused and think it's a footpath map). The “Groen West-Vlaanderen” map covers Bruges and Ostend and most of the part of Flanders that we cycled in. We stayed three nights in Bruges, then moved on for a night in Roeselare, then a night in a hotel at the top of the Kemmelberg (the second highest “mountain” in Flanders at 156 metres above sea level - about the same height as our starting point in coastal Aberdeenshire - though the final climb up a 25% hill is more demanding than many an Aberdeenshire mountain), and one night in Diksmuide on route to our final night back in Bruges. It would be possible to base yourself entirely in Bruges - or Ostend if your local ferry goes there - and do day cycle trips using the Fietsroute maps. In the off-season it would also be possible to book a small hotel when you arrive in a town and move as the whim takes you. We chose to book through a tour company - “Hooked on Cycling” who act as UK agents for a Belgian company Vostravel - just for the simplicity of one call to book everything. But having been once and appreciated how all the hotels we came across are cycle friendly with garage or hall space to store your bikes, we would have no qualms about booking hotels direct and making up our own route, such as a two-centre one in Bruges and Ghent. Bruges itself is so quaint and interesting that it’s worth spending a few days looking around it and leaving your bikes at the hotel. If you wanted to visit Bruges without involving a bicycle, Superfast ferries run a bus between the ferry terminal and Bruges railway/bus station timed to meet the ferry - and there are local buses in Scotland serving the ferry terminal from nearby rail stations. In 2005 the Superfast ferry was operated using two ships and had services in both directions 7 days a week apart from occasional days off for servicing. In 2006 the ferry service is operated using one ship and only has three journeys per week in each direction (Tue, Thu, Sat from Scotland to Belgium and Mon, Wed, Fri from Belgium to Scotland). The other thing we have learned about European travel is that the cheapest way to get Euros is to use your credit card in a local cash machine. Despite the 2.75% foreign currency charge and the 1.5% cash withdrawal charge, the exchange rate is still much better than you get anywhere else. You can save most of the 1.5% charge by buying as much as you can directly with your credit card, and you can save the 2.75% by shopping around to find a credit card that doesn't make the charge in Europe. We enjoyed our time in Belgium, the friendliness, the history, the food, the fresh air and exercise – and heartily recommend it as a holiday destination. Useful websites: First published in VISA issue 66 (April 2006) |