Enjoying the beautiful cycling weather and Beaufort '21 artwork along our coast.
Sep 20 - The Beaufort Route
At Knokke-Heist it was Women's World Time Trial Championship busy. Pretty fun to watch those aerodynamic speedsters whizzing by. Less fun was that the elevated start was built a long way up the beach and, in order to continue, I had to push my bike 300 metres through the loose sand around it. No laughing matter with packs.
Almost at the very end of Knokke's seawall, I finally found the Beaufort 21 artwork 'Dive' by Ruben Bellinkx. He hopes to realise this work at full size one day.
Meanwhile, it was running towards 5pm and I had not yet received an answer from two 'Welcome to my garden' addresses. Then I cycled along the coastal road to a campsite in nearby Blankenberge.
What an unsightly affair, that Belgian coast, with high-rise buildings right up against the dyke, that busy coastal road with a tram behind it, and the port of Zeebrugge still squeezed in between. A tourist death knell, yet masses of people keep flocking there. I wouldn't last a week here in such a coastal town.
Sep 21: Blankenberge - Ostend, with diversions past Varsenare (63.37 km - 86 m climb)
Today it was 11 o'clock past before I crawled on my bike. For the first time last night, I had woken up several times from the cold. This morning, the wind had died down and the sun was already shining at full coastal force. It was pleasant to relax in the sunshine after my breakfast while the tent was drying.
My main occupation today was to find and photograph Beaufort works of art.
Successively they were (see photos):
Blankenberge:
'Forgiving Change' By Timur Si-Qin and 'The Dancer V, A marine mammal invoking higher spirits' by Marguerite Humeau
Wenduine:
the roundabout artwork 'Thinking of You' By Jimmy Durham and 'Benjamin' By Maen Florin.
Bredene:
'Unstable territories' by Nicolás Lamas and 'Stranded' by Rosella Biscotti, a kind of jellyfish or greasy oil slick. However, I did not find that work. It was originally on the beach but was vandalised there. Therefore, it was moved to the Staff Versluyscenter, but I didn't find it there.
Ostend:
'Pillage of the sea' by Rosa Barba, an impressive installation of a pile of large sandbags set in concrete.
After Bredene I wandered 15 km inland to Varsenare to deliver a thank-you card to Mieke with the two lovely dogs and the old pony in Varsenare. They all put up with it. After the coastal bustle, it felt good to cycle through the quiet polders again.
I then had to cycle another 20 km alongside the Bruges-Ostend Canal to Ostend, where I cycled straight to Barbara and Peter, my 'Welcome to my garden‘ host family from last year. It was nearing seven o'clock before I arrived there and, as expected, I was allowed to spend another night in their garden.
I had planned to go to the artwork only the next morning 'Pillage of the Sea' of Rosa Barba, but on Barbara's advice, as soon as my tent was up, I went to see it after all to photograph the work at sunset. I was lucky: it was low tide, so the orange-red reflections of the sunset on the beach gave the work a magical effect.
Sep 22: Ostend - Bray-Dunes (51.30 km - 73m climb)
The continuation of my ku(n)stroute is again dominated by Beaufort 21. I would have liked to see Rosa Barba's stone pile in the seawater again, which would be sometime shortly after noon. That gave me enough time to first go to A.S.Adventure to go and get an alu emergency blanket. Wrapped around line sleeping mat and sleeping bag, this helps enormously to keep you warm when the nights get colder. And it weighs nothing and takes up very little space.
At the artwork 'Metamorphosis' in Middelkerke I met Inge. She lives in Finland, but was visiting her parents in Leuven and she was currently spending a few days by the sea in her parents' flat to get some more solar energy before the long dark Finnish winter. The world is small: through a Finnish Facebook group 'foreigners in Finland', she turned out to be in touch with my childhood friend Jan Van Ghelder, who also lives there.
And here then Beaufort 21 (see photos)
Middelkerke:
'There Are Indeed Medium-Sized Narratives'.' by Raphaela Vogel
'Metamorphosis' by Oliver Laric
From previous editions:
Westende
‘Caterpillar + Flatbed Trailer' by Wim Delvoye (2003)
‘Olnetop' by Nick Ervinck (2012)
‘The Navigator Monument' by Simon Dybbroe Møller (2018)
'I can hear it' By Ivars Drulle (2012)
Newport
'Pinpointing Progress' by Maarten Vanden Eynde and 'Family Module' by Goshka Macuga
Koksijde
'Windswept' by Els Dietvorst
The Panne
Touching To Sea You Through Our Extremities by Laure Prouvost
I missed about three works at the end of my ku(n)st course because otherwise I would arrive at the campsite in the dark.
16 September: Opening the door at Diamondway Buddhist Centre in Tallinn The centre's meditation sessions are open
