Well, nobody turned up to collect any fees, or rather I don’t think they did. I jumped out of my skin early in the night, when a cat took interest in my tarp set up – there are plenty of holes to look in – and I have a vague recollection of something else causing me to jolt out of a dream, but it was probably the dream. So I think all was quiet in the night. I woke early, which is one of the issues in going to bed at 9pm, to a nice sunrise. I expect most sunrises are nice, I just never get to see very many – which is a bit strange when you think about it.

It took ages for the sun to start providing any warmth, so I stayed in my sleeping bag blog writing. I packed up and was away before 8am. I didn’t bother with breakfast as I thought I could get something as I cycled through the centre of Gent (or Ghent to us – why do different nationalities call cities different names? Where did Londres come from for the French?).  My route was straight back onto the canal. It was completely deserted, the sun was out, and it was rather glorious.

Finding a path through Gent was a bit more tricky. The sun was quite low which made reading my Garmin hard, and the instructions were much more complicated than they had been, with intricate switching from one cycle path to another at junctions. Eventually I got to the centre, I’ve been here before and it is a nice old city. Although the main problems with old cities are cobbles and tram lines. I had to walk quite a distance as the cobbles are really hard on my heavily loaded, little wheels. The tram lines are just a nightmare, ready to trap your wheels at any second. A cobbled cycleway between tram tracks – well, it should probably be in the Olympics!

I really haven’t got into the routine of eating properly while riding, or rather taking the right opportunities as they arise. This morning was a case in point, it was still quite early and I cycled past the first nice looking cafe, thinking there would be more open. There wasn’t and before I knew it I was on my way out of Antwerp. Firstly along a long suburban street where a car boot sale was being set up outside everyones houses, and then onto the cycleway F4 heading to Antwerp. This followed the railway line, occasionally routing through villages, so not much opportunity to eat.

Luckily I was carrying a breakfast so stopped in a village, found a bench and ate. I’ve brought some high protein granola, with peanuts and chocolate.  It was just a random choice in Waitrose at home, knowing I couldn’t cook porridge. With a bit of water, and a huge squirt of honey, it makes a quite palatable breakfast. I definitely needed it – have I mentioned, there is a head wind!

It was about 60 km to Antwerp on the F4. There were loads of cyclists on it, from people dawdling and chatting, others out for exercise, shoppers and large “chain gangs” of cycle clubs – that just whizzed by. It was a long morning, no food and fighting the wind.

It was a relief to be approaching Antwerp, and I could see the huge cathedral tower on the horizon. There was only one barrier between me and the McDonald’s lunch that had spurred me on all morning. I needed to cross the huge river the Scheldt Schelde. I visited Antwerp for a long weekend late last year (Its a great to visit, get the visitors card, there is so much to see) so knew there was a cyclists tunnel.

I couldn’t fit my panniers through the width restrictions for the escalators, so waited for the lift. Ironically joining behind a girl who had been slipstreaming me all the way into Antwerp. I’m gradually working out the cycling etiquette, and slipstreaming is perfectly OK, but I find it a bit unnerving with my poor knowledge of the cycleways and driving on the wrong side of the road.

As waited for the lift to come up from -31 metres a big group of tourists on bikes joined. So the peace was spoiled. Some were Americans, who were having to do (very loud) maths on what 31 metres was in feet. They weren’t all Americans, but I do hate tour groups. The lift came and the three of us who had been waiting first, had to jointly fight for our places after the lift had emptied. The ride through the tunnel was a bit hair-raising, overtaking pedestrians while avoiding overtaking bicycles. I followed a local, and it was fine.

I shunned the queue for the lift at the bottom and caught the escalator up. I nearly got caught out by the weight of my panniers tipping backwards, but the brakes held. Antwerp was jammed. It was a sunny Sunday and people were everywhere, which makes cycling really difficult. The cycleways are ignored by pedestrians which means you have to go slowly at walking pace everywhere. I had a McDonald’s on my mind, when I saw a Burger King. It had good touring bike parking (a big window next to the tables), on -line ordering and table service. Absolutely no worries about the bike, so my focus was on food. Never has a chicken burger, fries and endless Fanta been deserved so much!

I still had a long way to go. I’d only booked one nights accommodation in advance, which was where I was heading today. I booked it as a bit of a carrot, and its in an area I’ve been keen to visit with a couple of really spectacular cycle paths (I hope!). So I pushed on. There is a longer story here! I found out this morning, while looking up the address, I actually booked it for tomorrow but they were happy for me to change it. So all this cycling today is self inflicted!

Once out of the centre I was soon on the Albert Canal. This is a huge canal with huge boats on it. The barges are over 100 metres long, and some are pushing another in front. I have no idea who they are steered or manoeuvred in such a tight space. It was good cycling, although with an occasional headwind. I could see the cyclists on the other bank, who seemed to be going faster. I crossed over, and I’m sure it was better. There was a bit more shelter. It had been a hot day, so I decided to get a bit more into the holiday spirit and stop for a coffee,  with all the other cyclists. All these miles are just too hard.

After the canal, I was routed onto beautiful paths through woodland and fields it was really nice, before one more push up the F14 following another dreaded railway line. The final ride to my accommodation was through more forests on a superb cycle path. The cyclists had a path, while the cars have a dirt track, order has been restored.

I was greeted at my accomodation, a rather nice bungalow, the host said I’d been lucky with the weather and rain was due tonight and tomorrow. This helped me reach a decision I had been pondering all day with my overall plan.

The original plan in my head was to cycle to Bratislava or Vienna, (althoughI knew this was impossible). This would take twelve days of cycling about 130 kilometres each day. I’ve proved it can do it for two consecutive days (and cycled about 420 km in five days), but I don’t think I can keep it up. I’m slow and practically cycling from dawn to dusk. I’ve also got some concerns to watch on my bike, although the weld is holding up fine. So when rain was brought into the equation, I’m going to scale back my plans and take a day off tomorrow to enjoy the cycleways I have come to see. The whole point of having a plan is so that you can change it!