Planning without a Plan

(Good looking) bikes on a train in France

Our trip through Belgium was fast paced and probably the most intense part of tour. We were growing tired of lacking a plan, and we knew that we had Thea and Thomas up in the Southern lands of the Netherlands. We also knew that it was a veritable Bike Mecca (see previous post), and that we would be able to rest a bit with them and carry forward planning the rest of the trip.

We were in Reims, France staying with Pierre, who just turned 30 a few days before. He works for a region to the south, and helps to develop bike tourism in the area. He is somewhat an expert in the area of bike tourism, and is excited to tour more to develop with professional stature (lucky!). He recommended that we hop a quick morning train to Charleville and then follow the the "Green Road" to Givet. This Greenway represents 88 km of no cars, no hills, and beautiful river riding. It won Best Greenway in Europe in 2010, a fact that Pierre was quite proud of. (Celia already wrote about this, I just realized)

Jonathan and Pierre and wine and cheese

Pierre cooked us an excellent dinner, responded to my urgent request for a snack before dinner (to avoid a hangry state), and offered an excellent French beer. We declined wine, but following dinner he offered us cheese, and then said, famously, "I'm sorry, but I must have wine with my cheese". Then we ate about 1 kilo of cheese and drank wine.

We camped in Givet the next night, after the amazing Green Road, as the French translate literally. The next day we plunged into Belgium, aiming to arrive in the Netherlands the day after. This represented about 250 km of cycling, but we could handle it, we though, and we intended to split it into two days evenly, so hey, not so bad. This did mean skipping beer and waffles, but ultimately I think that I love the beers of the Pacific coast most, so no big deal. We did learn that the waffles are basically donuts in the shape of waffles (what?!).

So we left Givet and pedaled intensely through Belgium on the Ravel (a network of converted railways in the Walloonie/French half of the country). We were on the way North! The second Ravel path that we took headed directly North on a rail line, and we made good time over 40 km. Towards the end we began to realize that we had no plan for the night. There were no campgrounds and no warmshowers hosts. The path ended in Hoegaarden (of the beer fame), and less than 1 km from the end, and therefore 1 km from the end of our plan, we noticed a bike in front of us fall over. It was a woman with 3 little children, and the training wheel of her littlest son's bike had somehow fit in between her front wheel and fork, and was inextricably wedged. She waved us over and I used (dun dun na nuh) some tools I brought, including my LEATHERMAN, and my SMALL WRENCH, to successfully remove the training wheel, and ultimately, her mangled fender.

Action time for the toolkit!

She asked us where we were going, if she could make us dinner before we continued, and was shocked at our final 'destination' which was another 30 km away. We soon realized that we too should be shocked, and should instead accept her offer to stay at her house and have a dinner. It was just like warmshowers, but without need for the internet, a common interest in bike touring, and most importantly: planning. She said that we could not have met like that if we had had a plan - it was our lack of plan that allowed such serindipity to occur.

Celia with the fam (only 1/2 the children are present)

It was wonderful to talk with Catia (sp?) and her husband about things other than bikes: education, economy, food, fulfillment. We left the next morning to ride for 12 hrs, 150 km, 90 miles, to see Thea and Thomas in Rosmalen (thank you Thomas and Thea, and thank you for the wonderful slideshow!). We stopped just before leaving Belgium to visit a Fritterie and consume enormous plates of fries, hamburger, and a chicken meat sausage thing.

Now I will add photos to this post and others....