Georg

OK. Not quite really, but at least I’ve included the famous Carrefour de l'Arbre in my route. A magnificent spectacle to cycle there just a few hours before the pros, when the place is already packed with spectators who were cheering on absolutely everyone. Start of the day was before in a wonderful woodland behind Froyennes. Later around Lac du Heron, back up towards Roubaix and through the Parc Barbieux, then along the Canal de Roubaix, and rounded off the day with a tour through the Parc de la Citadelle in Lille again.

The lower section of Ravel 141 is now also complete. The beautiful Viaduc d’Arquennes can currently bypassed, even though the surfacing on the Ravel is still missing for a few hundred metres south of the bridge. Onwards via La Louvière to Mons. From there, along the Nimy-Blaton-Péronnes Canal, then along the Scheldt through Tournai and finally along the Bossuit-Kortrijk Canal.

First real MTB ride of the year. A combination of the Eupen and Raeren routes. Beautiful scenery, good weather conditions and a successful test of the bike following the switch to tubeless. Unfortunately, I couldn’t really get into a proper flow, particularly on the Raeren section, because there are quite a lot of tree trunks (some of them clearly placed there on purpose) and other obstacles lying across the route, and in the woodland sections there are numerous ditches, water channels and the like which (at least at the moment) cannot be ridden through. Carrying the bike on your back sometimes is part of the game – but when you have to do it every 50m for two hours, it honestly starts to get very annoying...

After starting with a brief taste of fresh sea air in Ostend, the first 60km were rather uneventful, following a dull main road down to Halluin – and to make matters worse, with a fairly strong headwind all the time limiting speed a lot. That route had intentionally been planned this way due to the forecast of bad weather - which, luckily, didn´t take place. Fortunately, and as compensation for this, I then had another 35 km along wonderful gravel paths alongside the Lys, the Canal de la Deûle and through the Parc de la Citadelle in Lille. Should have happend allready back in December as the finale of my tour along the Lys at the time, which, however, ended that day prematurely in Halluin due to a breakdown. Now it´s finally done!

Originally planned to be just along the L37 and the upper part of the Vennbahn, but extended then from Aachen to Landgraaf at short notice. Arrived there earlier than expected and spontaneously decided to just keep going till Maastricht. Once there, it didn't really matter anymore and the adrenaline kicked me finally back till Liège.

Following the Dijle from its source till Leuven, then along the Leuven-Dijle Canal to the Rupel and on to Berchem.

Belgian section of the Zuid-Willemsvaart, continuing along the Meuse. Constant headwind and rain, which grew stronger by the hour and only subsided shortly after reaching the destination. I didn't know it was possible to get so wet; swimming in the canal instead of cycling along the bank might have been drier. ‍

This time, railway lines instead of canals: L36 Landen-Leuven-Brussels and L25/25n/27 Brussels-Antwerpen, and a ‘test ride’ on the renovated sections of the Fitsensnelweg F1 between Mechelen-Station and Nekkerspoel. It can now truly be called a cycle highway: Wide enough for two bikes in each direction, all intersections with motor vehicle traffic replaced by overpasses or underpasses, and extra-wide junctions with other cycle paths. Please make it like this everywhere!

Continued with the plan to cyle along all of Belgium's canals. This time, headed back to the north. The spring-like weather was perfect for that. Finished by a short detour to the gigantic construction site for the Oosterweelverbinding.

A beautiful tour through the snow, mostly inside forest areas. Relatively short, as riding through the snow required quite a lot of power, resulting in the lowest average speed I have ever cycled at. However, the scenery was well worth it.