We could not have dreamed up a more wonderful 2 days with our friends from den Bosch, the Quekels, their kids, and their now-grandkids. Such a joy and so fulfilling after all these years to catch up with Theo and Aris.
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Aris and I
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Theo, Ollie and Aris in den bosch
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Marj
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Marjel with Ellise and Ollie
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Aris and Theo are on their way to Canada to connect with our neighbors Pete and Magda in Alberta and BC in a few days and I know that they're going to have a wonderful time.
Meanwhile, back at the bike riding ranch, we rode another 100 km today from Netherlands to the heart of Flanders, Lier. It was another tough day on the bike and Lorie suffered greatly but without complaint (until I nearly dumped the bike...yikes). But honestly, she is doing and admirable job riding with the damned broken arm. I would post a photo of her purple arm from the bruising but it would be indelicate to do so and might offend some of your sensibilities, so I defer. But trust me, it is not a pleasant sight! (See below...)
We had an amazing ride through southern Holland (the protestant west portion of Netherlands) on beautiful bike paths, then crossed into Belgium near Tournout, which is a charming city located at the confluence of a bunch of canals.
After that, we still had about 50 km to ride on the Belgian roads. I have to be honest. While this is a first impression, Belgian cycling infrastructure (i.e., bike lanes) is about 1/2 century behind Netherlands. But, there are always bike lines, at least. And even though they are narrow and 2-way and right next to screamin-fast-highways, they are about 2 centuries ahead of the US. So we rode, uncomfortably, to Lier, a charming town smack-dab in the middle of Flanders. Here, they speak Dutch, ish. I'm not sure what that is, but for our good luck the young kids all speak English better than do I.
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Lier, Belgium
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Lier. Flanders!
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The Grote Markt, Lier
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City Hall, Lier
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The Famous clock tower
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Injured, yes, but a blonde Belgian beer can fix a lot of things
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On a whim, we stopped for dinner at an Italian joint. It was good. Lorie had carbonarra. Good but maybe had cream in it, to its detriment. I had an anchovy pizza and ate the whole damned thing. That's what 110 km will do to you when you're riding an RV!
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Lorie's carbonarra
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My anchovy pizza
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Limoncella to finish the evening.
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We are off to Ghent tomorrow. Thankfully a few km short of 100. The weather forecasts continue to look promising. Our good luck!
As an afterthought, here is today's route. No hills! Yeah.
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