Chapter Two. Why you should go cycling in Belgium

I don’t know how many reasons there are why you should go cycling in Belgium, but I am going to see how many I can find. It seems to me from a week spent there last year, and all of one whole day’s bike hire that there are a lot. I had read in the guidebooks that Bruges was going to be bike friendly - it even said you could cycle the wrong way down one way streets! I thought this must be a misunderstanding of Belgian traffic laws, or a mis-translation from the original language into English. When I went to Bruges last year with my partner Rosi we travelled on Eurostar from London to Brussels. We changed at Brussels and took a local train to Bruges via Ghent. As the train pulled into Ghent station I saw for the first time what being in a cycle friendly country meant. At the side of the station was a cycle park so vast I had never seen anything like it - I was amazed to see what must have been thousands of bikes parked in line after line beside the tracks stretching for several hundred yards. I don’t know where the car park was, but its equivalent was this huge cycle park I could see. 

Then, traveling on towards Bruges and passing through small towns and villages on the way I was surprised to see cycle lanes on all the roads, and not just on one side, but on both sides of the road, and wide enough for a cyclist to feel safely cushioned from motor traffic. The cycle lanes were about wide enough for two people to cycle two abreast- a good four or five feet wide instead of the narrow lane we have here in the UK which only gives you just enough room for your handlebars and little more, and definitely no wobble room. 

I had read in a guide book what a cycle friendly country Belgium was, and I had been to Amsterdam once, so thought I knew what to expect in the bike friendly countries of this part of Europe- Holland, Belgium, Denmark. But I was not prepared for this - it was more than anything I could have imagined from my limited experience of cycling in the UK: there were two wide cycle lanes - one on each side of the road...it looked safe, inviting and somehow what you would like a rational cycling Utopia to look like. 

So the first reason you should go cycling in Belgium is because it is safe. The second reason you should go cycle touring in Belgium is because there is network of thousands of miles of traffic free cycle paths across the entire country. From my one day trip out of  Bruges into the Belgium countryside it appeared to be a country designed for cyclists. I think this is perhaps because it may well be a country designed by cyclists, designed by people who both use roads and ride bikes. This is the big and fundamental difference between Belgium and Britain and it makes for an entirely different atmosphere on the roads- on the roads there is no tribal them and us: no tribe of motorists who hate cyclists and vice versa. I suppose in Belgium everyone who drives a car also cycles, so they seem to understand each other: there is just a“we”, an acceptance that this is what we do.

Cycle-Route.com has a helpful post from a Belgian who says For those who have plans to cycle in Flanders, I want to inform you about the cycle networks in Belgium. You have two different cycle networks:

• the long distance network:LF-routes, the national long distance cycling routes in Belgium, signposted in both directions, are a network of cycling routes through Belgium, all identified by a name and number, the suffixes a or b indicating the direction of the route. This network connects the most important cities in Belgium, like Brussels, Bruges, Ghent, Antwerp.
• - the cycle node network The ‘nodes’ (‘knooppunten’) are the points where these cycling paths intersect. Each node in the network is numbered. You can use these nodes to map out a cycling itinerary. You decide for yourself how long you want the trip to be and where you want to go. 

On each cycle trail you have a free gpx track. 

For all information about the cycle networks :

http://www.fietsroute.org/indexuk.php

If you go to fietsroute, one of the links that comes up about cycling Belgium’s waterways is to a wonderfully comprehensive guide to all these routes by Daniel Gamber, an American who lived in Belgium for many years. He has created a website which describes the vast majority if not all of the cycle routes. 

He advises: If you like to ride on good pavement but away from car traffic, the towpaths of Belgium offer some of the best cycling in the world. You can ride across the country from north to south or east to west with only occasional concerns about cars or trucks. Much of the way is through pleasant farmland or nature preserve, with the loudest noise bird songs or the engine of a barge. The network totals a little over 2,000 km (1,200 miles), of which more than 1,600 km provide fine riding for any kind of bicycle.

He gives a quick link to a map of Belgium’s waterways he drew in 1998 which gives you the big picture of how the cycle routes go along all the main waterways.

