142km along cycle highway F4, F6, F30 and F39
Antwerp > Ghent > Bruges > Nieuwpoort
I have a 3-day event at the Belgian coast, which I’ll attend by bike. It’s a 142km so it’s just doable in one day if I leave early. I’m coming back by bike after the event.
There’s an alternative route between Antwerp and Bruges that is a little shorter but runs next to a highway. I’m not inspired, but maybe I’ll check it out: F41, and then connect to the F42.
1/ Antwerp – Ghent
48km along the F4
We’ve done this before – the highway is good. I intend to leave at 6 am and be passed Ghent for breakfast at 10 am.
I have to check if the tunnel elevator under the Scheldt River is working. I can’t carry my bike down.
Target
Cross Ghent quickly & have breakfast on the 60 km waypoint just passed Ghent.
2/ Gent – Bruges
42 km along the F6
This is a new route for me, but I assume it’ll go as well as most of my bike highway routes have gone. Again, the purpose is to have lunch & charge my bike when Bruges city is behind me.
Target
Be beyond Bruges at 2 pm. Take it a bit easier, find a nice spot for lunch & to charge my bike and phone. Get ready for probably the hardest part of the route, along the coast.
3/ Bruges – Nieuwpoort
To the coast
This might be the hardest part of the route.
I have to take 2 bike highways: the F30 and the F39, which is still largely under construction. They don’t inspire much confidence, so I’d like to be prepared.
My lunch break in Bruges will serve as a checkpoint. I could take an alternative route along the coastline, which would be about the same distance… but I’m afraid of how the wind will affect my battery.
I’d like to be in Nieuwpoort before nightfall, but it’s not a hard target.