Tuesday, April 20, 2010
On the coast between Belgium and Holland lies a nature reserve called “Het Zwin” where an old rivermouth enters the sea. It was cool and overcast this morning with quite a strong wind which would turn to the west so I decided to do our trip in a clockwise direction to take advantage of the wind on our way back along the coast. We had to work quite hard against the wind to Oostburg and then on from there to Retrangement but after that it got easier.
Here I’m standing on a bridge over a canal close to the Zwin. The bridge is there especially for the cyclists. This section of the coast is almost entirely for tourism with lots of cycle paths and campings.
We stopped in Cadzand at a Spar to buy some rolls and cheese and had lunch in a sheltered spot along the path. Even though it is still out of season plenty people walked past and we heard german, french, english and of course dutch.
The sand from dredging the Westerschelde is used to widen the beach and also to increase the height of the dunes, quite artificial really but they are doing their best to make it look as natural as possible.
Here Ellie is looking at the result of their labours, all the grass has been planted and waiting for some rain.
Now we had the wind in our backs and we sailed along the cycling path on top of the dunes and got home a lot sooner than expected so we had time to visit on old soccer friend, Eddie Doens, at his work for a quick chitchat.
We arranged with my sister near Maldegem this morning to sleep over there on Friday so that means that our cycling trip proper will start on Saturday with probably our first night in the tent on Saturday night.