August 2015 – Page 2 – Where is Phil now?

SWCP Walk day 1, Minehead to Porlock.

Thursday 06 August 2015 – Porlock, Somerset.

It has finally arrived ! The day I start walking, so yep, naturally it is raining.

I had a good English breakfast in the hotel after a restless night. Loads of sausages, bacon, eggs and beans, some good protein and energy and a whole pile of food sitting in my belly to use up the extra energy consumed. It tasted good though Smile

I hung around the hotel lobby in a state of nervous tension, jumping up to look out the window every 30 seconds to see if the rain had stopped. It was still drizzling at 9:30 but I thought ‘sod it’, donned my raincoat and pack and headed out the door. I was off !

My first stop was 100 metres away at the bottom of the hill at the ‘Hands statue’. A large bronze by Owen Cunningham and installed in 2001. I stopped for the obligatory photo, luckily there were two Dutch women who were starting a week’s walking and one of them kindly took my photo for me. I meet these two ladies a few times over the next three days.

I am the only person I see wearing shorts…

I guess I go this way.

The weather was still failing to inspire though.

After a few minutes of walking to the edge of town I was finally out and in the countryside with seven miles to go to my first night of camping in Porlock. I am planning on following a commonly recognised route of walking between towns with campsites and other facilities. Today’s walk is supposed to take just under four hours. I will then be able to assess how my walking speed relates to those in the guidebook I am using. (The Trailblazer series). The acorn is the symbol of the SWCP and I will see an awful lot of them, which is a good thing.

The rain stopped soon after I hit the trail proper and just before I started up North Hill, the first climb on the path. It got quite steep in parts and was not all smooth wide graded track – honest.

By the time I got to the top I was pouring sweat through my jacket and stopped to take it off. I also needed to make an adjustment to my pack as it was riding a bit too low and restricting my hip movement a bit. It should be riding on my hips anyway, at least it is easily adjustable. I was knackered already !!

The forest is really lovely here, it is totally different to NZ forest, being a lot more open and lighter with a clear break between the trees and underlying scrub. I really like it and I particularly like the big fern areas.

Finally I am at the top, and the day is clearing up nicely as well.

The walk across the cliff tops, on the edge of Exmoor national park is lovely, rolling coastal path, it is warm and humid and there is a constant warm head wind as well. Strong enough that I noticed the gusts when they hit me and my pack. I see plenty of wildlife, Exmoor ponies, cows and even a very hairy bug on the trail – I do not see any other people. Love it.

The moorland is wonderful, there are patches of farm land, but this early section of walking is through what I call proper moorland, grasses and wild flowers abound, it is wild and beautiful and exactly what I wanted to see when I decided to do the walk.

I stopped for a rest and a snack bar on a bench up above the beach near Porlock. Reading my notebook it says ‘I am aching all over…’ My body is not used to the hills and not used to carrying any sort of weight. I note that I am expecting to be sore in the morning – and tomorrow is a seven hour walk!

Back on the trail I am soon round the last headland and overlooking the town of Porlock, and down the coast to where I will be walking tomorrow – those headlands just keep on going!

The track down the hill in to Bossington was just screaming to be ridden down, not technical by any means at all, just fast, gloriously fast. Sadly, I was just walking and not riding a mountain bike.

At some point after this I managed to do two stupid things, I suppose it was good to get them out of the way nice and early. Firstly I didn’t pay any attention to the map and ended up on the wrong path. This was not disastrous as I didn’t go too far wrong, just ended up with a bit more road walking than I would have liked. Secondly, and another failure to pay attention, this time it could have been worse as I turned my ankle on a rock. It was a brief flash of pain, and a brief flash of ‘oh shit’ went through my mind, but luckily it walked off fairly quickly. I would have been gutted to have hurt myself before the end of day one. My left ankle is a wee bit dodgy, it is weak and turns easily. I know this, I should have taken care. Or maybe I should have bought boots?

There was no crisis either way and I made my way into Bossington to look for the small cafe there so I could stop for lunch. I had a cheese and onion toastie and a chocolate shake and they were both really really nice. I felt like I had earned them too.

Bossington was cute, I like a cute English village and the coast path passes through many many of them as it winds its way through Somerset, Devon, Cornwall and Dorset. I suspect I will take lots of photos.

Not far too to Porlock now, I lump the pack back on to my back and head off up the hill from Bossington to Porlock, I am not sure if I take the correct path, but end up where I want to be so no complaints. Except – why are campsites always up a hill ?

