Lincolnshire to Berlin Via Ghent

Ghent, Belgium

I have wanted to visit Ghent for about four years now but never seemed to get round to it. I have stayed in Bruges, which is only about 50 kilometres down the round, something like 10 or a dozen times in that period. I know a hotel in Bruges that is cheap, cheerful, family run and on the right side of town for flying visits when belting up and down the E40/A10 to and from Calais. So Bruges has become my default stop over point, I now feel like I know it pretty well and I love it: It really is one of my favourite places.

It's for this reason that I have neglected Ghent and that it turns out has been a foolish error on my part.

I arrived in Ghent very late on Thursday night, having not left Spalding until 1545 and went straight to bed. On Friday morning I was woken not only by the boats and trains going noisily about their business in and around the docks but by the sun streaming in around the edges of the tatty and frayed window blind - well, if you will stay in the cheapest hotel at the docks on the edge of town what do you expect?

I jumped out of bed (and out of my sleeping bag - yes, it's that kind of 'hotel') hastily got ready, got my bike out of my car and cycled into town as Ghent was still getting its socks on as it were. 

The Vleeshuis Bridge over the canal in the Graslei district

Sint Niklaaskerk (St Nicholas Church) with its tower over the crossing of the nave and transept (rather than the more common position at one or other end of the building)

Sint Niklaaskerk from the Emile Braunplein 

The Belfort (The Belfry) - At the top of this imposing 95 meter tower is a dragon that has been watching over the city since 1380 (see text below)

The Belfort from the Emile Braunplein with Sint-Baaf's Cathedral in the background 

Sint Baafs Cathedral with The Belfort in the background

Inside Sint Baaf's Cathedral, which is currently under restoration, is the Ghent Altarpiece also known as the 'Adoration of the Mystic Lamb' of 1432 by Hubert and Jan van Eyck. The twelve panel painting is one of the finest pieces of art in the world and is absolutely stunning. I instantly knew that it was the most beautiful piece of art I have ever seen and certainly my favourite. I could write a good chunk about it and why I found it interesting but if my recommendation is worth anything to you I would suggest you visit it yourself. 

Statue of Hubert and Jan van Eyck

The Old Post Office (front) I wonder if the Post Office was state or privately run when this impressive building was built?

The Old Post Office (side) on St Michael's Bridge

A statue and street lamp of St Michael slaying a dragon 

One thing I found very strange was the close proximity and strange juxtaposition of the St Michael's Church and the dragon on top of The Belfort. 

St Michael's church is dedicated to and named after the Archangel Michael and who is featured in the holy texts of Christianity, Roman Catholicism, Eastern and Oriental Orthodoxy, Judaism and Islam.

The Archangel is commonly depicted in battle with Satan who is often portrayed as a dragon. Why then would the dragon be the symbol that is perched high on top of The Belfort, only a few hundred metres down the road, charged with watching over the city?

In a city where the religious dogma of St Michael's must have been well known it seems unwise to have his arch enemy and a symbol of evil watching over the city. Unless of course the inhabitants of Ghent in the Middle Ages thought that at least up there on the top of The Belfort so they could keep an eye on it.

As often is the case in life - the more you learn and information you acquire the more questions you have. So this, for the time being, remains a mystery to me.

I absolutely loved Ghent and am sure I won't be able to resist going back very soon for a longer visit and to perhaps find out the reason why that dragon is up there.

Falkensee to Rheinsberg (and back) bicycle touring by Brompton

This weekend I cycled up to Rheinsberg. I camped just outside the town of Rheinsberg in a little place called Lindow so I packed my tent, sleeping bag, thermarest, camp stove and pans plus food and clothing.

It was meant as a test of the Brompton's Touring ability and because the weather was nice.

The route I took was about 50 miles/ 75 Kilometres in each direction and in general the Brompton faired well. Some of the roads are in a pretty bad way out in the country (and in Berlin to be fair) and the cycle paths where they exist range from billiard table smooth to bumpier than a dirt track. The small wheels of the Brompton and the relatively short wheelbase make for a bumpy ride in places and being laden with kit didn't help.

As I don't have a rear rack most of my luggage was up front which didn't help either and contributed to me loosing the front end on a railway track that crosses the road (at a strange angle - not a level crossing) just outside Rheinsberg. One bent pedal, bruised knee and elbow later I was back on the road thinking harder about the benefits of even distribution of load on a touring bike.

I made a brief video of the trip..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ef-jqneFuV4

Packed and ready for the off: Therma rest on the seat post, tent in front of the handle bars and everything else in the Brompton 'T' (Touring) bag

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I saw plenty of mushrooms, snails (all over the cycle paths!?) and bees but no gnomes except in this brilliant mural

In Kremmen there was a Village and Harvest Festival in full swing. Kremmen presents it self as a 'destination' for cyclists and motorcyclists and has some great little cafes and restaurants.

Cyclists love ice cream!

There were some interesting Motorbikes on display - this 1948 BMW...

.. and this Kawasaki were two of my favourites. I believe this to be an early 1970's KH 250, this was 'Old' even when I first got interested in motorbikes and is now a bona fide classic, I think it has a 3 cylinder 2 stroke engine.

