17 February 2017

This morning I left Leuven. And it started very well with some rain, but I still had to move on. In Brussel I visited the grand place, but because of the rain and the crowd I left as quickly as I came. I cycled 59,6 km and arrived pretty early at the house of Brigitte, so I had to wait a little bit, but after everyone got home we ate a delicious spaghetti dish.

18 February 2017

Wat a heavy day! The morning started good, except for my GPS, that was sending me everywhere except in the right direction. Luckily I had my telephone with maps.me. I arrived around 15:00 in Jeumont and decided to cycle a little bit further to Leschelle, where a couchsurfer had invited me. After that it only became darker and I watched the sun go down. With the dark there also came a very murky fog. At a moment I could only see about 10 meters in the distance. But I didn't want to give up and cycled along. At 19:30 I was really done with it and gave up to reach Leschelle today. In a local hospital I asked for a place to sleep, but they send me to the hotel that was closed. After that I cycled around in the place called Le Nouvion-en-Thiérache. I saw a man standing at the portal of a flat and asked him in my best French for a place to sleep. He asked his wife, who asked the neighbour and finally I had found a place to sleep after 116,3 km. She didn't spoke a word English, but thanks to technology we could communicate a little bit. I made some food and felt asleep in my first warm bed in France.

19 February 2017

It was -5 degrees last night! But since I already got a bed for tonight at a shorter distance, I decided to try the click shoes. That was a bad decision. Around the corner of the flat there was a fence, and guess what happened, I felt on my knee. But I cycled along, ate breakfast in the forest, climbed over a fence and went on a better road. Then I needed to get up a hill and felt on my elbow. After that I was done with the shoes, unpacked my bag and put on my regular shoes. That felt a lot better. I climbed over a fence again with my bike to reach the normal world and cycled 26,7 km to Jo in Vadencourt without any more struggles. She showed me her cute little English house and after a good vegetarian meal we drank some tea and went to bed.

20 February 2017

I woke up early because of Jo's dog. I had a short shower, because otherwise the water would have flown over. After breakfast I packed my stuff en went to Chauny. It was drizzling a little bit, but didn't matter. I cycled a long way along a canal, what was nice because there were less hills to go over. When I arrived in Chauny I had to find a place to sleep. After hating myself for not daring to ask someone I ringed at a door. An old man opened the door, but told me I couldn't sleep at his place. After his wife got home I got some tea and they called 'family'. After a while I could cycle behind his car to the former apartment of his daughter. I could sleep on the floor and cook for myself. He also showed me where I could get breakfast the next morning. I cycled 54 km today.

21 February 2017

I got a breakfast at Chain Nico and a good cup of tea. After that I cycled to Noyon through a lot of wind and rain, got myself some cheese for lunch and after lunch I cycled 46,8 km to Compiègne. Jean-Claude cooked dinner with soup, salad, eggs, potatoes, cheese (from Gouda) and bread. An odd combination, but it tasted good.

22 February 2017

Today I slept a little bit longer and went with the free bus to the city of Compiègne. I walked a little bit around to see the Palais, the city and bought a panini. After I got back, I started updating this blog and maybe watch some tv. As a surprise Jean-Claude called me to visit a 'castle'. We went with the car to the Chateau of Pierrefonds and drank some coffee, tea and ate a 'gaufre'.