- Joined
- Oct 5, 2007
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- 4,886
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- Location
- Alkmaar Netherlands
On Friday I left home about 0800, meeting up with a mate of mine Ronald at a petrol station not far from my home (he had travelled an extra half an hour to get to me). We left Alkmaar on the motorway (our journey to Ieper was all motorway). We split traffic around Amsterdam (as is usual at this time), but other than that we had no hold ups. We stopped at Hazeldonk West services on the Belgian border after about 2 hours of riding. We had a cake and coffee here before heading off again. The weather had been a bit changeable, now and then a shower, but also occasionally some sunshine.
We arrived at ieper just after midday, unfortunately the Geko rally was taking place which meant that the grote markt (where the “in flanders fields museum was situated”) was closed to traffic. After chatting to the traffic guy he said we could ride into the edge of the markt and park there. The whole market area was full of trailers and stalls to do with car racing, as well as the finish line for the rally, we parked on the edge and took all our gear (including tank bags) to the museum.
Luckily the museum had large lockers which were big enough for my tank bag, helmet, trousers and jacket, and they only cost €1, which you got back when you left :thumbup:.
The museum was situated in an old building (the "lakenhal") which gave it a very airy and eerie atmosphere. At the beggining we got a rubber bracelet with the symbol of a poppy on it, with which we could log into the computer system and fill in your country, this way if you scanned the bracelet at some of the displays it would show a film or give commentary in your language.
The museum took you through the history of the war starting at the beginning when people still hoped and believed in a swift war, and as the time dragged on how desparation set in and how the artillary improved during the war so more than 2/3 of the people were simply killed by grapeshot shells, and those that survived this got to go over the top
There was a film which coupled with 2 other screens (showing maps of the area) showed how the lines moved, or rather how they stayed still.
Part way around the exhibitions we took a trip up the tower to the belfry, where we had a great view over the city.
Anyway after having a sandwich in the museum cafe we picked up our stuff from the locker and got ready to leave. We followed the route to Ronse where we stopped for a short break.
After this we headed eastward on our route, but after about 45 mins of riding we decided to take the short route to Leuven, this took us onto the motorway which at this time on Friday afternoon was pretty much jammed up . at least we could split the traffic, but it still meant going slow.
We arrived at the youth hostel about 20 mins too late, but luckily they hadn’t started eating yet, so we could drop our stuff and then go and get our meal.
After a schnitzel and chips followed by chocolate Mouse we went up to our 5 person room for a shower. As hostel rooms go it was very neat and it had it’s own bathroom with a wc, but also a seperate WC and a seperate wash basin. The hostel was situated behind the central station in Leuven, after taking the tunnel under the railway Lines it was only about a 1Km walk into the town center. So we went off for a few chilled belgium Beers.
The next day we started with breakfast about 0730, after this we left to ride the route to Dinant. At about 1045 we stopped for a coffee break, it was a little cafe with a nice verander area out front. After this we headed for Dinant where we all had a luxury packed lunch parked at the citadel (which overlooks the city), on this trip we had a bus with us that not only was the sweeper (as you could fit 2 broken down motorbikes in the back) but also the lunch brigade. We all got a guided tour around the citadel whilst several people stayed with the bikes. It was an interesting tour, with a lot of history from 13th century (as a castle) up to the second World war, as a fort. Dinant is also the origins of Leffe beer
After about an hour we left to complete the ride back to Leuven on the way back we stopped off in the town of Hoegaarden, anyway we all ordered coke, but the waiter couldn’t believe we didn’t want at least one of his local (Hoegaarden) Beers.
Anyway back to the hostel in Leuven to drink lots of hoegaarden Beers and have a great BBQ, the weather had been great all day, and continued on into the evening.
The next day a Group of six of us took a back road route to Valkenswaard on the Dutch border, but despite all our efforts to stay up beat, a whole morning of pouring rain was just too much, after a sandwich and a drink we hit the motorway for a 2 hour ride to get home.
It had been a great trip, shame that the weather was so bad on Sunday, but other than this it was a great mix of having a great drink in the evenings and a great ride during the days.
We arrived at ieper just after midday, unfortunately the Geko rally was taking place which meant that the grote markt (where the “in flanders fields museum was situated”) was closed to traffic. After chatting to the traffic guy he said we could ride into the edge of the markt and park there. The whole market area was full of trailers and stalls to do with car racing, as well as the finish line for the rally, we parked on the edge and took all our gear (including tank bags) to the museum.
Luckily the museum had large lockers which were big enough for my tank bag, helmet, trousers and jacket, and they only cost €1, which you got back when you left :thumbup:.
The museum was situated in an old building (the "lakenhal") which gave it a very airy and eerie atmosphere. At the beggining we got a rubber bracelet with the symbol of a poppy on it, with which we could log into the computer system and fill in your country, this way if you scanned the bracelet at some of the displays it would show a film or give commentary in your language.
The museum took you through the history of the war starting at the beginning when people still hoped and believed in a swift war, and as the time dragged on how desparation set in and how the artillary improved during the war so more than 2/3 of the people were simply killed by grapeshot shells, and those that survived this got to go over the top
There was a film which coupled with 2 other screens (showing maps of the area) showed how the lines moved, or rather how they stayed still.
Part way around the exhibitions we took a trip up the tower to the belfry, where we had a great view over the city.
Anyway after having a sandwich in the museum cafe we picked up our stuff from the locker and got ready to leave. We followed the route to Ronse where we stopped for a short break.
After this we headed eastward on our route, but after about 45 mins of riding we decided to take the short route to Leuven, this took us onto the motorway which at this time on Friday afternoon was pretty much jammed up . at least we could split the traffic, but it still meant going slow.
We arrived at the youth hostel about 20 mins too late, but luckily they hadn’t started eating yet, so we could drop our stuff and then go and get our meal.
After a schnitzel and chips followed by chocolate Mouse we went up to our 5 person room for a shower. As hostel rooms go it was very neat and it had it’s own bathroom with a wc, but also a seperate WC and a seperate wash basin. The hostel was situated behind the central station in Leuven, after taking the tunnel under the railway Lines it was only about a 1Km walk into the town center. So we went off for a few chilled belgium Beers.
The next day we started with breakfast about 0730, after this we left to ride the route to Dinant. At about 1045 we stopped for a coffee break, it was a little cafe with a nice verander area out front. After this we headed for Dinant where we all had a luxury packed lunch parked at the citadel (which overlooks the city), on this trip we had a bus with us that not only was the sweeper (as you could fit 2 broken down motorbikes in the back) but also the lunch brigade. We all got a guided tour around the citadel whilst several people stayed with the bikes. It was an interesting tour, with a lot of history from 13th century (as a castle) up to the second World war, as a fort. Dinant is also the origins of Leffe beer
After about an hour we left to complete the ride back to Leuven on the way back we stopped off in the town of Hoegaarden, anyway we all ordered coke, but the waiter couldn’t believe we didn’t want at least one of his local (Hoegaarden) Beers.
Anyway back to the hostel in Leuven to drink lots of hoegaarden Beers and have a great BBQ, the weather had been great all day, and continued on into the evening.
The next day a Group of six of us took a back road route to Valkenswaard on the Dutch border, but despite all our efforts to stay up beat, a whole morning of pouring rain was just too much, after a sandwich and a drink we hit the motorway for a 2 hour ride to get home.
It had been a great trip, shame that the weather was so bad on Sunday, but other than this it was a great mix of having a great drink in the evenings and a great ride during the days.
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