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Day 2 - Wervik

Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter. - Mark Twain

What can I say, I turn 60 later this year. 

With yesterday's rain and more to come I am relieved I left the tent at home. Back in Ypres it is close to being sunny so here is the "In Flanders Fields Museum" in a better light. 
And some local architecture. 
I had worried about Flanders being too flat or lacking in scenery but it is unreservedly beautiful. 
I am still on the FRONTROUTE 14-16 for most of today and am passing lots of smaller cemeteries. 

My legs are feeling the fatigue from yesterday but that's cycle touring. There are plenty of cyclists out today; the speedy lycra clad variety, the utility cyclists with bulky panniers and as I enjoy a mid-morning coffee a group of e-bike renters turn up. The mentality appears to be "why drive when I can jump on my bike?". 

I leave the FRONTROUTE 14-18 and join the HEUVELROUTE segment as part of my VLAANDERENROUTE (Flanders Route).
I hit a section of cobbles, or rather they hit me with a jolt. Pausing to eat breakfast leftovers I nearly slip over on the slick paving. It is hard to believe that they race on these cobbles. On the early days of cycle racing the roads were all cobbled, that was normal, in modern times it is thought tough to navigate a kilometer of these roads.
It has been an agricultural journey today as I weave around fields of sweetcorn, onions, leeks, dwarf freen beans, cauliflowers, courgettes and potatoes. I pass Wervik which lies at the point where France, Wallonia and Flanders meet so I dip into France and Wallonia with my satnav instructions happily adjusting to the language change.

By 3.30pm I am sat in the porch of a Carrefour supermarket having just bought dinner and tomorrow's lunch and there is a small but constant stream of bikes to the covered cycle racks as people do their shopping. For utility, a sit up and beg style position with a step-through frame is normal for men and women. 

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