I arrive at SparkHayes campsite early in the afternoon and get my tent up under nice sunny skies. The campsite is large and quite quiet, this makes me happy. I put my tent up near a wall to try and break some of the wind, with moderate success.

It was then time to break out the new stove and make my first cup of coffee on it. Very exciting, so exciting I took a picture so you too can share in the thrill!

That was the end of day one of walking. It took me 3 hours 50 to do the 4 hour walk. I think me and the guide book will get on just fine. Especially if I actually read and follow the map.

I had dinner in the Lorna Doone hotel. I stayed there when I visited Porlock in 2012, and remembered that the food was nice. They also had a decent sauvignon blanc as well. I had a couple of glasses with dinner before making my way back to my tent, settling in for the first time and reading until it was dark. I met the Dutch ladies again in the restaurant, though they are having their bags ported a long the coast and are staying in guest houses. A solo walker along with a family group of walkers arrived in the campground while I was out. I will see them a few a times over the next few days too.

Day one went well, really well. I am thoroughly enjoying myself.

I was originally planning on taking my small laptop on the walk so I could edit photos and write posts as I went. This was a stupid idea really, and I wisely tossed that one out a while back and bought a small notebook instead. I made lots of notes as I went. It was the right thing to do.

South West Coast Path (SWCP) walk day -1.

Wednesday 05 August 2015 – Minehead, Somerset.

After a few weeks of thinking and planning I am finally on my way south west from London to start the walk. I am making my way to Minehead a day early as I want to visit Dunster Castle, I have seen it a couple of times out of bus windows and have been keen to visit, so decided to take the opportunity while I was here. Given the fact that it was forecasted to, and eventually did , rain quite heavily over night I am glad I made the choice to not start walking today. Ease my way in to it.

El was up early to go swimming, so I had an hour at home to faff, do a final check, add to my pack the things I thought about in the middle of the night, take out the things I decided I didn’t need in the middle of the night and generally get ready to go without having to have a conversation with anyone. I am not the most social person when I am about to go travelling. I left soon after she got home and after the rush hour had passed. I will miss her while I am away.

Walking down to Walthamstow station was the first time I had walked more than ten feet with my pack on, it seemed to be OK – though heavy after not carrying any sort of weight for a while.

The train journey to Taunton was fine, and I was lucky to find the Minehead bus waiting at the station. The bus driver, who was about to depart as I was leaving the station, kindly waited for me and reopened the doors to let me on. If this was London he would have shrugged his shoulders as if to say ‘sorry mate, it’s the rules’, and then driven off leaving me on the foot path. I am liking Somerset. The bus did seem to visit every single village in West Somerset on the way though…

I arrived in Minehead and found my hotel easily enough; it was one of those quintessentially English hotels that are so endearing, and a touch frustrating. I suspect they have been what they have been for decades – and have no plan or need to change. Needless to say I was the youngest person there by a couple of decades apart from some young kids with their (I am assuming) grand parents. I had selected it as it was very close to the start of the path – plus it was a decent price!

I dumped my gear, packed a few essentials in an ultra-light day bag and headed out the door to visit the castle I had yet again seen from the window of the bus. Minehead is a funny place, it is not really my sort of holiday destination – it has a massive Butlins and not much else and caters for a different market to me. The tide was out and the skies a bit grim, which did not add to its appeal.

I caught the bus to Dunster Castle, I think there is a walkway through the hills but I was not wanting to get wet before I started. Last time I was here I spent quite a bit of time by this bus stop – as I did this time. Waiting, waiting.

Minehead is one end of the West Somerset Railway and if I had planned this part of my trip with more care I would have taken the old steam train from the town of Bishops Lydeard, which the bus passed through on the way to Minehead.

Dunster Castle is a National Trust property, as I am a member, I did not have to pay to enter. It was not my favourite type of castle, I much prefer the falling down ruined type, but it was well worth the visit and I enjoyed exploring it and the grounds. Though it was quite busy, as is usual on a holiday day when you cannot visit the beach.

There has been a castle on this site for over a thousand years. The first recorded fort was established by the Saxon Thegn Aelfric who was killed alongside King Harold at the Battle of Hastings. His land was given to a Norman, William de Mohun for his services in that battle. The older parts of the castle were built by the de Mouhn family until they were forced to sell it in 1376. The property was bought by the Luttrell family who owned it for 600 years, finally gifting it to the National Trust in 1976. Large parts of the original castle were destroyed at the end of the civil war in 1650.

