The morning was cool, sunny and was promising a lovely day further, perfect for some exploring by bicycle.
With the help of a bicycle I can cover far greater distances than I could on foot so I secured the water bottle to the carrier on the back and made ready for a good round trip.
I decided it’d be a good idea to head to the rather modern church building near the gemeente to see if I could spot mass times.
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| Some Scenery along the way on the main road. |
Typical of small town European style, there was a note on the door announcing to anyone who cared to see that there’d only be one mass from the 1st September and that would be on Sundays at 9:30.
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| The writing's on the door... |
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| The Gemeentehuis |
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| Very modern styling for the church - a little disappointing. |
On the way back towards Ela’s place, I noticed this house with a stack of wood ready for burning during winter. It struck me as so Heidi-like.
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| The wood for winter. |
The wooded areas along the road were also amazing.
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| Alittle bit of forrest on the way back. |
There was a signboard up with the mayor and her council on the side of the road too. I guess it must be elections soon.
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| Yes, the mayor is a woman. The woman in the middle of the board. |
The pumpkins are already quite big and it’s not even pumpkin season yet!
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| A veggie field. |
There’s quite a variety of crops being grown and the fields are really splendid. I rode past all of this looking for a spot to reach the canal because the canal has a gravel road on it’s wall that is much easier to ride on because there’s no traffic except for a few other cyclists and it’s an easy ride from town to town.
Finally a place to get onto the canal wall not much better than a little foothold but I took it.
Pictures from the canal showing the road and the gravel path on the canal wall where I’m trying to show how wide and big it is. Even on these rural roads, bicycles have right of way and cars will be certain to avoid you.
The canal is wide and long and offers a great view into the fields and surroundings.
Unfortunately the canal comes to an end as I approach a town area. I think it’s Werchter.
In Werchter I stop next to the church tower and take a few photos of the surrounding scenery.
For a Saturday afternoon it’s pretty quiet.
Ah. Every town has a few of these along it’s main roads; the Bread Vending Machines!!!
Belgium is full of road signs. I’m certain I’ll be doing more reading than driving here. This one tells the driver that this is the beginning of Werchter’s built up area and a speed limit of 50kph should be used.
Here’s a preschool I saw on the outskirts of Werchter.
I asked Ela about this and yes, there are deer that roam these parts. A neighbour had some in their yard!
This is an ideally laid out roadway. The motorist part is as it should be, then there’s a little hedge dividing the road from the bicycle lane in red which is shared with pedestrians but cyclists have right of way. Ring the bell and the pedestrians scatter!
Finally, after a bicycle ride of about 5 minutes I reached the city limits of Tremelo.
In Tremelo I found a recently opened grocery shop much like a Pick ‘n Pay. It’s called Carrefour Market. Here I'm at the bicycle parking.
I went through it and got some prices (in Euro of course) of things we’d buy. Here they are in no particular order of preference.
Strawberries: 1.99 per punnet (the smaller SA type size punnet)
Mushrooms: 1.89 per punnet
Lettuce: 0.99
Apples: 1.99 / kg
Bacon Pack: 1.85
Tomatoes x 6: 1.47
Cherry Tomatoes: 2.49 (in a shaker – haven’t figured that out yet)
Cherry Tomatoes: 1.39
Yogurt Dannone Duo: 0.79 for 8 (like Séance’s tub size)on special.
Potatoes 5kg bag: 4.99
Cheese is more something to be bought at a little deli shop here, not a grocery store but here’s the prices anyway…
Young Gouda: 2.55 for 300g (6 large slices)
Margarine: 1.69 for 250g
Bread: 1.95 (brown or white) It’s double this price if you buy it from a vending machine.
Milk: 3.95 (6 x 500ml containers) Long life.
Cracker Bread: 1.89 something like your wheat crackers.
Special K Original: 3.95
Sanitary Pads: 2.35 for 22
Tampax: 4.55 for 24 super.
Kleenex Tissues: 1.19
Colgate: 2.39
Razor Blades: 15.79 (for me)
For a moment there in the store I couldn’t find the lady’s razor blades and I began to panic! What if it was true! What if the women here didn’t shave!!! I managed to calm myself and find them a little further down the aisle.
Razor Blades: 12.19 (Venus for you)
Pampers Wipes: 6.59 for 168
Pampers Simply Dry Diapers: 9.99 for 18
Nutrilon (formula): 11.85 for 800g tin
Gherkins: 0.89 for 750ml
Wholewheat Spaghetti: 1.19 for 500g
Uncle Ben’s Rice: 3.45 for 8x125g sachets
Chicken Burgers x 2: 2.95 (9.49 per kg)
Chicken Breasts: 12.19 per kg
Whole Chicken: about 4.60 (3.39 per kg)
Mussels 1kg Uncooked: 4.49
Mussels 2kg Uncooked: 8.98
Mussel Veggies: 2.55 for 540g
Mince (Lean): 8.69 per kg
Eggs x 12 Large: 3.79
Coffee Senso: 2.99 for 14 bags (26.70 per kg) Senso is this whole coffee making machine with coffee pods (as priced). It’s the way most Belgians seem to do their coffee.
Water (SPA): 3.45 for 6x1lite bottles. Water is best had bottled here. De-scaler products are huge here because of the tap water.
Softex Toilet Paper: 6.55 for 12
Finish Powerball Dishwasher Tablets: 14.10 for 40
Frites Frozen Chips: 2.49 for 1kg. There’s a massive selection of frozen chips as you could guess.
Mixed Frozen Veg; 2.55 for 750g
All these prices are from the one store, Carrefour Market. Some things are cheaper elsewhere. Aldo is a German based grocer and they’re much cheaper and there’s nothing wrong with their products at all!
So there you have it! After Carrefour I rode back home and had a very sore bum and feeling like a child again because of all the bicycle riding. There must be better bicycle seats here…
Love you both very, very much!
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