The wind forecast is slightly more favourable this morning, but not stellar. The good thing is that we will have the wind at our backs for most of the route.
Our first stop is within Bruges at three old windmills. Their buildings are a different shape than the ones we saw previously. These wind mills ground grain into flour before they were moved and became landmarks.
Once out of Bruges the route is pretty straight, northwest to the coast. Murray planned the route to go around the Zwin Nature Park. On the gravel path on top of the berm, we meet a group of road riders and two tourists. They tell us the path is blocked and we have to turn around, so we do. We follow them and end up riding on a very narrow (in Debbie’s view) single track at the back side of the berm, next to the forest. I think I ran over a dead mouse! We end up well away from our planned route so Murray has to guide us back to the Komoot route.
Once on the coast, we ride a well traveled wide, paved path along the coast to the Westerschelde Ferry terminal. This is our first view of the waters of the North Sea. White caps, grey water, wide sand beach and cargo ships passing by. With the wind at our backs we are easily going 25 km/hr on a path with walkers, dogs, children and groups of people. A little too fast for my comfort. This area is a busy summer destination with numerous campgrounds on the land side of the dunes.
We board the passenger and bike (no cars) ferry for the 20 minute trip across the Westerschelde Estuary. The seas are rough due to the wind, but the ferry chugs along. We play chicken with the cargo ships passing.
After disembarking, we ride along a canal from Vlissingen to Middelburg, a distance of only about 7 kms. The wind is still strong and it makes a roaring sound in the tops of the trees. We are safe lower to the ground and behind an embankment and bushes.
Middelburg is a quaint university town, quiet and well laid out. The buildings are not as old as, say, Bruges or Ghent, but are still quite picturesque.