I do like a good doorway, especially with some steps with an unseen ending. This gateway is from the 13th century and is the oldest remaining part of the castle.

Nice ! (though a bit of a wonky photo)

This was the toilet block…

Listening in to one of the guides talking to another visitor I heard about a roof leak a few years ago that had damaged the 19^th century Italian wallpaper in this room. As replacement paper was no longer available they had to remove sections of paper behind these paintings to repair the water damaged sections. I liked that story.

The view out of the window from the upper floor over the Bristol Channel was a bit a foreboding and a reminder that I should not linger too long if I did not want to get soaked walking back to the bus stop – naturally I did not pack my rain coat….

I wanted to explore the castle grounds and visit the old water mill, but just after I got outside a light rain started to fall so I took a change of direction and headed back towards the entrance, via the small stream on the edge of the property.

I was looking to get a better angle to take a photo of the castle from, which I found.

The bus arrived at the bus stop soon after I did, though I did jog there to avoid getting overly wet. It was looking a bit grim in Minehead as I walked back to the hotel.

Though the forecast is looking pretty good for the rest of the week !

With not much else to do, and nerves not allowing me to relax too much I ended up down in the bar for a pre-dinner pint and then an early meal. The food was fine, basic 1970’s English holiday fare – served by a waiter who probably harks back to those days as well. The good old days of Basil Fawlty type service.

I retired early and had a hot bath, with a small whisky and my book – lovely, a bath and a shower in a hotel. the 1970’s were not all bad !!

I am really looking forward to starting the walk tomorrow. I am a little worried about how I go out there, not overly worried of course, as I sort of know what I am doing and I do know what I am physically capable of. I have never walked a long distance before, I have not carried a pack on a hike for decades and I am doing this on my own. Things to ponder while I tried to sleep.

I am on way into the unknown again, adventure ahoy !!!

All the gear and no idea!

Thursday 14 August 2015 – Walthamstow.

‘All the gear and no idea’ was a phrase we used to toss around when we used to see blokes (it is always blokes) mountain biking on flash bikes with all the latest clothes and toys and we would hammer past on our crusty single speeds.

There had been a lot of talk (mainly in my head) over the past few weeks of a plan to start walking the South West Coast Path, located on – not to be too obvious, England’s south west coast. The official path is 1013 kilometres (630 miles in English), and I had intended to do as much as I could in the 16 days I had between visiting Bruges with El and meeting El for a three day holiday in Mawgan Porth, which is on the path in Cornwall, later in the month.

I had spent quite a bit of time planning and researching the trip, shopping for the equipment I was missing – which was most of it and generally having a good time of it all.

I started the walk on Thursday 6 July at one of its official start/finish points in Minehead, Somerset at the tail end of a light shower. It was the first time I had put my new pack on for any length of time and it was hard work walking up the first hill out of Minehead!

I did not have any fixed plan for walking, it was going to be dependent on the weather, how I felt and if I found myself in the most perfect place in the world. I was thinking along the lines of – walk three days, rest one day, camp as much as possible and stay in guest houses if I felt like it or the weather imposed it – I was not overly excited about the prospect of walking and camping in the rain if I didn’t have too.

I ended up doing five days of walking before hobbling/skulking back to London with my tail, metaphorically, between my legs.

I had researched pretty well. I knew what to expect, and was not surprised at how tough it was, or how hard I found it – given the lack of training I had done. Carrying a 17 or so kilo pack when you are not used to it is tiring! I knew I could walk myself fit, so was not too concerned about fitness, the base is there. What I failed to do properly and this is such a stupid beginners mistake, was to check the state of my shoes before I left home. They were far more worn than I realised, and I think they contributed to my shortened walk.

I stopped walking after five days with a really sore hip, rested for a while and then my foot started to hurt – not just an ache, but shooting pains. I have suffered from small bouts of plantar fasciitis in the past, usually shoe related and I am pretty certain that my self diagnosis is correct. The forecast for the following two days was terrible – thunder and storms so I decided to go home instead: about eight days earlier than ‘planned’. Oh well.

I did enjoy the walk, there was some glorious views, some lovely walking, mixed with some hard walking and I met some nice people on the way. My new equipment is all up to task and my pack is fantastic, it felt great on, felt lighter on my back than it did lifting it up to put it on, so I was extremely pleased with my purchases.

I learnt a lot over the few days I walked, I am going to continue with the walk when I next get a chance, making good use of what I learned. So, what did I learn ?

