Belgium was a pretty last minute decision. My dad had been moaning at me for going away to South Africa (even though it was booked in February earlier this year) because it stopped him being able to go to Belgium to go visit Flanders Fields. But because of me going to South Africa, he put off the visit and asked me a week before the due date of the trip if I'd like to go with him... One catch. It was to ride there on his motorbike... UHMMM.
Ever since my dad has started riding bikes again, I have been refusing to go on them and this weekend proved why. I did have a little test try on the bike the week before, but this was during good weather...
The weekend didn't go off to a good start. For example, my dad was 45 minutes late due to bad traffic. THEN on the way to Kent, the wind was so bad we were being blown to different lanes on the motorway. I'm bloody surprised we didn't end up in Munchkin land.
It was a little better whilst riding through France and into Belgium, but it still wasn't the ideal weather. The way home on the other hand was a different story. There was small bits of wind, but it was overall a pretty nice ride... Until we hit England.
The first 30 minutes were seamless, but from then on it poured down and it was horrendous. The helmet I had on was pure shit and the rain somehow managed to make it inside - it was like I was in a washing machine. The gloves were also shit; to the point I might as well have not been wearing any. And my jacket wasn't done up properly, so my top half got soaked.
Safe to say that there is more chance of the Queen being a man than there ever will be of me stepping foot on a bike again.
But enough about stupid bikes, lets talk a little about Belgium...
The City we stayed in was called Ypres and oh my god was this a beautiful city. I'm not sure what the rest of Belgium looks like, but the brick work was amazing, even down to the colours of the brick. There were cobbled streets, amazing architecture, a lot of war memorials and they were also Halloween mad.
On the Saturday we travelled to Tyne Cot cemetery, which is the worlds largest British and commonwealth war cemetery and we visited The Flanders Museum. We walked around the city and took in what we could in the short time we had - it was a truly beautiful city.
It was lovely being able to visit historic places, but it was overall just lovely to be in the city. The hotel was small, but modern. It was perfect for what we needed it for. Surprisingly me and my dad didn't argue, although he did often piss me off (which isn't surprising).
There isn't too much else to say about this trip, as it was only small; but it was still another Country ticked off it's still me sticking to my plans to travel wherever I can.
Would I recommend? Yes. Would I recommend biking there? No. BUT I would recommend people driving and doing road trips for a weekend from time to time; it's a nice mix up from getting a plane all time time. It's definitely made me realise I can do more weekend adventures than I thought. The ferry or Eurostar isn't that much money, and if you do it with another person (or more) all costs are split anyway.
SO... On to my next adventure!
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