Brussels to Dinant

I feel like google maps has a sense of humor sometimes. Not to say that the automated voice which tells me where to go makes joked along the way, although that would be welcome. No she has a much more sophisticated sense of humor. For example, taking me on dirt roads. Now the photo I provided was the very beginning of the road it took me on. By the end it was about half the size and surrounded by prickly bushes. I could sense the laughter coming from my phone as I biked down this path. Now that being said, the google voice was not the only one who smiled a lot during this ride.

On my ride out of the Netherlands and into Antwerp I noticed a shift in the landscape from completely flat to flat with a few mounds scattered here and there. This 100 kilometer ride had actual hills!(Is it odd to say that I missed hills?) Large, imposing, hills that reminded me of home and yet provided me with views I had never imagined before. As I reached the top of the first hill of many hills I exclaimed, out loud, woohoo that’s what we like! I continued saying this phrase every time I reached the top of a significant hill not caring about the strange looks other bikers would give me. This was a very social ride for me. An hour into my ride one biker, biking on the opposite ride of the road as me, waved. A simple hand in the air and a smile that signified a sort of unspoken comradery that only bikers shared. After this interaction I decided that every biker, every backpacker, every person walking their dog or skipping along the road I was going to wave to. It’s these simple acts of kindness, these acts of being social that have the potential of having a profoundly positive effect on someone’s day. Maybe even your own.