As well as all these traffic free cycle ways, there are the cycle lanes throughout the entire road network. The cycle lanes I could see out of the train window were clearly unlike the cycle lanes I know in the  UK, which feel anything but safe. Many of our cycle lanes are frankly bizarre- the biggest problem with them is that they are random to the point of illogicality. They often start for no apparent reason, and stop for no apparent reason. They often have a habit of disappearing suddenly at a junction - just when you need them most - and then mysteriously springing up again on what seems a whim further on down the road.  This means that they can feel to the cyclist as if they are designed in what can feel like an arbitrary and fickle manner, piecemeal and  bitty - one which ultimately gives the cyclist no confidence s/he is in safe hands on the route. Instead, you can feel as if you are being toyed with...like something of an afterthought. Which is what you suspect you are in the world of tarmac as it has been designed by a traffic management officer, or planner.

Take for example where I live. Many parts of the cycle routes where I live in Birmingham are anything but logical or rational, continuous or consistent. Let’s try to cycle the three and a half miles into the centre of the city from where I live in Moseley- granted there is a cycle route most of the way nowadays which routes you down the quieter streets- that’s good. `You are still thrown into the big wide world where you have to contend with all the normal hazards such as parked cars, junctions with busy traffic routes, etc., etc., but  there’s a sense of a guided route. Then, getting closer to the centre of town you can join a cycle lane- also good..in principle. In practice the cycle lane starts where there is a wide verge beside a canal. It is about a hundred yards long, you have to  come off the road to join it, and then a hundred yards later, when it ends you have to rejoin the road. It’s really not worth the trouble for one hundred yards of traffic free cycling. Plus, because it is beside a pavement, pedestrians can be walking along it. As cycle lanes are so arbitrary, the British pedestrian seldom observes the lane divisions which are marked out. Well, ok that’s a huge problem which perhaps only time will alter, we can’t have a brave new world over night. 

For the next 600 yards there is no cycle lane, so you just kind of head in the best direction. After the next junction you join a cycle lane on a very busy road, whose traffic includes buses. This cycle lane is extremely narrow. It is only 34 inches wide and if two buses pass in opposite directions you wil l have to hope they are being considerate. The best thing to do is to go flat out along this for 400 yards until the corner of Hirst Street, where you can turn off this road. Going fast means you will not be passed by as many cars buses and lorries - always the best incentive to get a move on. 

But then coming up Hirst St as you hit the city centre proper the cycle path begins to do highly eccentric things. Hirst Street has a cycle lane, but you are not supposed to use it. Not if you want to go up the road that is. It is on the far right of the road, and it seems you are not supposed to use the cycle lane to cycle up Hirst St: you are only supposed to use it to cycle down. If you go up you are left to your own devices.

The cycle lane continues on the other side of the next crossroads, but now on the other side of the road - that’s to say the left side where you are.  But you can’t go up it because the road is a one-way no entry. You have to turn left or right, and find you own way if you want to go any further. If, like me, you decide to ignore this and carry on up the road - which doesn’t have much traffic anyway you can make it to a small plaza on the edge of the city centre proper. 

The cycle lane (which you shouldn’t be using anyway I admit) ends at a small pedestrian zone outside the Hippodrome theatre, only to reappear at the next road in an unreachable situation. It is in the middle of the road. Yes, you read right- in the middle of the road. You are suddenly pitched into busy traffic at a sweeping corner, and invited to use the cycle lane which is in the middle of the road. Ok it is a one way road, but by this time it is a three laner, and traffic is sweeping fast round the corner - this route is a kind of inner-inner ring road, and very busy. How you get to this cycle lane is up to you, and how you do it safely is another question. How is the traffic supposed to know cyclists are suddenly allowed in the middle of the road? It's a recipe for disaster. 

It is this kind of irrationality which seems so disheartening to have to cycle through - you are constantly asking yourself, why doesn’t it do this? or, I wouldn’t have gone this way. I have met the cycling officer for the city, he is a lovely man, and I am sure is doing the best job he can in the circumstances, but he must have to fight every inch of the way against the road traffic planners, whose priority it is to make the city easier for motorists, not cyclists. 

Wherever you are in the UK you are aware of this war going on between the 2 camps: car drivers and cyclists. And there is a lot of bad blood, literally...and very real casualties in this battle of the road. There are fatalities on the roads of the UK every day attesting to this problem. If we think about it, I suspect we all know someone who was killed cycling. I myself lost a dear friend 15 years ago. A malfunction on the bike led to him stalling in front of a bus in a bus lane - and the bus just ploughed into him. It literally ran over him: he was crushed, and died later that evening. 

