Retrieved from 10 August, the first day of an announced heatwave of several days, I set off by bike to France, Spain and Portugal - by life and death.
The first part to Paris was some sweating, but I was able to avoid a heatstroke by leaving early enough and taking enough rest.
Wednesday 10 Aug: Departure from Antwerp
Thanks Sebastiaan for this cool picture for VC The Switch at Mechelen. A place where I enjoyed working, thanks in part to you.
Meanwhile, I am at Camping Veldkant, a quiet campsite in Grimbergen. When I went to check in, the manager offered me a blonde Grimbergen, for charity. A nice fresh pint from a real Grimbergen glass, but because of the heat, the barley rose to my head very quickly... Fortunately, my tent was already erected.
The route Antwerp - Grimbergen is actually not too bad, although you cycle through metropolitan areas all the time: the F1 Fietsostrade Antwerpen - Mechelen next to the railway line is anyway pleasant to ride through mainly rural areas.
A little past Mechelen, you join a quiet towpath alongside the Zenne. Then another five kilometres or so along quiet roads and you're there.
Despite the heat, a nice day of cycling. You can follow my daily stages at my #cyclingforTibet summer 2022 Komoot collection: https://www.komoot.nl/…/-cycling-for-tibet-summer-2022
Tomorrow I will spend the night in the Welcome To My Garden Marie's garden in Mignault, just above La Louvière. Sixty kilometres, I plan to leave early to get ahead of the big heat. Slow down in this weather.
Thursday, Aug 11: Grimbergen - Mignault (65 km 470 altimeters)
Today I had to choose: the shortest straight through Brussels or a diversion of about ten kilometres along the green belt around it. Cycling straight through Brussels at 8 o'clock did not suit me, so it became the green belt.
I have never "girdled" before, and I actually found that edge quite green, some rural parts anyway. At the Mot at Grimbergen near a water mill, I even saw a kingfisher fly away. You have to be in Brussels for that, after all the beautiful wetlands I traversed in the Netherlands in May... The Brussels periphery also abounds in castles and gaudy establishments with beautiful parks and ponds, in which fortunately there was still water with this drought.
It started to hilly here and you also have to persistently cross footbridges or ordinary bridges to cross the numerous motorways and railways towards Brussels. Heavy stuff with a packed bike. I only got to an average of 13 km/hour.
Komoot took me along many cool shortcuts, but in Wemmel one such lane suddenly ended in a cornfield. I was supposed to turn left, into a sports ground, but the gate was closed. To the left and right of the gate was a shoulder. The road I needed to take was only 150 metres away, and there was really no alternative unless I made a big diversions. There was a narrow path across the verge that I could have dragged the bike across, but then I would have had to take off all the panniers. I went to see if I couldn't plough through the cornfield. After all, the road was right behind it. Hooray, before I would have to disappear into the maize, there was a short cut through a ditch to the left, to the parking lot of the sports field. That earned me a lot of nettle pricks, but I was happy to take them if it meant avoiding a long diversions in this heat. By the way, nettle pricks are said to be good against rheumatism.
From Moortbeek I could connect to Randovelo 1 alongside the canal. Fantastic bike path that took me up to the 14-m high lock of Ittre led. On a covered terrace of the yacht club, I was allowed to eat my sandwiches and had a chat with some boaters. They were concerned about the low water levels in some Walloon rivers. A few kilometres further on, I reached the famous inclined plane of Ronquières, where I had to cross the canal.
From there, most of the route was along a very shady ravel over an old railway line. Another Komoot mistake: I had to turn off the ravel via a short 'single track' path, which turned out to be a shortcut that dipped steeply down the embankment. Life-threatening with a bike. Fortunately, there was a narrow footpath that ran parallel to the road and ended up slightly less steeply on the road a little further on.
Furthermore, I had tailwind almost the entire ride, a windfall in this heat. Otherwise you get the feeling of riding against a hair dryer.
Friday 12 Aug: Visit to ship lift of Strépy-Thieu
Marie and Yves (Mignault) had recommended I visit the ship lifts at Strepy-Thieu.
