Hippy goes to the beach..

Spent another 3.5 hours in a net cafe and then rode to Damme. It was meant to be a nice day trip, 6k out of town. Well, day trip, sure if you ride slower than I walk! Anyway, it WAS very nice riding along the tree-lined (Poplars I think I read?) canals, watching the Mississippi-style paddle boat travel slower than Ma and Pa out for a pootle..

It just wasn’t enough so I decided to head to the beach. Mostly on small paths or reasonable road shoulders.I arrived in Knokke, passing a Bentley dealership (with a Ferrari parked out front) and stopped at a pub/cafe for an iced coffee. “Tracks and Travellers” was the name of the place. It was run by an ex-cruise liner bartender and his decor is made up of some seriously funny items! Like the glass rack made from two old ski next to each other and the massive Lonely Planet Guide collection.. and what’s with the large penis above the bar??

Anyway, the iced coffee was like nothing I’ve had before. It was awesome! More like a frappacino, ie. with more ice than milk but it was seriously good to drink it on such a hot day. Bartender was quite a character too and he filled my bidons for me. Champ!

Apparently this is the most expensive real-estate area in Belgium – some houses 40mil euro? No wonder there was a Bentley dealership here! The bartender was saying Porsches are “pfft nothing” here.

He also gave me a map, which made finding the beach and returning easy (unlike me and most maps!). I waded a bit and watched some dudes flying a massive kite. On guy was really good at it, making it do loops really close to the ground, but the other guy kept crashing it as soon as he took over the controls.

Taild trihardalete home for a bit then thought I should take a turn in front, so I did, maintaining same speed. After a minute or so he shot past, obviously not intending to take a turn! Hehe! Well, I was heading home anyway, so lets just try and punish this bitch’s ego.. I chased him down before town hahaha fat guy on loaded mtb takes trihard on roadie with skin suit haha I hope you’d smashed yourself beforehand dude coz you just got owned! 😉

Brugge -> Knokke Stats:

52.32k, 3h34m, 14.7kph

Showered, washed clothes, drank Coke and wandered into nearby “Soeure Sourire” for dinner. Vegie plate and Croque Boum Boum (Bolognaise). Croque was nothing special but filling. 4.50 euro for a plate of vegetables was supposed to be me attempting to be somewhat healthy. Turns out to be an extended version of the crap salad I already got with my croque. I’m sorry, but lettuce, tomatoes, onion and a piece of FRICKIN’ WATERMELON!! are not vegetables!!! I wanted vegies damn you!

40 school kids rock up mid-meal for dinner here – the reason I couldn’t get the ‘speciality’ of savoury pancakes.

I also saw a crazy kid seat on a bike, where the child seat sits on the top tube, near the bars and the parent leans over them to steer the bike! Never seen that before.

Dessert was “Coupe Sourire”, some kind of Advokaat, egg nog, ice cream, cream, choc sauce concoction. Whatever! It was nice!

18.50? for dinner. Notice I found the ? key? 🙂