6. the Trip to Benelux

In the morning, we were welcomed at Bivakzone on the outskirts of the Belgian town of Eeklo, one of the places in this country where camping in nature is allowed legally. Some of us went to check the quality of the sanitary facilities at a nearby cemetery first. Once we regrouped, everyone prepared their own breakfast. Then it was just a matter of packing our things into the car and heading towards Bruges.

Our first steps in this beautiful city led us to a historic church, from where we went straight to a café. Here, it was impossible to resist the famous waffles with rich chocolate. We then enjoyed a walk along the streets lined with waterways, which instantly reminded us of Venice. After visiting another sacred monument, we stopped by a local brewery, where we tasted a local special and learned interesting facts about its brewing history. Finally, we returned to the car, which fortunately was waiting for us hidden in the cool of the underground garage, and we set off towards French Dunkirk.

After arriving, we immediately collapsed on the beach. While the first group watched our things, the second jumped straight into the waves. To satisfy our hunger, we had a quick snack of Dutch garlic cheese. When we later tried to wash off the sea salt, we unfortunately found only a non-functional shower. Thus, we had to drive to the nearby village of Leffrinckoucke, where we finally had some luck. Refreshed, we set off towards Lille, although our journey was somewhat spiced up by an unnamed crew member who had the urgent urge to fill the entire car with Romadur cheese.

After this olfactory experience, we moved on to our next stop, the famous André-Pétrieux velodrome in nearby Roubaix. This place is a true icon, as it is home to the finish line of one of the oldest and toughest cycling races in the world, Paris-Roubaix, which is nicknamed 'Hell of the North' due to its difficulty and ride over cobblestones. After soaking in some sports history, we stocked up at the local Lidl, where we bought dinner and breakfast for the next day. As night fell, we only had to make our way back across the border into Belgium, where we anchored for the night at another of the Bivakzone locations like the previous day, but this time a bit closer to Ghent.

Upon arriving at the site, we anxiously finished watching the heart-stopping end of the World Cup match between Argentina and Egypt. Once the emotions subsided, we got to work setting up camp, this time pitching our tents on prepared wooden platforms. For dinner, chicken soup with bread was just what we needed. And since it was long past bedtime, we just crawled into our sleeping bags and went to sleep.

Maty