If I have ever seen so many pumpkins of such various shapes and sizes I cant remember when that was!

This old chaps town bike looked to be riding a fair bit smoother than the Brompton over the cobble and rough roads. Notice his old style cycling jacket and cap with feather combo.

It's easy to see why the area attracts a lot of motorcyclists. 

The architecture of the churches in this area varies greatly but they all seem to have a very rustic quality about them.

It is my personal belief that 99% of graffiti is absolute rubbish, a waste of perfectly good paint and an eyesore. Of course there are exceptions and sometimes even the badly applied can raise a smile. Be free be happy.

Tent pitched, mosquito repellent applied and the stove on - boiling water to heat a 'Wayfairer' Chicken Casserole which was absolutely delicious after a long ride.

A beautiful view from my tent of 'Grosser Rheinsberger See' (Rheinsberg Big Lake)

Sunday Morning:

This is the strangest end to a cycle path that I have seen yet. Yep, without warning the path terminates at a public toilet.

Sunday morning was grey and overcast and I caught a few rain showers on the way back.

Out in the country there are a lot of seemingly derelict warehouses, sheds and buildings of one kind and another - some with better graffiti than others.

Overall despite the bent pedal, bruised knee and elbow and the tragic loss of my Zefal Spy mirror which must have shaken loose from the handle bars somewhere near Kremmen on the terribly rough roads, I had a great time. The area is very beautiful and the weather was brilliant at least on Saturday. I am not convinced that I would set off round the globe on the Brompton with full luggage but it was a enjoyable adventure nonetheless.

New Brompton 2013 Brake Levers and Ergon GP1 Grips

Being a self confessed Brompton Geek I was interested to see that the brake lever design on the Brompton has changed for the 2013MY. Many people of course couldn't find this news less interesting but as I said I am a Brompton Geek.

New Brompton 2013 Brake Levers
 

I had been toying with the idea of fitting some Ergon grips to my Brompton for a while. The factory grips are small and admittedly light weight but not great for longer trips and people with big hands. I regularly ride 30+ miles on the Brompton and have got big Jimi Hendrix hands.

What I didn't like however was the idea of chopping about a pair of grips costing 30 euros so until I saw the 2013 brake levers I held off. 

The redesign of the levers is, I understand, to increase the leverage and create better braking force for the same effort. The side effect is that they take up less space on the handle bars - allowing space for the Ergo GP1 grips.

I orders the levers from SJS Cycles in the UK for £29 and paid £9 to have them posted to Berlin. They arrived a week later (I could have pretty much cycled to the UK on the Brompton in that time but fair enough).

The 2013 Levers fitting instructions

The Fitting instructions are printed on the inside of the retail packaging box - a neat idea as long as you don't tear the box up to get the levers out.

The old style Brompton levers

To fit the them I cut off the foam grips using a Stanley knife got rid of most of the gummy glue residue and removed the brake lever from the handle bars -I did this one side at a time. Then I undid the cable bolt at the calliper end. I then removed the inner carefully. Next I fitted the new lever on the the handle bar. At this point I realised that the inner cable barrel end had changed design and so I could not reuse the existing inners. I had a pair of new rear cable inners in my small collection of bike spares and these has the smaller barrel ends which was lucky. As I am sure you are aware you need to use two REAR cables one for the front and one for the back as many other front brake cable inners are to short for the Brompton due the length and routing of the cable that facilitates the folding process.

Any decent bike shops stocks a selection of inners for a couple of pounds/ euros if you find that your existing inners don't fit.

Then I got everything in place on the handle bars roughly where I wanted it - which was as far away from the ends of the bars as possible to allow as much space as I could for the grips before tightening it all up. I managed to get the grips almost completely onto the bars - perhaps only proud of the bars by 9-11 mm which is enough to allow the allen bolt on the end of the grips to tighten the internal plastic cuff onto the bars; securing them nicely.

I didn't have to glue the grips on which I was pleased about but will think about that once I have thoroughly field tested the set up as it is. 

The Finished Job - New levers and grips: Very Comfortable!

I think it looks pretty good to! Very modern. The brake levers even have tiny Brompton logos on the inside of lever which is pretty cool.

Even re affixed the Zefal Rear View Mirror 

For the finishing touch I re affixed my Zefal Rear View Mirror - This one mounted on the right side is much more useful in the UK where we drive and cycle on the left. It is possible to affix this mirror to either side of the handle bars but mounted to the left side of the handle bars it then hits the floor during the folding process. So in Germany I use this one for spotting other cyclists who want to overtake (this rarely happens!) and a Zefal Spy mounted on the Handle Bar Stem for spotting drivers who are too close (this often happens!) or when I am changing position on the road or cycle path.

Overall I am pleased with the end result! Upgrading the levers is a pretty simple job and the fact that it means you can fit uncut Ergon GP1s on the bar makes it well worth it to me. 

Falkensee to Berlin: The End of Summer?

