A road trip to Belgium and Luxembourg was a perfect opportunity to put those bikes to good use, for once
Words & photography: Angela Chester
Like many other caravanners, my friend and I bring our bicycles along, but their function is generally more ornamental than practical, as we rarely use them a great deal. This year, we made a concerted effort to ensure that they were an integral part of the holiday and headed straight to Belgium, where they were finally put to good use.
We set off to a campsite near Bruges and stopped en route at the pretty little town of Veurne, about an hour’s drive from Calais. As the sun came out on the town square, we enjoyed our first beers of the trip.
Veurne is an interesting place, noted for the fine thirteenth century Sint-Niklaaskerk whose 47 bells and ‘bomtje,’ or, ‘little bomb,’ can be heard chiming across the square throughout the day. It was also the home town of the Belgian pop musician, Will Tura. He is known as the Emperor of the Flemish Song, and his delightful statue invites people to play a duet with him on his iconic keyboard in homage to his long and impressive career.
Suitably refreshed, we arrived a little later in the neat Camping Memling, positioned just fifteen minutes’ cycling distance from Bruges where almost every visitor moved around on two wheels. No excuses for not using our bikes this time.
We were up early and raring to go the next morning and, despite a few nerves about cycling alongside the traffic, we trundled triumphantly through the iconic Kruispoort gateway into the city and headed straight to the centre.
It was easy to navigate our way through the cobbled backstreets and we soon found ourselves parked by a canalside bar – success! Our huge black pots of moules frites and artisan beers from the bar’s own microbrewery were well deserved, delicious, and didn’t take long to devour.
We continued our cycling tour of the city for another day, stopping for coffees, rich chocolates and picnics in the public park, dodging beer delivery scooters whizzing past us and enjoying the sense of freedom that the combination of caravanning and cycling gave us.
But Bruges can also be experienced by boat. Meandering through its intricate network of canals gave a different perspective of the city and allowed us to enjoy it at a different pace. The tour guide explained some of the city’s rich history, as well as the five styles of buildings that make up the architectural pa