I need to ensure my shoes are perfect before I go. I knew this, have known this for years and really kicked myself for this ridiculous failure to check them before I left.
I need a new sleeping bag, I was really cold in Porlock and Lynton, even though it is late summer. I was really surprised by this. I have used the sleeping bag in late autumn and been fine.
Stretching is good, I knew this before I left and used it wisely in the morning and evening. I had very little leg pain, until my hip seized.
Less is best. Again, I knew this before I left, but obviously I didn’t really know it enough. My experiences backpacking in Asia told me all about packing stuff. When I went to SE Asia my pack weighed 15kg, when I left it was closer to 11. That was a lot of stuff ditched.
While I wanted to free camp, I didn’t – I was too scared to, maybe less scared and more worried about it, something. Anyway, I didn’t do it, so I didn’t need to take so much food related stuff and all the bits and pieces needed when not staying in camp grounds. I could have ditched over a kilo of stuff just taken for that alone.
Not heroically power walking non-stop day after day is OK. Stopping to smell the flowers is fine. In fact, arriving mid-afternoon in a busy, noisy campsite is worse than arriving in the evening if there is nothing to do.
Training more would have been better, but was not essential. You can walk yourself fit, but next time I will do a little more.
Breaks are good, taking a few moments to sit and admire the view and rest the legs are just rewards for climbing those hills. Eating a snack makes it even better.

Finally, and most importantly. Ear plugs for camping grounds 🙂

It was loads of fun at times and less fun at others. I was lonelier than I expected, while I relished the solitude at times when I was travelling in SE Asia, I relished it less this time. My life has changed since those days and while I do like spending time on my own, I didn’t crave it like I did before, I am glad I had my ereader!

I am still determined to walk the whole path, I know more of what to expect when I start again and how to prepare for it better, maybe next time I will find a walking buddy as well. There will be a next time – and sooner rather than later I hope.

I took a lot of photos and will post some details of the walks over the next few days.

Was it a case of ‘all the gear and no idea’ ? I don’t think so, though I certainly I had all the gear.

From Michelangelo to Picasso in one day. Brugge day three.

Monday 03 August 2015 – Brugge, Belgium and back to Walthamstow, London.

Lessons learnt yesterday meant we did not rush out of bed seeking breakfast anywhere outside the hotel and we succumbed again to the offered glass of champagne along with our omelettes. We faffed a bit after breakfast and then checked out of the hotel, leaving our bags behind, for one last tour of the city.

We wanted to visit the Church of Our Lady, as it did not open until 10:30 we walked around the local canal again. Breakfast needed to be taken out for a walk.

This seems to be one of the most popular places to hang out and take photographs, when ever we passed by here over the weekend it was jammed with people.

My main reason for wanting to visit the church was it contained the only Michelangelo sculpture that left Italy during his lifetime. It was bought by two brothers from Brugge in 1504 and was donated to the church in 1514. The sculpture was looted twice and fortunately returned both times, the last time by Nazi Germany in 1944. It is a lovely lovely piece of work, and I am constantly amazed at the detail that these artists from so long ago where able to attain with what must have been quite rudimentary tools.

The church is nice, as seems to be the way for me these days, it is under serious renovation, so most of the outside is covered in cloth and half the inside is boarded up. There is supposed to be a gruesome Bosch painting as well, but I am assuming it is away for its own protection during the work.

I particularly liked this fresco taken from the tomb of Mary of Burgundy who died in 1502. The tomb was only discovered in 1979 during renovation work. I get very excited about these recent discoveries and find it remarkable that after over 450 years new things can still be found inside churches and other ancient sites.

We wandered over the road from the church to the Picasso Expo and the Oud Sint Jan (Old St John) an 11^th century hospital building – that has been expanded over the years and is now used an exhibition centre. We really enjoyed the Expo, there were a lot of minor works by Picasso as well as a small collection of related artists like Magritte, Matisse and Jean Cocteau. They were all quite simple, lots of line drawings and etchings. Small, yet perfectly formed you might say.

Magritte

Matisse

Jean Cocteau – I have not knowingly seen any art Jean Cocteau. I have heard the name but not in that context. I must do some research as he looks quite interesting.

I really liked this small Degas sketch.

And this early Signac. I like the rudimentary nature of it, that a famous artist can do something not much better than I could, is quite illuminating. Well, I doubt I could do anything this good either to be honest…

The Picasso collection was really interesting, unusual and minor works, there was nothing I had seen before, even in the two Picasso Museums I visited in Spain. It was interesting to see them, and some of the works that influenced Picasso as his career progressed. This was definitely my favourite. I like the bizarreness and the simplicity.