It’s no wonder most people say they are too frightened to start cycling on the roads. Because it  is a matter of life and death. There is usually at least one occasion per week when I am scared by a motorist - I suppose that equates to about one scare every hundred or so miles. Every six or severn hours on the bike I am put in fear for my life by the way in which someone overtakes me at high speed. You can hear them coming, and you will know by the tone of the engine as it gets closer that they are not going to slow down in order to overtake you. This is the first scare - you know they are going to swerve round you without slowing down, without fully considering the other traffic on the oncoming side of the road, or especially you in the side of the road. 

At this point, I usually make sure I am as close to the kerb as possible- i.e. about 18 inches, just enough clearance to make sure my pedals aren’t going to get caught on a kerb or the side of the road, and usually just outside the line of storm drains. I try to maintain a straight line despite the road surface, and don’t swerve to avoid a bad surface or road ruts. If there are any ruts, I just have to go over them. Although I am likely to be bouncing around on the bike because of this, I do all I can to maintain a straight line. Swerving into the centre of the road to avoid bumps ruts or bad camber can at this point be fatal. Then, if you are lucky, as I have been about 30-40-50 times now, they sweep on past you and the danger is past, you relax, thank your lucky stars and tell yourself, it was not so bad. 

But it is frightening, even for someone like myself who is now moving I would say to being an experienced cyclist. And it is the kind of thing which stops other people who would like to, to start cycling. Because they know they could get killed. Easily. It is as if all the people who are driving around in their cars have never been on a bike, and have no idea therefore what it is like to be overtaken in this manner. And perhaps this is the case - perhaps they never have been on a bike, or not since they were children perhaps, and even then were they "allowed on the road". Like a forgotten childhood, these adults with license to use the highways have long since forgotten any experiences they might have had as young riders.

If you google “cycle accident statistics” the ROSPA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents) site has the figures for 2010 in the UK. That year over a hundred cyclists were killed- 111 to be exact. 2,660 people were seriously injured and a further 17,185 were “slightly injured”. ROSPA comments under the section titled Types of Accidents:

Accidents involving child cyclists are often the result of the child playing, doing tricks, riding too fast or losing control. For teenage and adult cyclists, accidents are more likely to involve collisions with motor vehicles, but about 16% of fatal or serious cyclist accidents reported to the police do not involve a collision with another vehicle, but are caused by the rider losing control of their bicycle.

The most dangerous hours for cyclists are 3.00 to 6.00 p.m. and 8.00 to 9.00 a.m. on weekdays.

In collisions involving a bicycle and another vehicle, the most common key contributory factor recorded by the police is 'failed to look properly' by either the driver or rider, especially at junctions. 'Failed to look properly' was attributed to the car driver in 57% of serious collisions and to the cyclist in 43% of serious collisions at junctions.

The most common vehicle involved in collisions with cyclists is a car or taxi, with the rider usually being hit by the front of the vehicle. In a quarter of fatal cyclist accidents, the front of the vehicle hit the rear of the bicycle.

However, heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) present a particular danger for cyclists, especially in London where around 20% of cyclist fatalities occur involve an HGV. These often occur when an HGV is turning left at a junction'. About one quarter of accidents resulting in serious injury to a cyclist involved an HGV, bus or coach 'passing too close' to the rider.

Also, I have got a confession to make. All this talk about the dangers of cycling...well, I don’t even cycle during the rush hour. I now make a point of avoiding the danger times ROSPA identifies- the four hours around the rush hours. Now that I am retired, I can pick my times to go out on the bike, and I only go during the quiet time day. In practice, this means between 10am and about 3pm. Between the morning rush hour and the first mini afternoon rush - the one to pick the kids up from school. In Birmingham the school run starts round about three, and although there is a lull when this is over for about 30 to 45 minutes or so before the afternoon rush hour proper really gets going, that might as well be it for the day. In winter, it is too dark to take advantage of the 45 minutes. 

It isn’t called the rush hour for nothing. We all know that it doesn’t just last for an hour any longer. In Birmingham the rush hour occupies about four and a half hours of the day: that’s about two hours in the morning from say 7.30 until about 9.30, and in the afternoon from around three to about six. Hold on, when you add that up, it’s a total of five hours. either side of the average working day 

In between the rush hours (sic), for the five hours between 10 and 3 when I am cycling, people clearly aren’t so stressed, and I need to try to present a balanced point of view here; I don’t  want to give the impression that all motorists are horrible towards cyclists. The vast majority are not, and for the six or seven hours every week I spend on a bike, there are probably only one or two occasions a week, which last only thirty or forty seconds of those hours, which make me think otherwise. It’s just that in those brief seconds I fear for my life.

