There are two ways of telling when we are finally on our way.
The first is pretty obvious, we wake tomorrow morning and we have new neighbours in an entirely different neighbourhood to the one we woke up in today. Secondly we can be certain that everything in town will be closed on account of our presence.
We didn’t really have an early start, unless you count early afternoon, and in a completely uncharacteristic move, decided to press on anyway despite the forecast for rain and other inclemencies.
With one of summer’s extraordinarily long pleasant evenings ahead, we thought we could make some gentle miles once the heat of the day had been spent. At that point we hadn’t really come to terms with the fact that the heat of the day had actually been spent yesterday and today we were facing a twenty something degree reduction in temperature with more than enough wind chill and rain to make things feel a bit as one imagines one might feel if one is silly enough to jump from a sauna into fresh snow.
No more than a few minutes before we cast of our lines, our friendly harbour master arrived with the news that all the lifting bridges on our route were closing today between 18:00 and 21:00 for maintenance. A quick calculation said that we could get as far as the Leffinge Bridge, which probably not coincidentally bisects the lovely little village of Leffinge, twenty or so kilometres away, and by way of consolation for the shortened journey there is a waterfront pub right beside the bridge, where long pleasant evenings can be spent.
All went swimmingly. The lock and bridgekeepers to a man were extraordinarily chipper, the rain just enough to make us grateful for when it doesn’t, the chill enough to warrant long trousers and even socks, the wind not enough to cause any harsh words when docking.
But it turns out the pub is closed on Wednesdays. So is the Bakery, and in case we had any ideas of actually buying fresh bread in the morning before setting off, it closes Thursdays as well for good measure.
So here we are, all dressed up and nowhere to go, finally on our way.
1 comment
And this is how it always goes in Belgium and in France. We’ve often wondered when businesses ever open at all.
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