See here for Day 3
Another day, another ferry and a dash for it. I was staying in a B&B in Burgh Haamstede and was going to have breakfast before heading off to catch the ferry (approx. 40km away). After having had a rush to get to Burgh Haamstede I felt a bit under pressure for an earlier start with 158km planned and some tricky climbs towards the end of the day. I was heading for the cobbled climbs of the spring classics some of which feature in the Tour of Flanders as well as other famous Belgian races.
So after consultation with Fiona I chose to skip breakfast. The owner of the B&B kindly made me sandwiches to take with me and the room had coffee making facilities. I rode away at 8am instead of having breakfast aiming to definitely catch the 10:17 am ferry but with a bit of luck get the one 30 min earlier. It was a gorgeous morning and the wind was behind me. James (who had planned to ride to Malaga) had earmarked this day as a big mileage day due to wind direction and strength. Although he couldn’t take advantage of this I definitely did.
Safe in the knowledge that I would get the 2nd of the 2 ferries I had time to enjoy the ride across the 2 islands to get to the ferry as well as take some photos along the way. Also spotted my first Dutch windmill.
A bit like the day before I got to the ferry just as everyone was boarding, was the last one on and off the ferry went. I expected this to be a car and passenger ferry but it was a cyclist and passenger ferry with a deck for bikes and a deck for sitting. The ferry took us across Westerschelde from Vlissingen to Breskens and took around 15 min. It took me until later in the day to realise that the ferry distance was calculated in my ride distance but on the day I stoped the bike computer for the crossing and so the actual distance for the day was 10km less than ‘planned’. Phew. That took the pressure off.
I had one of my sandwiches on the ferry and once off the ferry I got a few pastries and a coffee in a local bakery (we’re not in France yet so it wasn’t a boulangerie).
Until I got to the cobbled climbs the route was pretty uneventful. Cycling infrastructure changed as I entered Belgium (not that I noticed entering Belgium until I spotted the road signs being different). I was cycling along some minor roads when crossing the border.
Belgium had notably less dedicated cycle lanes and they seemed to get less the further away from Holland I got. On the other hand there seemed to be numbered cycle routes everywhere. I had no idea where they were all going but every junction would have several numbered routes going in various directions, on mixes of road, gravel, concrete roads or disused railway lines.
My route took me along some of those as well as the Schipdonkkanaal. Although I was heading south and further and further away from the sea it took me until 60k from the ferry to rise into double digits in terms of metres above sea level. There was one exception, I rode into the town of Zomergem which was on a hill for lunch (20m above sea level) and then immediately returned to 8m.
As I approached the town of Oudenaarde the landscape started getting hillier and for the first time since Day 1 there was some proper climbing. Riding in the flat is nice for a while but does get tedious when freewheeling just isn’t an option.
I’d picked 5 climbs from the spring classics that I wanted to try and get up. I say try as cobbles, gradients of up to 22 % and a fully laden bike are not a great combination. As it was, I climbed 3 of them and descended the other 2 due to the way I’d mapped my route.
Koppenberg: Not just spring classics famous but also has a cyclocross race going up it and the cyclists go up it 5-6 times in that race. I did it once and got up it to my surprise. Less than 1km in length but max gradient of 22 %.
Paterberg: I descended that one on cobbles which was fun but not planned.
Oude Kwaremont: a long climb with the early part being on concrete and only late on do the cobbles kick in and they then seem to go on for a long time.
Kanarienberg: tarmac climb which I ended up descending. Brilliant as a descent. The climb from the other side was good and hard especially as it was my last climb of the day (nearly as I still had to climb up to Ellezelles to finish my ride for the day).
The 5th climb (The Mur of Gerardsbergen) was reserved for the next day.
Somewhere between the Koppenberg and the Paterberg I managed to build in a single track descent for which a mountain bike would have made more sense. Cue, comedy tumble.
The weather for the day was great as had been the theme since leaving Amble on day 2. It was warm and sunny for most of the day. After all the rush in the morning I rode into Ellezelles before 5pm having agreed a check in time of 6pm.
This started to give me some confidence in what I could do in a day. So, as I had an hour to kill, a beer in the local bar (well outside) on the town square was on order. The next day would be similar in distance with around double the amount of climbing.
So after 4 days, I was feeling pretty good and knocking off the miles quite easily. The 4th day also meant the 4th country. Day 5 would be 5th country as I was heading for France.
Planned Distance: 158km
Actual Distance: 148.85km
Trip Distance: 488.16km
Ascent for the day: 777m
Ascent for the trip: 3118m
Riding time: 7:21:00 hrs
Riding time for the trip: 22:54 hrs