Last night was cold—the temperature dropped to 6°C. Expecting warmer weather at this time of year, I had only brought a thin sleeping bag. I wore base layers during the night, but they weren’t enough. Eventually, I put on every piece of clothing I had to stay warm.
After packing up, I returned to Bruges’ old town to finish what I couldn’t do yesterday: pay a visit to the Bourgogne des Flandres brewery, and cough up €9 for a small bottle of Cantillon Geuze I’d been eyeing in Brussels. Hopefully, I won’t mishandle this one like I did the others yesterday and will manage to bring it home safely.
With that mission accomplished, I continued on my “beer route” to Roeselare—more specifically, to the Rodenbach brewery. It was a short hop, just under forty kilometers. I ordered a tasting board; all the beers leaned toward the fruity and lighter side.
Next, I cycled to Ypres, drawn there mainly because the local brewery—Kazematten—had a name that sounded familiar and oddly appealing. Knowing that the brewery isn’t open to the public, I grabbed a bottle at a store and enjoyed it with dinner.
I hadn’t expected much from Ypres. In my mind, it had been completely destroyed during World War I, like Rotterdam during WW II, and was likely rebuilt in a bland, modern style. But either the damage wasn’t as extensive as I thought, or the city was meticulously restored. In any case, I was pleasantly surprised to see typical Dutch-style houses and historic public buildings.
There’s a striking memorial in Ypres dedicated to the Allied soldiers who died in the battles fought there. Numbers like 25 000 dead are often abstract—but seeing all the walls of the memorial inscribed with their names was deeply moving.
Tomorrow is last salvo of the trip – two Trappist Abbeys and their breweries.
Today in numbers:
60 km – distance cycled
1917 — during Third Battle of Ypres German army used mustard gas also known as Yperite for the first time