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As beautiful as it is, Dinant’s focus on tourism was not quite our thing so we were ready to continue our route. We had a few rude car encounters, got “tourist trapped” in a restaurant, and sensed an unfriendly vibe as well as rain, rain, and more rain. The very morning we were to leave the weather was supposed to be beautiful. But Belgium had something better reserved for us. Check it out: We found ourselves feeling somewhat stuck and with a bit of a negative vibe. As much as we love cycling, we were carrying so much and packing every day had become “a thing.” We were also wet a significant amount of time. I did consider whether this feeling was due to us and our need to solve certain aspects of our new lifestyle, or whether it was due to something external, like the rain. Or a combination of both. Alas, just talking about it sometimes can change the feeling and help break us out of the moment: So–we decided we should leave Belgium ASAP, as if leaving the country would bring some sun into our route. But where to go and how to get there? We headed to the Tourist Information office to ask about train and bus travel possibilities with all our luggage. The facial expression of the woman who helped us when I asked her about the fastest way to get out of Belgium? Priceless. Still, she helped (Thank you!).
Regardless–our plan to continue the Eurovelo 5 towards Strasbourg, France, had to be modified. The next 100 kms on the Eurovelo had multiple and intense climbs and we were loaded; campgrounds were scarce along the route; alternative accommodation options were very expensive; and rain was expected in the mountains. Oh! And Horacio’s rack broke, because of the weight he was carrying (and the bike shop in Dinant was too busy to help–not kidding). Taking a train would be complicated with all our stuff. Plus, our best option in that case would have been to go back to Namur or Brussels to catch a faster train to Strasbourg, and as one of our motto says–”pa’ atrás, ni para tomar vuelito.” Staying in Dinant to continue to problem solve was out of the question. Horacio then proposed just changing our route and following the Meuse River along Eurovelo 19. We could grab that route from Dinant on our bicycles, it was mostly flat, and we could enter France 24 kms ahead. We would reconfigure packing and solve the rack problem somewhere else. Bingo! Grabbed our stuff and set our cycling, at around 4 pm, very happy to begin sensing the change of mindset. Comments are closed.
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