Earlier today I returned from a great two day cycle tour in Belgium.
Cycling along the canal banks seems to be a favourite of mine, having cycled this particular route 4 times in the last four years.
This time, the planned two day route was just over 200 km.
Yesterday I cycled 93 km from Heerlen to my overnight stop in Leopoldsburg, Belgium.
Although it’s only April, the temperatures were quite high, reaching 25c by mid-afternoon.
The planned 105 km return home today was cut short by about 30 km as I was forced to stop when I reached Berg aan de Maas.
I left my overnight stop at around 06:30 and made good progress along various canal bank cycle paths.
Just like the previous day the temperatures rose quickly and by mid-day it was around 26c.
My legs were getting bad cramp and it became impossible to ride more than 3-4 km without stopping.
To make matters worse the front tyre punctured as I rode away from the ferry across the Maas.
The puncture would normally be fixed at the roadside but the worsening cramp meant I had to stop and get Ans to collect me and the bike in the car.
Not the way I like to end a bike trip, but it was still a great two day cycling experience, as you can see from some of the pictures.
Today’s featured image is the sunrise over low-lying mist just to the north of Leopoldsburg, taken at around 06:40.
