With three days of riding ahead, our weekend started Friday with an early 8:00am Dover to Dunkirk crossing.

I’ve not been on a ferry for years – decades – so a few things stand out.

Truck drivers heading to and from the continent are very well trained and considerate even if at the 7:00am check-in traffic was light. I’d not want to cycle the approach road with regular tourist traffic. There is a rudimentary cycle lane but it is far from obvious – we didn’t notice it until our return. MarkC and I made our way down in pouring rain, worried about a day of poor weather ahead.

Passing through customs and boarding was pretty simple and with a calm sea the crossing itself was uneventful (just how I like it). Price gouging for breakfast and snacks was brutal but then again, Starbucks at Eurotunnel can teach you a thing or two about that too. Worth knowing that cycle shoes of any sort are not allowed on deck. Too high a chance of a slip in the canteen.

Overall my impression of the ferry crossing option was ‘fine’.

Boarding also brings you into contact with fellow travellers – in this case a New Zealand bikepacker headed for Norway and Estelle, returning to Belgium from a visit to a UK friend. She had a rear puncture as we boarded and over the course of the two hour crossing our group determined we really should offer to help.

So it was that after debarking our first act was to help her fix her puncture. I am pretty sure Estelle knew exactly what she should do and how to do it and simply had the bad luck to have already used her spare tube the day before. Rather than inanely attempt to help, I let Gordon get on with it and he did a fine job!

On our way

Good deed done, we were on our way. The good news was it had stopped raining although the wind had a chilling effect.

First miles were dubious navigating out of the ferry terminal – it’s just not a place for big trucks and bikes to mix. We were kept reasonably separate from them but I was glad to get out and pick up quieter roads.

It wasn’t long before the days challenge became clear. We were riding east to Bruges and the prevailing wind should have been a kind hand at our backs. But it was straight off the North Sea and into our faces! With half the group classing themself as MTBers and with unfamiliar road riding companions we didn’t ride very efficiently either.

Rather than riding closely and rotating riders on the front for at best a minute or two, we strung out in a long tail which always risks splitting the pack. This took some time for us to get a grip of but I think by the end of the weekend it was better as we got to know each other. But we never completely cracked it (something to practice).

Early on, it was also a case of navigating an extensive cycle lane provision through Dunkirk and becoming familiar with traffic light sequences and rights of way.

Finding our feet

Once past Dunkirk we got into our groove, finding quiet cycle lanes away from traffic to make steady progress. We passed Estelle (who must have a more direct route through town) and swapped places with our New Zealand bikepacker until Estelle caught us and then effortlessly dropped us all.

Progress was relaxed as we put the industrial landscape behind us and passed the Bray Dunes. After just 20 miles we were over the border and into Belgium. It didn’t take us long – just two miles later entering the town of De Panne for lunch – to notice the difference in traffic behaviour.

France was good but in Belgium their car insurance assumes drivers fault in the event of a collision with a cyclist. In town, traffic is 30kph and all of it gives way to bikes. As a result, lots and lots of people cycle, of all age groups.

It was very refreshing but took me a long time to trust that a driver would give way. But they always did, even on roundabouts, with no sign of frustration at all.

Coupled with an extensive cycle lane network it feels like seeing positive culture change in real time. Belgium has a way to go to meet Dutch standards with many cycle lanes just red paint on the road but its light years ahead of the UK and already pretty decent.

Don’t let anyone tell you so many people cycle because it is flat either. Much of Belgium isn’t and those headwinds are tough, as we found out after a hearty lunch in De Panne. The real difference is the use of e-bikes to get around. From what I can see, that’s the leveller above all else.

Some self reflection

From De Panne we had the best part of 20 miles into that strong wind and it was heavy going after the large pizza I couldn’t finish for lunch (JR helped me out after his own massive meal!).

To be honest I was very much enjoying the riding, the route and the company but felt unsettled, the consequences of which would affect me on subsequent days.

Perhaps I was a bit fed up with the wind and the overcast skies when we’d all been hoping for summer sunshine. C’est la vie.

More likely, it’s just a faff to have to ride with panniers for 200 miles because they are not aerodynamic and the bike felt heavy. My neck is a continually destabilising and unreliable friend resulting in headaches and migraines, both the source and repository of any stress I might feel.

Perhaps too, as an introvert I simply need moments of quiet over the course of three days. Some of that can be fixed and some of that can be ameliorated but this was my first multi day effort, so you learn a lot.

Along the north coast

Moving on, much of the next 20 miles to Ostend was along the North Sea coast so we were very exposed to the elements. The weather remained overcast, very windy and threatening but not delivering rain. As we are in summer season there were lots of tourists and children sharing the promenade cycle track, on foot, bike or in four wheeled pedal powered ‘cars’. They were either going slowly in our direction or quite quickly in the other.

Not the place for a paceline even if we could organise one!

So we ambled steadily along, passing through the attractive inlet of Nieuwport and then reaching the German Aachen Battery/Atlantic Wall fortifications at Raversijde used in both WW1 and WW2 to defend Ostend. It’s a bleak set of bunkers and gun emplacements along the beach front, some of it restored as part of a museum there but we didn’t have enough time to explore on this occasion.

Shortly after, we were in Ostend itself – another place I’d like to explore – where we turned inland to pick up the Ghent – Ostend canal that took us all the way to Bruges.

The run in to Bruges

At this point JR and his road crew started to stretch their legs while Lloyd, having surpassed his longest ever ride distance, was starting to suffer. Our pack split on the wide tarmac of the canal towpath/cyclepath but we still had a headwind despite having turned from going north east to east!!

I set off to catch the leading group but it took me nearly three miles to reel in a 400-500 yard gap into the teeth of the wind. It kept me warm but it didn’t do much good slowing everybody so Lloyd and chaperone MarkC could re-join us!

By the time I caught them and we re-grouped we were at the start of the Bruges suburbs.

Bruges

I love Bruges. You can ride free of traffic from the surrounding countryside right into the heart of the city, facilitated by the canals that helped it become so propserous in the middle ages. It remains so to this day – riding in you pass any number of places you’d like to call home.

This time round we stayed at the Bois de Bruges hotel opposite VrijdagMarkt (Friday Market). These days it turned out the market was Saturday mornings! I was very happy with the hotel, it offered good quality accommodation inside and a comfortable night after a nice steak and Leffe meal in the city centre.

We chose not have the breakfast next morning and to head out to eat; not the best experience with several cafes actually turning us away. Was it us as cyclists or that we were not local or that we were English? It wasn’t clear; maybe they just didn’t do breakfast but Day 2 was a longer days’ ride and a good breakfast would have been welcome.

When I am in Bruges again, I’ll do some searching on the apps to find somewhere better to eat.

About the author

Matt is one of the founding Molefathers of the Muddymoles, and is the designer and main administrator of the website.

Having ridden a 2007 Orange Five for many years then a 2016 YT Industries Jeffsy 29er, he now rocks a Bird Aether 9 and a Pace RC-627.

An early On-One Inbred still lurks in the back of the stable as a reminder of how things have moved on. You can even find him on road bikes - currently a 2019 Cannondale Topstone 105 SE, a much-used 2011 Specialized Secteur and very niche belt drive Trek District 1.

If you've ever wondered how we got into mountain biking and how the MuddyMoles started, well wonder no more.