But the rest of the time, in the calm middle of the day, the people I meet on the road take a little longer to get wherever they are going- it seems as if whatever plans they have are less demanding, their deadline is a little less absolute than the one they are rushing to make in the morning.  Maybe there are only the old fogies and farts left to drive around then- the movers and shakers have dashed to their desks leaving the roads free - a bit like the buses. Round here, after 9.30 you can use your free bus pass. There are more OAPs about too of course, and their driving habits are in general less frightening to deal with. In general, during these hours people will slow down a bit before overtaking you, or will hang back rather than overtake if they are about then to turn off in a hundred yards or so. You can hear from the sound of their engines that they are traveling a little slower you know from this that they have actually noticed you, and are considering how and when to get past you in a considered fashion. 

Unlike in the rush hour, when the sound of the engine barely changes - you can hear from the engine note that no allowance is being made for your presence in the road: to this driver you are simply in the way... and the chances are that this driver will pas you around you without slowing down. They might call it a pass, but it is more of a ‘swerve’ - swerve is a good word isn’t it? The free dictionary defines it as “to turn or cause to turn aside, usually sharply or suddenly, from a course”

and the origin of the word is another way to get closer to what being swerved around feels like when it’s done to you: [Middle English swerven, from Old English sweorfan, to rub, scour.] 

That’s more what it feels like - it feels like being scoured. It feels very Old Englishg - it feels like almost being rubbed out. Seven times out of ten this swerving goes ok-ish, two or three times out of the ten it goes less well and leaves you a bit rattled, and then there’s the one in ten occasions when you are passed by a whisker and have to thank your lucky stars you are still alive. It seriously puts the wind up you. Well, to be more accurate the wind passes by you rather than up, but you get the picture. This will happen to you frequently if you cycle during the rush hour, and on those ill-advised occasions when I have gone out late and been caught returning home during the rush hour, I always get back to the house and swear I will never make the same mistake again. 

You feel so powerless. It is such an unequal relationship - the bike vs the motorcar. It feels like being bullied all over again in the classic David and Goliath scenario. Except there is no contest - the bully is already disappearing into the distance, so you don’t have the chance of remonstrating, swearing at him or her and demanding some kind of apology, or the assertion of some kind of natural justice to be satisfied by physical violence.

My partner has been knocked off her bike twice in the last ten years, and on each occasion the driver has said “But I didn’t see you.” She has commented this is a good thing, since if they had then the driver concerned would have been guilty of attempted murder. Yet we know that essentially their excuse is correct. Despite being in fluorescent yellow, despite the lights on her bike, despite the reflectors on the wheels and pedals - and will continue not seeing her in spite of every  sensible device for increased visibility you could invent in the future. Psychologists call this kind of thing ‘inattentional blindness’ - you just don’t see something which is plainly visible. If asked to pay attention you would have seen it, if you did it again you will see it, but on some occasions it just doesn’t register.  And guess what, surprise surprise there is the likelihood that the role of inattentional blindness in the causation of accidents is increasing. This is because of the use of devices which cut out our awareness of the world around us- our ipods, mobile phones: people are walking about, driving about (and I suppose I have to acknowledge, in some cases, cycling about) listening to music, talking to other people, and basically not paying attention to where they actually are, what they are doing at any moment in time, like turning left, or walking across the road. 

This reminds me of the speed awareness course I was sent on. Yes, I have to admit I haven’t always been as careful a driver as I am now. Cycling has made me a slower driver - especially in towns,  and in particular on residential side streets. I try to travel at about 25 miles an hour, and in such streets would be happy to go at the even slower speed of 20 mph if it was made a legal limit.  the man on the speeding awareness course I had to go on who said that he had got points on his license because he liked to drive and text. That was why he had been stopped by the police, accused of dangerous driving or driving without due care and attention, and why therefore he had come on the one day course for drivers. When the course leader was out of the room, he told us he didn’t intend to stop texting. It is him I think of when I hear a car coming towards me a little too fast, and slowing down a little too late. Is he texting again? Is he looking at the road, or at the screen of his mobile? 

Perhaps before you take to the road you need to get to enjoy the simple pleasures of being on a bike without traffic. You need to go cycling on one of the cycle routes specially designed to keep you away from the motorist. Which brings us back to the cycle path from Bruges to Sluis...

