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We finally reached Mulhouse! In one month, we cycled from Brussels to Strasbourg to Mulhouse. We took only 1 train (crazy TGV experience, not to be repeated!), which was needed in order to keep up with our timeframe. Here is our route in more detail (please check out the map under "updates"):
Brussels airport to Brussels City: 14 kms Brussels - Overijse: 20 kms Overijse - Gembloux: 34 kms Gembloux - Namur: 25 kms Namur - Dinant: 29 kms Dinant - Givet: 25 kms Givet - Charleville-Mézièrs: 93 kms Charleville - Sedan - Charleville: 60 kms (Day trip to the castle, beautiful town) Charleville-Mézières - Strasbourg: TRAIN Strasbourg - Obernai: 45 kms Obernai - Scherwiller: 36 kms Scherwiller - Colmar - Breisach: 58 kms Breisach - Neuenburg: 35 kms Neuenburg - Mulhouse: 35 kms TOTAL: ~509 kms, fully loaded and happy. How cool is that? We have cycled under the hot sun and under the pouring rain. We have seen bigger cities and smaller towns, we have camped mostly in campgrounds and have stayed in a couple AirB&B’s. We have gotten lost multiple times, we've had disagreements about small and not-so-small things, and we've problem-solved on the spot. We have learned that physical maps and common sense often work much better than mobile applications. We have gone from being taken over by all the stuff we were initially carrying to taking control of what we carry. We still have to find more solutions to our load, but we are doing so much better. We even downsized our packing time from 4-5 hours to about 3 (pretty impressive, huh?). And we have carved out time to work. Now we are resting and working in Mulhouse for a couple of days, while also getting ready for the second leg of the adventure: Mulhouse to Nantes. It's a pretty long one (over 1000 kms.) and by now we have realized that we underestimated the time it would take us to cover those distances. The weather and the need to rest slowed us down, as is natural. We just didn't quite calculate those needs too precisely. We want to reach Portugal by the first week of October in order to cycle there for 1 month and leave on time before our visa expires. We will have to make some adjustments to achieve this–pretty much a train here and there. On the bigger picture–after Europe we planned to cycle in Taiwan in November and then move on to Vietnam, Thailand, and Laos. Already, these countries have been closed to non-essential travel or have extreme measures in place for tourism, so we will probably have to completely change our plans. We will deal with that in about a month, hoping meanwhile that COVID-19 gets more and more under control everywhere around the world. I did fall in love with the Alsace–the beautiful towns, the hills, the vineyards, the castles popping up here and there, the people we met and the sun. So here go Haikus #2 and #3: Pueblos, castillos, de repente aparecen ¡Siempre me asombran! Tantos viñedos Se me antojan las uvas ¡Qué bella Alsacia!       From Strasbourg to Mulhouse
To France! 08/20-21/2021
Leaving Dinant was difficult, not because I had grown attached to the town, but because of the usual–we had way too much stuff, and it was awful having to wheel it through the tight turns and uphills of narrow Dinant. After the usual morning downpour, we stopped at the train station to see if we could find a train, any train really, to catch. Our plan was to ask, “where is the train that goes the farthest from here?” and board that one without a moment’s hesitation. Unfortunately we found no personnel at the station, and after getting help from the tourist office, we decided that taking a train wasn’t a possibility that day, leaving us with two choices–stay in Dinant one more night to try and take a train tomorrow, or keep riding. Famished, we sat down on a dock to debate our options over a feast of mushy fruit, nutella, and crackers spread with brie and jelly. As we munched, we realized that we were only 25 kms from the border with France. We immediately decided to bolt. Half an hour later, we were making our way down the loopy riverside of the Meux, making a dash for the French village of Givet. We arrived late to the camping, so there was no one to check in with. We decided it was probably ok to set up camp anyway, and pay the next morning. The camp felt less like a campsite and more like a neighborhood of RVs. There were trailers that had obviously been parked there for months, if not permanently, with overgrown grass poking out from beneath, and garden decorations placed (or scattered) across the lawn or hung upon wooden fences. Many of the residents seemed to know each other like neighbors, and there were even a few barbeques. There wasn’t much space for tents, apart from one shared with a camper in a speedo who had his stereo playing at full volume, so we instead chose to camp on a gravel rectangle for RVs. We assembled our tents, all the while closely eyed by one of the residents from across the street, who came out from his camper and just stood there with disdain on his face, watching us. When he didn’t return our greetings, we wondered if perhaps it was defensiveness, perhaps because it seemed like we’d made ourselves at home in the neighborhood without checking in, which was somehow taken as lacking respect. And it seemed we had guessed right, for when we explained our situation to another resident, went out to hunt our dinner, and returned with the catch of the evening (delicious chicken burgers, salad, and fries from a fast-food place), I think the friendlier resident told the skeptical one, and this time he shouted greeting from his camper, as if telling us, “no hard feelings.” Regardless, I didn’t like it one bit. And we don’t need anyone's permission to stay at a campsite. Whether they like it or not, we have every right to be where we are and do what we do. We don’t need anyone’s stamp of approval. But the chicken burgers were really good. Namur and Dinant. 08/18-19/2021
More rain, more clouds, more pedaling. Stressful at times, but the road calls me forward and I keep going. We reach Namur, where I stay in my first hostel ever, and sit down in the communal area for a nice evening over an entire package of crepes and a jar of nutella. I remember passing a sketchy bridge and a fortress, but it was too high up and we didn’t have the energy or the time to climb it. I’m still trying to figure out how to waterproof my instrument. So far, I’ve managed to cut and tape a few garbage bags together (which I asked for in French), but I need more. The included breakfast at the hostel is delicious and abundant. We follow the river, and I enjoy greeting and being greeted by passing cyclists. Actually, the younger the friendlier, it seems. We even pass a couple different groups of kids on bikes, probably from summer camps, but with panniers! We also run into another family of bikepackers, also musicians! We chat a bit, take a photo, and part ways. Then we make our way to Dinant. We continue down the river, with a few detours into the highway or small neighboring towns due to closures on the bike path–probably because of the disastrous summer floods. Though they had felt far away, no longer. Behind the stop signs and barriers, I could see a muddy mess where a road had once been, or no road at all–just land that dipped completely into the water. That’s the thing about being on a bike–you feel vulnerable sometimes, small, and close to everything. It’s wonderful. We arrive in Dinant, wash up, and go for a lovely evening hunt for food. A personal project of mine is to write haikus throughout the year. This is a form of poetry that I have loved for many years now. Why? Because in a few lines, and a specific number of syllables, it intends to capture a moment; because it is so closely tied with nature, with wonder, with sensations and with emotions; and because it also offers the possibility of a social activity (eg, haikai). I will share what I write, though I am expecting most will be in Spanish (sorry!). I will try to translate here and there but am not sure how this will go.
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