Cycling in Belgium - recommendations

Thought I should update after our visit earlier this month.

We had a great few days completing completing the Flandrien Challenge. We followed the recommended routes although we stayed outside Oudenaarde, so we joined some of them in the middle of the route. The 59 Flandrien segments you have to hit have start/finish lines painted on the road and a little box naming the segment, length, average and max gradient - it was a nice touch knowing what climbs you were doing and recognising some of the big names/knowing what you were up against. We did the Ypres section on the way from the Tunnel, and then we stayed at the Flandrien Hotel which had an amazing collection of ex-pro bikes and was designed for cyclists (the owner used to run a cycling team).

Belgian drivers were a dream. I think you are supposed to use the cycle lanes if they exist, but most of the routes are on country lanes and the few cycles lanes we had to use were all much better quality than in the UK.

Its a beautiful and quiet part of the world, but on the slight downside, Belgian cyclists generally ignored you ('they are all too serious thinking they are the next Remco') and there weren't as many village cafes/shops etc open outside of Oudenaarde/Geraardsbergen as we were expecting for lunch/snacks/drinks. We also got turned away from a couple of restaurants in the evening where we didn't have a reservation - apparently we should have planned further ahead, or planned to eat in the bigger towns instead.

Would thoroughly recommend for a few days of good riding - or a single day, if you are as mad as the guy we met on the way round!

Ah! I wondered what they were for, just thought they were popular segments.

Did a number of these by accident recently. The Kemmelberg was fun. Found it worse going down than up!

Its a beautiful and quiet part of the world, but on the slight downside, Belgian cyclists generally ignored you ('they are all too serious thinking they are the next Remco')

And we Belgians don't understand why others want us to say hi to everyone. :)

Hi, MisterTomTom!

Everyone, say 'hi' to MisterTomTom!

Ouch, I bet going down it was interesting if you did the cobbles! I don't think they race down the cobbles anymore, too dangerous. The recommended route goes up the Kemmelberg from all directions, but the downhills avoided the cobbles except a short stretch on the final descent (I think).

For such a bike-loving country it was more unexpected than anything - especially when the drivers were so friendly!

We decided that UK road cyclists are generally friendly to each other because there's a silent recognition that we all slightly crazy to risk cycling with UK drivers. You must have it too easy!

And then you visit The Netherlands or Spain (or at least Girona and Bilbao) and Belgium pales in comparison when talking about infrastructure and/or courteous drivers. But we can't complain, most of the time it's nice to cycle here.

But do they wave?!

Yeah up the cobbles, down the loooong cobbles by the memorial, then up the cobbles and down the tarmac side we did. It was a miracle my panniers were still on haha

+1 for not waving, that really surprised me. Like getting blood out of a stone a hello from some people.

Interestingly I found the road riders more friendly than UK road riders.