Everything has its limit - iron ore cannot be educated into gold. - Mark Twain
I have picked up the Kempen route (KEMPENROUTE) named after the Kempen lakes - I think - and will soon go through the Hoge Kempen National Park to get to Genk. The KEMPENROUTE goes up to Antwerp and I expect to follow that.
Maasmechelen.
This adventure with Mark Twain at my side is one of relearning wisdom lost or forgotten. For this tour I have only slightly increased my average daily mileage; I know my limit from previous tours and hope I remember to decrease the mileage when I again load up the tent and hut hillier landscapes.
I was smuggled across the border by boat via a quiet river crossing yesterday but now I re-enter Belgium on an exposed bridge.
Immediately back in Belgium and Flanders asserts itself.
I have picked up the Kempen route (KEMPENROUTE) named after the Kempen lakes - I think - and will soon go through the Hoge Kempen National Park to get to Genk. The KEMPENROUTE goes up to Antwerp and I expect to follow that.
Maasmechelen.
Hoge Kempen National Park and a good representation of the cycling today.
Genk is my 55km day and I use the time to visit one of the town's bike shops to buy two spare inner tubes and a set of spare skewers as I am feeling nervous after my skewer breakage and multiple punctures. If I have been over tightening the rear skewer leading it to shear then the front may have the same weakness and the replacement rear is an unknown second hand replacement, albeit very gratefully received. You don't usually take spare skewers for a three-week tour as they are not prone to breakage but it would not make for a good ending if I had problems given the earlier warning.
Genk is primarily known for the mining heritage that is still visible. My hotel tonight is close to the restored C-Mine in Winterslag; not shown below. Genk is a working town meaning the town isn't beautiful. Mining brought in workers from overseas and has a Turkish Mosque you can visit.
The visit to the bike shop reminds me that the Belgian people have embraced the e-bike and embrace new cycling technologies. The humble shopper bike with the classic step-through frame will feature up to date features and people are buying new bikes rather than keeping their old bikes going. In the UK we seem to need every bike on the spectrum from shopper to racer with many variants of hybrid in between and this confusion and profusion of offerings often leads people to buy the wrong bike. In Belgium the utility flat bar shopper does everything until you want to go out with your club on a Sunday when you bring out the drop bar carbon fibre race bike. Some of this is down to the terrain in Belgium, no mountains means no mountain bikes, and the cycle infrastructure means a quality shopper can take you further. The bike shop was excellent, they tried to find a base layer for me but didn't push anything on me and they offered coffee, a sure fire way to make you linger and browse.
Genk is large enough to have bakeries, these tea shops offer sandwiches to patisserie, hot drinks and a welcoming place when you require some sit down warmth and comfort. With no sun the forecast 20 degrees feels strangely cool.
I take a brief tour of the local mine to see how the town has maintained and developed.
My hotel for the night restores my faith in the service sector. Someone is on reception and without prompting they inform me where my bike can go, ask if I want to take breakfast and tell me the breakfast times and protocol; my room number will be on a table. They also pay homage to the town's mining heritage.
Genk is actually a place I wish I had time to explore. As a compromise I intend to cycle through a pond tomorrow and I'm excited to see how that works out.