There was also a large Chagall exhibition as well, which was interesting(ish) he is not really my cup of tea artistically, but seeing so many sets together put them a bit more into perspective.

There was quite a nice view over the rooftops from the upper floors. I do like getting up above the roof line if I can, though we didn’t have much of an opportunity to do so on this trip. We could have taken the 336 step walk up to the top of the Belfry, but we didn’t – maybe next time.

We had a bit of a look around the outside of the hospital and I found a couple of interesting doorways…

There was also quite a nice cafe there and we finally succumbed to the temptation to have a waffle, a Belgian speciality. We have sorted of avoided the worst of the big heavy foods here, but a fresh fruit waffle sounded not too bad, and it was way better than that. We shared one, and even that was a struggle, but it was really nice !

On the way back to the hotel, the long way, we came across this sculpture by Chinese artist Song Dong, another piece for the Bruges Triennial. It is made from old window frames and was really cool.

And that was pretty much it. We stopped at the hotel for a final glass of champagne – and the accompanying plate of cheese and snacks before taking a slow stroll back to the station. On the way we stopped at Godshuis St Jozef & De Meulenaere, an alms house that I meant to explore earlier but had forgotten about. It was a lovely peaceful place and I wished we had time to explore it further – a place for next time. There are 45 alms houses in Brugge and they will be high on my must do next time list.

The train journeys back to London were uneventful, thankfully ! While they are always welcome, the journey home is never as exciting as the journey out, and I just want them to be over as fast possible. The 45 minutes it took from getting off the Eurostar at St Pancras to walking in the door at home seemed to last longer than the three hours getting there from Brugge. Naturally after three days of sun and warmth in Brugge it was grey and drizzly in London.

It was a fabulous weekend away (another one), we are very lucky that we can have them and I should appreciate that fact more. It was also a great start to four weeks off work !

Beer, canals and windmills. Day two in Brugge.

Sunday 02 August 2015 – Brugge, Belgium.

Yesterday was such a good day, so we were keen for a repeat today. Breakfast was not served in the hotel until quite late – by our standards, so with the sun shining and a busy day of walking planned we were up and out the door as soon as we were ready. Which wasn’t that early really, those massive nightcaps last night slowed the day down a wee bit. Almost straight out the front door we saw some of Brugge’s famous swans, swanning their way down the canal in the Rozenhoedkaai.

We had a brief walk immediately around the hotel looking for somewhere to eat and nothing seemed to open until 10:00am (they are missing a trick here) so we ended up going back to the hotel for a really nice breakfast, that came with a glass off bubbles… Yep, a good start to the day!

I had consulted the guidebook over breakfast and came up with a bit of a plan for the morning. There are lots of things to see in Brugge and I wanted to fit as much in as possible as we had a full day to do it. With tomorrow being a Monday I had in mind visiting some of the really popular touristy things then and avoiding them as much as possible today, so today was a walking day.

Our first stop was Sint Annakerk, which was up one of the ubiquitous canals. Walking along the canal was interesting enough as it was. It was made much more enjoyable as the only sounds were Sunday morning church bells, one was ringing ‘Ode to Joy’ and the occasional rumble of tyres on the cobblestones. It was very peaceful.

Excuse the lens flair. Not supposed to be photographically correct, but I do love a bit of flair!

Sint-Annekerk was built in 1624 and is quite lovely on a sunny Sunday morning.

The Jerusalem Church was my favourite in Brugge, and has the best story, as well as a wonderful wooden cupola at the top. The church was constructed in the mid 15^th century by the Adornes family, and is one of two privately owned churches in the city. The Adornes family came to Brugge after the father had been on a holy pilgrimage to Jerusalem. The church is modelled on the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in that city and unlike most ancient churches is unchanged since it was first built. Most have been renovated and modified since their first construction. Anselm Adornes, who finished the church his father started, was murdered in Scotland while on a diplomatic mission and while he was buried in Scotland his heart was brought home and interred here. It is a lovely building and it was a shame we could not go inside – it being a Sunday.

I also liked the square outside. You can see how so few people make it this far from tourism central, they do get to miss out on some good things!

