I wake refreshed, and early, and leave Kioens apartment after scrambled eggs, at about ten. There has been good news in my emails. The company will replace my deflating mattress, and Caroline is going to come in visit me somewhere in Europe. I leave well stocked too. I am given some salt, some pepper, and best of all some choclate, which I devour a little way out of the city.
I make my way to Gent, it should be short ride, though I wander, backtrack and meander through the country side and increase the distance almost two fold.
The country side is very pictureque in Belgium, though there is less of it than in either England or Holland. It is more densely populated here, and there seems to be very little travel between villages. When I arrive in Gent, I am tired and a little stressed from an all day ride navigating the small towns that seem to flow into one another. I bounce over the rocks in the road, through the city to where I am staying with Pieter, a Couchsurfing contact. I am relieved to sit, to shower, and dine, in their garden in the sun. The rest of the evening is a blur of different Belgium beers in a great bar in the city centre. There is a great collection of people to laugh with.
Keun, my host of the night before, said that i should never have the same beer twice in this county, he didn’t mention the danger in doing that though.
My day of rest in Gent begins with a headache and an omelette.