I have ridden from my house in Falkensee to Berlin city centre a number of times for fun. Each time I try to take slightly different route to see the sights and to familiarise myself with the city.

On Friday night I realised that there were brown leaves on the balcony heralding the beginning of the end of summer. So I checked the weather forecast on my phone, something I haven't done for months during what has been a very nice summer, to find out that it 'should' be sunshine and showers all day. Good enough for me.

On Saturday morning (just) I rode from Falkensee to Spandau. Spandau is on the far West side of the city and some Berliners don't really consider it part of the city. But it is within the city limits as I pass the signs on my way from Falkensee.

I hadn't heard of Spandau before I moved to Germany except of course Spandau Ballet (the band). The band rather grimly took their name from the twitching motions people being hanged at Spandau prison made. I had wondered where the Ballet was housed in Spandau until I discovered this fact. Subsequently of course I wondered where the prison was in Spandau but it was knocked down in 1987 after Nazi war criminal Rudolf Hess committed suicide (by hanging himself) while serving life for his part in the atrocities of World War 2. It was knocked down soon after he died to prevent it becoming a shrine for Neo-Nazis.

As I headed toward Berlin City Centre I passed the huge BMW Mottorad (Motorbikes) Factory. One of BMWs biggest successes of the last few years and many would argue one of the best bikes of all time the BMW 1200 GS are made here. I haven't ever ridden one so I cant comment on what they are actually like but if they are anything like the BMW 1200 RT which I have ridden (the GS' Touring bike brother that it shares an engine with) I would guess they are probably as good as all the hype, or at least some of it.

BMW Motorrad Factory in Spandau

Every time I pass this factory I think of the Johnny Cash Song 'One piece at a time'. In the song he gets a job working at a car factory and he comes up with a plan to steal a car, you guessed it, 'one piece at a time' and assemble it at home. Of course as the models change over the years he ends up with a complete mongrel of a car that he is very proud of nonetheless. Its a very funny song and always makes me laugh out loud. Perhaps I should try and get a job there.

After riding along side some fairly busy roads I decided to follow the Spree for a few miles from Charlottenburg to Tiergarden which is a quiet if bumpy ride. The rough pavements and road coupled with the 16 inch wheels of the Brompton have a strange effect which is to sporadically ring the bikes bell. Most embarrassing as seemingly is happens most often when you are following other cyclists. Usually ones that are actually making reasonable progress too. What follows is some huffing, puffing and tutting on the part of the cyclist in front after which I have to pedal like Billy-o to get past them and put some distance between us before I can slow down again and weesingly curse the little bells exuberance. My subsequent efforts to stretch the spring and move the hammer away from the bell only served to make the problem worse. Mental note: get a new bell, get fitter or learn the German for "sorry my bell has got a mind of its own".

Soviet War Memorial on Strasse des 17 Juni in the Tiergarten

On the Strasse des 17. Juli I stopped to have a look at the Soviet War Memorial. It was built to commemorate the Russian Soldiers of the Red Army who died during World War 2. It was built very soon after the end of the war while the surrounding area was still decimated. The trees that weren't blown to smithereens by shelling and fighting were chopped down for fire wood during the final months of the war - it must have been a horrendous mess then but is a beautiful part of the city now.

Incidentally it would seem that the Russians painted their tanks the same 'Sage Green' Brompton used for my bike.

After riding through the Brandenburg gate and past the hotel where Michael Jackson dangled his baby out of the window (google it) I turned right on to Wilhelmstasse and stopped in front of the British Embassy. 

British Made Brompton outside the British Embassy in Berlin

The British Embassy is quite an interesting building to look at with its 'large purple water tank' and 'glass sided shipping' container features in the middle. Despite my flippant remarks I actually quite like it compared to some of the truly ugly buildings nearby.

From there I made my way towards Kruezberg and then up through Warshauer Strasse into Freidrichain and to my brother Paul's house for a coffee.

After a good chat and taking his dog for a walk to nearby bike shop (to unsuccessfully get a new poltergeist free bell) I headed back to Alexanderplatz as it looked like it was going to rain. On arrival at Alex I had missed a train by a few minutes so decided to ride through Mitte cleverly following the train tracks where possible to Berlin Hauptbahnhof - killing the bird of having to wait around on the platform and the bird of seeing some more sights as I went with the one stone (the Brompton).

Passing the Museum Island, the Reichstag and then meandering along the Spree once more I had time to spare until I clipped the gear mechanism (whilst walking it across the road!) and had the chain off. After faffing around for a few minutes and getting covered in oil I was back on my way and still arrived at Hauptbahnhof slightly grubby but in reasonable time.

Once inside the station bizarrely I became aware of the fact that is was raining and the stations roof ventilation windows were still open which meant that the people inside the station on the platform were getting soaked. Having been outside all day and managing to stay dry I put my coat on.

People always seem fascinated as I fold the bike and put it into its bag ready to carry onto the train. By packing it away I avoid having to buy a ticket for it which I find quite pleasing. 

I hopped on the RE2 back to Falkensee and after a short ride from the station I was home - Twenty five miles (forty kilometres) later I had had a great day out.