The church and square were just inside one the edges of the city, and on one of the main entry and exit points. Each of these are guarded by large gates, with bridges over the canal. This is the Kruispoort Gate and this version was constructed in 1400, after the first two had been destroyed in previous wars. This was the gate used by both the armies of Napoleon and Adolf Hitler when they first entered Brugge after invading Belgium. I really wish I had gone across the bridge to photograph it from the far side, but it was up to let some boats pass through.

One thing I remembered from my last visit to Brugge in 1987 was that there were windmills, and I wanted to see those again today. Luckily (it was actually down to good planning) the four remaining windmills are all located just up the canal from the gate.

The first windmill we came across was Bonne Chieremolen from 1844.

The second is the most famous of the windmills, the Sint-Janshuismolen built in 1770 and it is still working today.

The third was my favourite, De Nieuwe Pappegai which was rebuilt in 1970, 200 years after its neighbour!

And finally Koeleweimolen De Coelewey which was built in 1765, but moved from its original location.

I loved the windmills, a shame all 29 of the original mills are not here to be seen! They do make for great silhouettes on a sunny day. Just past the last windmill the main canal that runs up one side of Brugge connects with the Langerei canal which heads back into town. We followed this wonderful waterway, surrounded by some beautiful old buildings back into the centre of Brugge.

There are a lot more buildings with icons above entrances and on corners.

Closer to town we crossed over the canal and walked down a smaller, more residential canal – so reminiscent of Venice.

I wonder how long the buildings will last, like Venice and other canalside towns, the water erosion on these foundations and walls, that must be hundreds of years old, must be taking its toll.

I loved this apple tree growing in someone’s garden. A reminder that this is a living breathing town, where people live normal lives. It is not just a museum piece.

The city centre was heaving with people, after an hour of meandering slowly down the canal bank it was a shame to be back into the throng – inevitable, but still a shame. It was a good place to find a cafe for a much needed sit down, a cup of coffee and some gooey pastries. After the breakfast we had at the hotel we didn’t really need a big lunch!

On the way to the Beguinage we passed the entrance to the oldest alms houses in Brugge, we should have stopped in hindsight, but it was on a very busy shopping street and these things always make me want to run and hide. The entrance was lovely – and very old.

The Beguinage is entered through a gate built in 1776 and features the image of Elizabeth of Hungary who is the patron saint of Beguinages.

From Wikipedia – “The word béguinage is a French term that refers to a semi-monastic community of women called Beguines, religious women who sought to serve God without retiring from the world.” The beguinage in Brugge is named “The Vineyard”, as this was what the land was prior and it was started in 1244, perhaps by widows left when their husbands were killed during the crusades and they needed a place of safety and comfort. The buildings that make up this peaceful enclave were mainly built between the early 1500s and the 1700s. Given its location it was remarkably quiet and deserted across the bridge. It is now a Benedictine convent.

I initially thought the huts in the trees were places where people went to contemplate, or to live a particular vow. But when researching for information when I was writing this post I discovered they are an art installation by the Japanese artist Tadashi Kawamata and are part of the Brugge Triennial.

From the beguinage we popped out on to the edge of Love Lake, which was our final planned destination for the afternoon. We walked around the edge of the small lake and then popped into the run down bar on the far side for a drink and a relax.

Later in the afternoon, my football team, Arsenal are playing Chelsea in the Community Shield, a pre-season “friendly”, not that there is such a thing when we play Chelsea. I took this as a sign of good fortune. Not having the game on TV here, was probably a good thing. We did win it too, Yay

There are quite a few alms houses in Brugge, most of them extremely old.

We went back to the hotel for a rest, and another large glass of bubbles in the garden while we consulted the guide book for some ideas for the rest of the day.

We decided on a visit to the Groeninge Museum, which is an art gallery showing only Flemish painters and others who came to paint or resided in Brugge. The museum is not directly on the street so there were a few interesting things to see just to get to the museum itself.

The museum was interesting, it is in a lovely light and airy building and is nice and quiet. There are some really nice pieces from local artists like Jan Van Eyck and Gerard David. I mostly wanted to see a famous Hieronymus Bosch piece but it was not on display sadly. There was a very cool Rene Magritte – ‘The attendant’.

I also liked this piece from the Brugge town hall building from the late 1300’s.

After the museum we headed off to find a beer bar, Staminee de Garre, which had been recommended to us by some friends. We walked through the Burg, passed the lovely old town hall building, though none of my photos were post-worthy. I do love the letter boxes which I cut into the walls of the houses – or the town hall in this case.

After a bit of map reading we found de Garre, which is hidden away down a small alley way.