Before arriving in Bruges Rosi and I had already discussed the possibility of hiring bikes for a couple of days - after looking at cycle hire shops on the net we even joked about perhaps hiring a tandem! We had read that in Bruges everyone rides a bike - all ages from 9 to 90, everyone from the businessman going to work in a suit to the little old lady doing her shopping - I remember even reading a description of someone claiming to have seen one little old lady cycling with an umbrella. We had read that the city was so cycle friendly the it is allowable for cyclists to cycle the wrong way down one way streets...this was something which I tried hard to imagine, but just couldn't get my head round. I was willing to give it a go, but I couldn't quite believe it. 

It seemed to me that this was going to be a recipe for disaster - like one of those things foolish tourists do because they have misunderstood the regulations or customs of the country they are visiting, and get into trouble about. I could imagine the gendarmerie turning up and taking the side of the local motorist who had ploughed into a stupid tourist cyclist who had been going the wrong way down a one way street. 

I must confess I am one of those daredevil cyclists who will sometimes gingerly creep down the gutter of a one way street if it saves time, but being careful to be prepared to leap off the bike and onto the pavement if a car or bus hoves into view. I sometimes jump red lights. I occasionally use the pavement to cut off a dangerous corner or dodge around a lane of traffic. But I do all these things with extreme caution, knowing it is against the law, and that being in the wrong means I have no hope of recourse to the normal kind of logical defence you can mount to the motorist e.g. I am officially allowed to share the road with you, so you have no right to drive as if I am not there. All such bets are off once you bend or break the law... 

But not in Bruges. As you cycle down a one way street in Bruges towards the traffic it slows down, it courteously waits for you if you are not sure quite what to do for a moment. As likely as not, the person behind the wheel will smile at you, and make some encouraging waves of the hand or some such. In short, the cars give way to you.

Coming from the UK you can’t really believe what you are seeing. It is inconceivable that what you are witnessing is actually taking place. Then the penny drops, as it does over and over again in Bruges. You realise that this is happening because the motorist is also a cyclist. He or she is being nice to the cyclist because sometime soon, maybe even in the next few minutes, or later that afternoon, or certainly perhaps by tomorrow s/he will be the cyclist once again at the mercy of the motorist. Hey presto and the roles will be reversed. You are nice today because you want someone to be nice to you tomorrow. 

This is based on the most simple and telling advice that comes from the Bible, the dictum: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. This most simple and direct statement, or is it a commandment for all us highly evolved apes to follow- and, if it isn’t a commandment it should be - works very well to resolve the age old rivalry between cyclist and motorist.

I was talking to the manager of a cycle shop in town the other day and he said to me the first time he went to Belgium he pulled up at a T-junction and his mate said “What are you doing?” He said “I’m stopping” His mate was already cycling off down the road as he called out “Here, the traffic stops for you.” He then went on for the next ten minutes giving a litany of the occasions when in the UK he had been abused, sworn at, and generally threatened by UK motorists. 

He described how one Sunday afternoon he was leading a class of children. He was getting them across the road by using the pedestrian crossing. One by one the children cycled across the crossing and into the park on the other side of the road. But throughout, a man in a van (and remember this is Sunday afternoon, so the man in a van had his family with him) revved his engine, shouted for the children to “Get out of the way!” and then drove off shouting and swearing at all and sundry. Just because the children continued to cycle across the pedestrian crossing when its amber lights were flashing.

And now for the best bit - the cycle routes.  You will find all the traffic routes, the roads in the towns, villages and city centres are all cycle friendly too. Transport routes which can be used by cars and lorries, and tractors and white van man are all organised, are all built,  in a way which makes it relatively easy and pleasant to cycle with the rest of the road users. There are also thousands of miles of cycle ways which are designed to get you about the country via its waterways and canals. 

Rosi and I hired bikes from a bike shop in the town centre. We needn’t have bothered - when we go back to the hotel, and described what we had just been doing that day the woman behind the counter told us we could have hired bikes from the hotel. At a euro less- 9 instead of 10 a day. Although we had read in the guidebook that hotels hired bikes we just couldn’t believe it could be really possible and be that easy. We forgot we were in Belgium, in Bruges where things are organised to make life easy for cyclists.

