Currently trying to convince Mrs Slick you can tour with a bit of class. It's not going well at the moment but I live in hope.
Enjoy your tour, I'll look out for the hints and tips on your return.
I'm back!
This has to be the best holiday for a long time and definitely touring with class! We used Airbnb for all our accommodation and definitely struck very lucky
We stayed in Deal overnight as it is quite a drive down from North Yorkshire. We booked parking in Dover - about £30 and a couple of miles away from the port - and caught the ferry to Dunkirque early.
Despite lots of detailed advice from people on here, we managed to get hopelessly lost coming off the ferry. It is very poorly signposted and our Garmin appears to hate us and was no help at all. Finally, we made it to the centre of Dunkirque where we stopped for a supermarket baguette and on towards Ypres. This was a lovely ride along country roads apart from the last 10km or so which was along side a very busy road but on a separated cycle path. About 85km altogether.
We accidentally booked the most luxurious little house with an enormous bed, a fridge full of beer and a hot tub! Tuesday was spent exploring Ypres - it was raining in the morning so we spent it in the excellent museum. After a sobering visit to the Menin gate ceremony, we had a lovely meal on the square.
Wednesday saw us riding from Ypres to Bruges. Past WW1 cemeteries as we exited Ypres, this was about 50km across farmland - my favourite ride of the holiday. Bruges is a bit mad to cycle round because cobbles and the sheer number of tourists. We stayed in suite in a BnB on a quiet street and visited our favourite restaurant, In't Neuw Museum.
Thursday was a bank holiday and a parade - procession of the holy blood - depicting scenes from the bible including such delights as John the Baptist's head on a plate accompanied by a flute quartet!
Friday saw us riding to Ghent - about 45km mostly along a canal. We saw every type of cyclist and hooked up with a friendly bunch of French guys for a few km. With a few tips from DP, we ended up in a brewery so it was necessary to get the train back!
Saturday was our final ride back to the ferry - about 100km. To Ostende along a canal and then about 30km along the sea front. Quite literally along the promenade mixing it with pedestrians, small kids on pedaloes, waiters moving between hotel and terrace and all manner of pedalled vehicles. There is no demarked cycle lane just an awful lot of trust that no one is going to hit anyone! Parents do not grab their toddlers like you are some Lycra clad monster and just trust that you are not going to run them over! In Britain, their would be a near miss followed by a fight in no time! We lost a bit of time as we had to cycle so slowly.
Got hopelessly lost around Dunkirque again and had to wait nearly 3 hours for the next ferry because ours was cancelled.
Cycling off the ferry in Dover, i would not recommend for any but the most confident cyclist - makes me bloody angry when I compare it to the fab cycling facilities in Belgium.
After a long drive, finally got into bed at 4am, just as the birds were starting to tweet!
Today, I appear to have gone down with a horrid cold