The place is small, and old and a bit rickety and seemed to be evenly populated with local regulars and tourists. All the tables were taken so we were about to head out when the barmaid moved a few people out of the way and found us a spot on a table with a couple of Americans and a local guy. We were given a very extensive beer menu to choose from. I was about to choose a trappist ale, when a Belgian guy at the next table told me to try the Garre, which was the beer brewed for the bar. A wise choice ! El is not a beer drinker at all, but tried one of the fruit flavoured beers – Raspberry in this case. She didn’t mind it, but I don’t think she will become a real ale drinker any time soon. After the Garre I tied a trappist ale from the Rochefort Abbey. Trappist beers are brewed in abbeys, there are 11 abbeys in Europe certified as trappist breweries. I thought the 6 was representative of the alcohol percentage – and this was the lowest in the range, but it wasn’t, this one was 7.5%. It was very nice too! One of the features of Belgian beer, is that they all have a special glass, shaped for the style of beer, with a few hundred beers on the menu, the glass selection must be massive. There was only one barmaid for this small but busy bar and she was like a machine, clearing tables, selecting glasses and bottles and pouring the correct way for the type of drink chosen. Made my life as a barman seem very easy !

We left soon after in the search for somewhere nice to eat dinner as we had not really eaten anything much since breakfast. After a while walking around we ended up in a bit of a tourist restaurant near the hotel. It was nice and not overly expensive but not as good as Est.

As we were wandering around looking for eating places we came across some salsa dancing in the old fish market. It was hugely popular with a lot of people watching on from the side.

And that was the end of day two. A lot of walking, a tiring but very enjoyable day out. Brugge just gets better the more I see of it, and we saw a lot today.

Bruges, glorious Bruges

Saturday 01 August 2015 – Brugge, Belgium.

Wahoo – I have almost four weeks off work, and loads of holiday plans to fill the time as well. The last week of work was not too stressful considering the things we had to do, it had its moments but I left yesterday feeling pretty relaxed about taking the time off. A good way to start a holiday, especially as this morning El and I are heading off early to catch a train to Bruges, or Brugge, in Belgium for an extended weekend away

As English speakers we use the French spelling and pronunciation of Bruges, though the local Flemish speaking Belgian’s use the Flemish Brugge. I will try and use that spelling throughout my posts about the city. I do not understand why we do not honour how the local people spell and pronounce the names of their countries and towns, and why we have to anglicise everything, and vice versa as well. I suppose I do understand, though I do not like it.

Brugge is an ancient place, probably named by an old Dutch word for bridge. It was first recorded in 840 though the location has been occupied since at least 1500 years BC, the earliest remains are from the Roman occupation from about 100 BC. It is a UNESCO heritage site and the buildings, mainly from the 14^th-17^th century, have been incredibly well preserved or renovated. Brugge is a canal town, it was a key trading centre for many decades and was the economic capital of Europe for a long time. Canals and rivers surround the entire old town, cutting it off from the rest of the city and leaving it relatively car free. It is just the sort of place I love to explore and I was really looking forward to returning after a day long visit as part of a tour of Europe way back in 1987.

As we were going somewhere photographically interesting I decided to take my big camera, a Canon 5d Mk1 rather than the smaller G16. Earlier in the week I got the camera out to charge batteries, give it a clean and all the other pre-trip things I do. I discovered my spare battery had totally died, so I contacted a friend who I knew shot Canon to see if he had a spare battery. He didn’t, but he very kindly offered me the use of his 5d MK3 instead. Wow, a dream camera for the weekend ! Thanks Andy.

As is our way we were up early and at St Pancras station well before time to check in. We decided to breakfast at the station so got there quite early. It is a very busy place on a Saturday morning.

As we were there early I went off for a quick explore of the station, I have been here a couple of times before, but have never seen ‘The meeting statue’, so was quite pleased to find it upstairs outside the Eurostar platforms.

It was a bit of a process getting through security and immigration control, as this is an international journey; it is like passing through airport security, with the usual lack of staff to manage the volume of passengers. I was glad to get through, and get a coffee and a muffin on the other side. The ~~flight~~ train left a bit late, but with enough time for me to get up to the front to take a photo, I love these high speed trains.

We did not have a great window seat unfortunately, but it was still good to be thundering through the Kent countryside, heading for the channel tunnel and out the out the other side into France. Though the landscape did not change much at all !

England

France

At some unknown point on the journey we crossed from France in to Belgium and changed trains in Brussels.