On the Canal du Centre four hydraulic ship lifts were built in the early 1900s, which were industrial gems at the time. They bridged a height difference of about 17 metres per lift and could handle barges of 300 tonnes (now class 1). By the mid-20th century, that capacity was already proving insufficient and two more locks were built, but there was still a height difference of 74 metres to bridge. To this end, construction of a wider 'diversion channel' alongside the four old lifts, on which the huge ship lift of Strépy was built. Because of state reform and the splitting of the Ministry of Public Works into a Flemish and a Walloon entity, there were funding problems, but the lift was finally inaugurated in 2002. The diversion channel with the new ship lift now replaces the four old hydraulic ship lifts.
Meanwhile, the four old ship lifts were recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The route along the original 'Canal du Centre' is very picturesque. Apart from the old lifts, there are also the old Red Bridge and the 100-Metre Bridge, but the info panels were so damaged that the texts were barely legible. The 100-metre bridge was an old railway line.
With the emerging industrialisation, workers' houses were also built next to the canal with the front facades facing the canal side and the blind rear facades facing the parallel street. A curious sight when walking down that street. But for the residents, it is much nicer to look out over the canal from their living room.
I did not pass the fourth lift as that was a fairly large diversions and the afternoon heat was starting to play tricks on me.
Sunday 14 + Monday 15 Aug: Fourmies (55km - 580 altimeters) - Tergnier (95.9km - 570 altimeters)
On Sunday and Monday, I followed the Eurovelo Route-3, also known as 'la scandiberique,' for two days. That route connects the two pilgrim cities of Trondheim and Santiago de Compostela.
From Maubeuge it leads to Paris, so from Villers-Sire-Nicole, 10 km north of Maubeuge, I could easily connect to it.
At Maubeuge I suddenly found myself in front of a narrow swing gate of a park on Komoot's instructions. Fortunately, I found another entrance without a swing gate. The panniers could stay put.
For 80%, the route was along a voie verte, an old railway line. Well shaded, a windfall in this heat.I spent the night in Fourmies, at a campsite close to a lake (Etang Des Moines). A fresh plonske after a sweaty ride was thus not to be missed.
15 August: continuation of the EV3, which runs from Wimy through the wide valley of the sharply winding Oise.
At Etréaupont, after about 25 km, I arrived at a small grocery shop at 12:02 to buy something for lunch. "Désolée" said the young saleswoman, she closes at 12 and had already closed her till. Chin tapped.
Then only 20km further to Guise and had lunch at a restaurant there. That was beyond Sainte-Marie and a local party market that took up all of the town centre. All the restaurants packed and long waits.
Then get a salad at the Carrefour, which was closed after 1pm because of Saint-Marie.... Chin tapping.
Next to a vegetable stall, a man was playing the accordion. When I parked my bike there to buy some fruit at the stall, he came up to me and gave a donation from his jar when he heard I was cycling for Tibet.
Thanks, "l'accordéoneux" Vincent Pietton!
Eventually I got into Guise still managed to get a plate of salad with chips in a quiet location. To get back on my route, I drove through the grounds of the 'Familistère', a social-utopian experiment built by big industrialist Jean-Baptiste Godin. There was an Economat there that served as a restaurant. I am going to devote a separate post to this fantastic 1860s socialist-cooperative experiment.
After Guise another 24 km to the Campsite in Ribemont, where I arrived at 6pm and... found myself in front of a closed gate. Renovation works.
Then only 23 km further to Tergnier. I had to arrive there before 8pm because that's when the reception closed. A stroke of luck: the route ran entirely alongside the Sambre-Oise Canal Over a good towpath. As flat as a billiard cloth.
I eventually arrived there at 19:20, with 95 cycling kilometres in my legs. Too tired to write a draft report in the evening.
Tuesday 16 Aug: unexpected overnight stay at Ourscamp Abbey
After Monday's 95 km, I decided to stick to a short ride on Tuesday: about 40 km to the Campsite at Chiry-Ourscamp. It was another flat stretch, first for about 10 km alongside the Sambre-Oise Canal, apparently an unused canal because I didn't see a single barge sailing there, and after about ten kilometres a ford to the Saint-Quentin canal, which was being navigated. Quiet 'zen cycling', but nothing else spectacular to write about. At Pont-l'Eveque, the route swerved left into the interior. About three kilometres further on, I passed an imposing building with a ruined church in the background that turned out to be the abbey of Ourscamp. The complex was open and I stopped to take a look.