Anyway, so there we are with our bikes leaving the shop. She has been lucky. Her bike is brand new. It can’t have seen much use yet- it is this year’s new stock. If her bike was a person it would be a yummy mummy: shiny metallic grey paintjob, shiny matt bright spokes, comfortable handlebars and grips whose rubbers have  barely a scuff. Some thought had gone into her design. I am less lucky. If my bike was a bloke, he’d be one of those you see sloping into the pub about dinnertime and not coming out till last orders: old fashioned, overweight and flabby, this bike is built but definitely not designed to be user friendly. I learned that day about weight. 

However, although my bike must have weighed about 40 pounds, because of the flat terrain it wasn’t going to be a dreadful experience to ride it for the day. Within a few hundred yards, although I was having to work about twice as hard as on my ordinary bike - which by the way weighs just under 30 pounds, as we made our way across the cobbles of the city centre in the direction of the canal which encircles Bruges (and with its accompanying circular cycle route the Brugge ring) I could tell it wasn’t going to spoil the day. 

We headed south east out of the centre in the direction of Gentpoort, one of the five gateways into the city, in this case, as its name suggests, on the road to Ghent. We knew the south eastern section of the city best, as our hotel was located here. We cycled past it, and continued on past Astridpark. We found Gentpoortstrat without too much trouble and found the gravel path which serves for pedestrians and cyclists on the inner side of the canal. On the outer side is the R30 and the traffic (or such of it as there is in Bruges), all safely fifty or so metres away, for this canal is one of the modernised waterways which in the nineteenth century were enlarged to take increasingly large commercial water transport. On the clock face that is the circular canal we joined at five o’clock. We turned north and went in a counter clockwise direction up towards the canal which would take us in the direction of Damme, a much publicised tourist destination. We knew this canal intersected the circle at about one o’clock. We cycled through the north west quadrant which contains a string of windmills, including the most notable St Janshuismolen, amiably and easily following cycle signs etc., Because we come from the UK we kept thinking we would have to take some decisions, and at any moment have to find our way by means of maps and strenuous attention to road signs, but apart from one moment getting across the R30 it was easy to follow the route. 

The Brugge-Damme-Sluis canal is a 15 km long canal which once connected Bruges to the sea at Sluis, which has long since silted up. Here’s a description of the ride from the internet:

“A delightful ride through polder farmland, on a canal connecting three walled cities. Along the way you may enjoy several windmills. Each of the cities exhibits nearly complete 15th century earth town walls, with the defense system best preserved and presented in Sluis. From the Brugge ring to Hoeke (just before the N49) the east side offers a paved bicycle path that parallels a minor highway. The west side is mostly service road with traffic limited to fishermen - a more pleasant ride. Less than 2 km north of Damme is an unusual feature: the junction of three canals. The Damme canal crosses the parallel Leopold and Schipdonk canals. In about 3 km you cross the border into the Netherlands. There is no indication of the exact location of the border. Another half km brings you to a pedestrian bridge. You can cross it to enter Sluis, or continue on the north/west bank for 500 m.”

We pedal along. It is quiet. The sun shines in a blue sky, it is about the perfect temperature for cycling, 17, 18 degrees with not much wind. The tarmac path is flat as only a canal can be flat, and we cycle alongside the wide straight canal in the direction of  Damme. It is all a day out on a bike is supposed to be - even on my heavy, unresponsive bike: I have decided it’s called ‘Keith’- late 50s, lumpen proletarian with a drink problem. Despite Keith’s tendency to roll to a stop in a metre and a half if you don’t keep pedaling, it is possible to keep up a steady pace and there are plenty of nice things to look at: a few birds here and there - a heron standing quietly, small farms and villages dot an attractive amiable countryside. We roll along at a speed of about ten miles per hour I would guess, and love every minute of it, every moment is pleasing to the eye and mind. 

It is early June, the trees - high tall poplars I think - are in full leaf, and in the shade it is a little chilly, it is a good job we accidentally went on the sunnier western side, where we are getting the advantage of as much sun as possible. We just pedal along looking around at the landscape rolling past in the way which is only really possible on a bike. At that kind of speed which is so special about a bike - fast enough so that things uncurl and roll by at a speed that allows you to take them in, but it is all happening quickly enough to keep you constantly interested in the next thing coming along. I find this different to walking, where in flat landscapes like this frustration can set. 

So, to re-cap, Belgium is good for cyclists for a lot of reasons, and to make a list of these, because:

1. it is safe - it is designed to be safe
2. there are traffic free cycle routes
3. there are good cycle lanes on the roads
4. in Bruges you can cycle down one way streets
5. the traffic stops for you - waves, smiles and doesn’t swear at you.