Three hours after leaving London we were arriving in Brugge, the station is just outside the old town and with the help of a guide book map and a printout from the internet with directions we headed off into the warm and sunny Belgian afternoon to find our hotel, which was very close to the centre of town.

Even though it was early afternoon on a Saturday in July, the outer layers of the old town were quite empty, something I have noted in other places I have been. It seems some visitors just like to see the key attractions, leaving the exploring to the likes of El and myself. Love it !

We stayed in the Pand Hotel, which was just lovely, very close to the centre of the action, but very quiet and comfortable, and a view of the window towards the Church of our Lady, which we visit on Monday.

After dumping our bags, and sun blocking up we were out the door and on to the streets, we didn’t have a plan this afternoon, just a wander around to see what we saw, and we did see a lot. The hotel is about 50 metres from the Rozenhoedkaai, one of the most popular – and photographed parts of Brugge. Over the next couple of days I took a few photos here myself !

We then headed off towards the Markt, the main square. I love it that, while there are cars around, Brugge is a cycling city, and bikes and pedestrians co-exist seemingly quite easily. The old market hall, and the back of the Belfry.

I also like it that most of the bikes are not low slung road ‘racing’ bikes and most of the cyclists are everyday folk and not the lycra clad road warriors that we see too much of in other countries.

A lot of the houses in the centre of Brugge are constructed in the ‘brick gothic’ style and were built from the 16^th and 17^th centuries, with major renovations being carried out in the late 19^th century when Brugge started to become popular as a tourist destination. Some of the houses had icons of Mary and the baby Jesus on them, I liked this – a lot, and took many photos of them over the three days.

The Markt is surrounded by lovely old buildings, the 12^th century, 83 metre high Belfry is particularly nice.

There was some weird mirror sculpture in the square, so El and I used them for some selfies.

We headed off for a bit more of a wander, and wonder at some of the things we were seeing, before finally stopping for a beer for me, and a wine for El as she does not like beer. Brugge is world famous for its beer, so I had to try some while I was here.

Brugge is also famous for it’s lace and there are a number of lace shops around the main tourist areas.

We finally ended up back at our hotel and decided to make our way to the small garden out the back for a glass of bubbles. Drinks in Brugge all come with small snacks: cheese, olives and small biscuits were the most common and was hugely appreciated. The champagne in the hotel came in massive flutes – also much appreciated !

On our afternoon walk we had reserved a table at Wijnbar Est, and after a wee rest we took a slow stroll there for an early dinner.

We had a great time, it is a lovely little restaurant, great vibe and really nice food. The main surprise for us was drinking a bottle of Belgian wine from the Landgoed Dorrebeek vineyard. I had no idea they made wine in Belgium, it was really really nice. A recommended place for a drink or a meal – and to try something different !

One of the many joys of using this great camera is the lowlight capabilities are so much better than my old version. While none of these are fantastic these are all hand held photos taken on a stroll around Brugge to walk off dinner. The Rozenhoedkaai at night.

Belgium is of course famous for its chocolate, so I had to take a photo of the chocolate boobs seen on the way to the Markt. .

The belfry and the 18^th century provincial court.

There was a free music festival on in the Burg square as we walked through, none of the music interested me at all, but it was full of families and young people having a good time and had a really nice vibe to it.

We strolled up the side of a canal for a while, crossing over a bridge before heading back towards the hotel.

The magnificent Church of our Lady at 133 metres is the tallest building in Brugge and the second tallest brick building in the world and was built from the 13^th to the 15^th centuries. It looks stunning at night.

We also had a quick peak at Sint-Salvator Cathedral, which we didn’t visit during the day. This was made the official cathedral of Brugge in 1834, soon after The Netherlands allowed Belgium to become an independent nation and a new bishop was installed in Brugge. The steeple was rebuilt in the 1830’s after the church as almost destroyed in a fire.

Back at our hotel we had an unexpectedly large night cap before finally putting our feet up after a long day of aimlessly strolling about one of the world’s loveliest cities. We were really looking forward to doing it all again tomorrow!

A photo from Bruges.

Monday 03 August 2015 – Bruges, Belgium

El and I went to the beautiful Belgian city of Bruges for a long weekend trip away. I took a lot of photos and will not get time to edit them and write a post before I head off on my mega walk on Wednesday.

So here is a taster – the most photographed part of Bruges – and probably the most photographed part of Belgium as well.

Did we love Bruges ? Oh yes…..