Walking behind the main building towards the chapel, I saw about 15 campers and caravans parked on a large lawn. Could I spend the night here? At the previous campsite, the Parc des Loisirs La Frette, I had been kept awake long past midnight by revelers and screaming children. These 'abbey campers' would probably keep it quieter. I asked the gardener who was tending a bed of roses if tents were allowed on the site, as at first glance I saw no sanitary facilities there. The man immediately introduced himself as Christophe and called himself an 'oblate', a term I had never heard before. This is a member of a religious order who has made not vows but a declaration of devotion (oblation) to the monastic superior. The Algemeen Nederlands Woordenboek taught me that this is a member of a religious order who has made not vows but a declaration of devotion (oblation) to the monastic superior. Christophe told me to turn to the frère hôtelier Jean-Paul had to turn to. Brother Jean-Paul assigned me a small room on the ground floor next to his office, as I could put my bike in there for the night. Dinner and breakfast he was also going to arrange. When I asked him what I owed him, he said I could give what I could because I was a pélérinage undertake for a Tibetan monastery. Interfaith solidarity, I love it.
Ourscamp Abbey belongs to the order of the 'Serviteurs de Jésus et Marie' (SJM - Servants of Mary and Jesus - SJM). www.serviteurs.org), a congregation under diocesan law. It was founded in 1930 by Pere Lamy, a priest from Haute-Marne with a vocation to give underprivileged families and children access to God's grace as well. At the time of the difficult war years, Père Lamy had an overwhelming experience of Mother Mary's love and founded SJM. Père Lamy led a very simple life that made him close to everyone, including the poorest of the poor.
The current congregation is of course inspired by their founder Père Lamy, but also by St François de Sales (16th-17th century) and St Bernard of Clervaux (11th century, Cistercian abbot). They attach great importance to the Eucharist and liturgical chants.
I attended the evening service and the morning hymns as moments of reflection and they were indeed simple beautiful services.
It was a very lucky coincidence that I was able to spend the night in a room on Tuesday, because a little after eight a heavy thunderstorm with lots of rain broke out.
Wednesday 17 Aug: Ourscamp - Pontarmé (66.5 km - 404 altimeters)
At 6am I was woken by dog barking in the Abbey of Ourscamp. When I made my way to da chapel an hour later, I saw a golden retriever lying completely flat on its side on the large grassy square, breathing heavily. I approached him and saw that it was an ancient dog. When I petted him, he stopped barking. I decided as soon as I could to notify a priest that there was an animal in distress in the square.
At 8 o'clock, after the morning shift, I was able to have breakfast. Like last night before dinner, I was alone in the dining hall. Before joining me, a brother came to bless the meal.
After breakfast, I buttered some chunks of bread for the sick dog. Fortunately, when I left the dining hall, there were two brothers standing by the dog. Syrius, the abbey dog, was 15 years old and pot-deaf. Frère Bernard took care of him. Syrius ate a few pieces of the buttered bread and some pedigree pâté that Père Bernard had brought him. When the dog barked, he wanted someone to help him up. I asked Frère Bernard if it was against his faith to have a veterinary put the poor animal out of its misery. He said not and would call one. I hope so for Syrius' sake....
A little before ten, I was on my bike. In Saint-Léger-aux-Bois I passed a Romanesque church from the 11th century. After 20 km, I reached Compiègne. Shortly before Compiègne do the Aisne and the Oise together and form a wide river. On an information panel, I read that one in three families in this valley is threatened by flooding.
After the city stretch right through Compiègne, it was quiet again for a while zen bikes beside the Oise. Part of it I cycled together with a Surinamese from Utrecht, but at the little church of Pontpoint our paths parted because some leaden hills started there and he rode electric.
Before and after Senlis, a charming town I knew only as an exit from the motorway, I traversed beautiful deciduous forests of the calibre of the Sonian Forest in Brussels.
Around five o'clock I arrived at the Welcome To My Garden garden of Cléo and Cyrille and their two boys, a family that also makes long trips by bike. They invited me and co-cyclocampist Gerwen from the Netherlands to join them for dinner. Such friendly people, they know from experience that tent campers have few cooking options on the road.
16 September: Opening the door at Diamondway Buddhist Centre in Tallinn The centre's meditation sessions are open
