Day 3 - Avelgem

There are lies, damned lies and statistics. - Mark Twain

I'll try and avoid too many references to daily distances and averages. However, for the 21 days of the tour I will cover 726 miles which is a daily average of 35 miles, or 40 miles a day if you exclude the 3 non-cycling days.

Today starts out on minor roads and cycleways and brings my along the river Liei, or the La Lys as it was yesterday when I dipped into France. The sun is out, it is cool and perfect cycling weather and even the wind is mostly a tailwind though as I wind round the countryside the wind catches me from all directions. 

It's a Wednesday and this is the first group ride I've seen and they were audibly noticeable behind me from the hum of tyres on concrete. Everyone in the group is too lean and well turned out in top-to-toe team kit for them to be just keen amateurs so I take them to be members of team Soudal Quick-Step with interlopers from Lidl-Trek and Alpecin-Deceuninck.

Still on the Liei I am entering Kortrijk and am happy to stop to answer a few questions from someone running a tourist survey. 

Belgium has plenty of bars where you can get an alcoholic beverage and also food; tapas style, mussels, main dish, all with chips and mayonnaise. If like me you are just looking for a coffee then the bars are the solution if you can't find the equivalent to Costa Coffee. At Kortrijk I use a bakery with a coffee machine, hot waffles and a smaller counter to sit at. At least I was rested when I found I had punctured; I took my time, found the chip of glass and repaired the puncture to save a job later.

A little bit of Bruges in Kortrijk. 

Cows stop traffic.

Big skies. 

I am following the HEUVELROUTE to the western edge of Belgium. Heuvel means hill and today there have been delicious soft gradients. Someone asked why there appeared to be a Belgian Blue cow in the dairy herd crossing the road when Belgian Blues are beef cattle. A good question and it turns out that Belgian Blues are also routinely used as dairy cattle. 

There are still short sections of cobbles. 

I climb the gentle approach up to the Tiegenberg which stands at 79m and my route is designed to take in this berg. So cobbles and bergs ticked off my list.

As the plinth says, Jeff Planckaert - Flandrien 1934 - 2007.

Towards the end of the day I see a couple of goats with a bus in the background. I stand by my earlier assertion that I saw Soudal Quick-Step riders especially as the team is based just west of Kortrijk. The wolf eyes are intended to strike fear in any competition as the team fondly calls itself the Wolf Pack.

A fantastic day's riding.

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