Day 3 - Nieuwpoort

05.09.2024

Another solid night's sleep - all that exercise will do that for you!

We headed out on the bikes early this morning, leaving our accommodation at 8.15. Whilst we were a bit sore in the saddle, we both pulled up better than we thought we would. Today's ride will see us following a canal to the sea - to the Northern coast of Belgium.

It's evident pretty soon that there was a stiff northerly head wind. This is when we're thankful for the e bikes, we can just pop them into sports mode and power on. There is a downside to turning the power on the e bike up though - the battery runs out faster (more on that later).

Our first stop was at Diksmuide - to check out the Museum; a 22 storey tower. Lucky for us, there was an elevator to the top. Diksmuide is south of Nieuwpoort, on a canal (which drains to Nieuwpoort) and the land is very flat. In WW1, with the Germans taking most of Belgium, surrounding Diksmuide and advancing, it was decided that to repel them, the area would be flooded with sea water, which ultimately stopped them in their tracks. The tower also contained a museum.

Further towards Niuewpoort we decided that Ade's tyre looked like it could do with a little more air - so we pulled over in the middle of nowhere to top it up. The bike shop provided a pump (a dodgy one) , as they were a bit concerned they wouldn't be able to come and help us if we got into trouble today as they were out on a guided tour. Well, we managed to let all of the air out and then couldn't get any back in 😂 We were about 6kms out of Nieuwpoort. After trying for about 15 mins, we decided that we'd have to start walking. A German man came cycling along and even though he couldn't speak much English, he understood our problem and had a pump that worked - we were very thankful!

Check out these Belgian cows that are every where, they're more the shape of a pig - their butts are huge. I bet Jules likes them!

We finally got to Niuewpoort at about 1.30 and decided to get a drink and give the bikes a quick charge. Most places cater for e bikes and are happy for you to use their power if you're buying something. We only stopped for about 30 mins - so the bikes only got a bit of a top up. You can see where this is going can't you! 😂

Some photos of Nieuwpoort.

Someone was even drying some fish. Great contraption!

We start heading south again, commencing our ride home - via a brewery that brews the 'best beer in the world'. And we appear to have another head wind - how can that be? No worries, we've just given our bikes a bit of a charge up - I still have a full 5 bars of power, and Ade has 3, we'll just use a bit more power. It's only about 40kms to home.

Some of the hazards we've come across today.

Ade's bike is starting to drop bars pretty quick, so he winds the power back down. We've not had any lunch today, so we stop off in a town for today's pastry - a bit of a boost to the man power.

With about 11kms to go, we decided that we'd change bikes, as mine still had heaps of power and Ade's was saying he had a range of 10kms left. He claims it is because he's heavier (not that he's been lazier and used more power) and it should last longer if I'm on it. The only problem being that it had a range of 10kms - only on the lowest power setting didn't it! So I slogged through the last 7kms on Ade's bike - on the lowest setting, while he got to cruise on mine! Yes, I said last 7kms, even though we had 11kms to go. That's because we didn't make it. I rode a couple of very slow kms without any power and boy are electric bikes heavy - I was extremely red and sweaty. We then swapped back again for the last couple of kms - but I had the brilliant idea to tow Ade the rest of the way. I've never been so glad to see a power point! We had a well earned drink and some dinner. Ade got his world's best beer - he's pondering his rating, but it was very good.