Hey all, Next trip out into the world is (should be) to Belgium. The problem will be we are headed there to hit as many breweries and find as many fresh trappist beers as we can. So, while this won't be a riding trip, hopefully I can be forgiven because I am sure many of you all have some input on how to do this. (Shoot, according to the horrendous stories I read last night, even attempting to drive there is terrible [?] and worse so being an American as the roads are reversed.) If you had to go to Belgium sans two wheels, how would you do it and what is best way to get to....Westvlereten, St Bernadus, Chimay, Westmalle, etc.?
They drive on the right-hand side, so the roads are what ? Upside down? :huh Compared to the surrounding countries the roads are in an awfull state, especially in Wallonia. And us Dutch tend to rank the Belgians among the worst drivers there are, often commenting they must have all gotten their licenses with saving coupons Depending on how much time you have and your condition the best way, discounting riding, would be the other two wheeled transportation...bicycles. So just use the only realistic option....rent a car. (And those 2 trappist breweries in the Netherlands are easily within 10 miles of the Belgian border.)
No, the roads aren't reversed, just the drivers when they've been to the breweries. The roads in Belgium are not the best but not the worst in Europe. Don't believe everything you read.... The only brewery that I know is Chimay, but being on two wheels I didn't have any drinking and driving experience there. It being in the southeast, it's in the Ardennes. Beautiful countryside, excellent biking/mototcycling routes...cars can participate as well.
which horrendous stories have you read? leave it to the Dutch to stab one in the back every chance they get drivers here are bad, but no worse than the neighboring countries. except for Germany maybe. the roads are indeed terrible here, I have to give you that. we drive on the right. The speed limits are awfully inconsistent so if you don't like getting your picture taken by strangers, keep an eye out for speed cameras and speed limit signs. they tend to change the speed limit every couple of yards, just to keep you awake. that's my guess anyway. it might be interesting to visit some WWI stuff. it's been 100 years since the war started and there's quite a lot of activity on the subject. And you'll be passing Poperinge and Ieper if you decide to visit st. bernardus so you might as well stop over at the Tabot House and maybe even Flanders Fields.
Hey now..... statistics disagree with you. We are on par with the Germans. (Just so you know how much faith to put into statistics ) Never had a problem with those. The (lack of) direction signs on the other hand.....
HAHA...sorry I was writing that up quickly last night and I can see that it could have caused some offense. I swear I was told, read that driving was on the other side. And, with your perspective I could see how the other stories would easily be the US's New York or Chicago or Cleveland (all places I have driven and survived.) So the priority to the right applies in all cases unless it doesn't. Never pass on the left as it is illegal, but people do it. And it sounds like if I drive like a tourist the people behind might try to drive into my trunk/boot. I'd love to rent a car and then get bikes in any stops. The idea would be something like a giant loop. Land in Brussels, head south into Wallonia for Rochefort, St Bernadus, Orval. I guess I am not sure if you could visit two in one day? (Remember we are Americans so our vacation is move,move,move. ) Then day three to head north west for Westvlertern, maybe sea side. Day four off over to Westmalle and any others up in Flanders region. (That leaves two days padding in case we decided to stop elsewhere too.) ((Mostly because I also want to stop at any smaller start up places that are not well known on this side of the water.)) The French (Parisians) have scarred me for life, so not sure we'd spend any time there, but Luxembourg might be nice to see.
no offense taken :) I was just wondering what "they" were saying everything south is lovely, woods, plains, hills nothing like the vast plains the US has to offer though. Luxembourg is nice, but I haven't really seem much more than the countryside and the highway. if you visit westvleteren and you want to buy a case, try to find their rules. they don't sell to anyone and only one crate per car I believe. I might be wrong.
See road signs under B. With a special note for B17, that one is only used on intersections that are hard to see and therefore dangerous. It isn't used at every intersection. http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Road_signs_in_Belgium We had already concluded Belgians drive on the right hand side, so passing on the left is the way to do it
Belgium has a rich history in established beers (the trappistes you're going to visit) but we don't have many microbreweries like you have in the US, so it might be hard to find 'less-established' breweries if you don't know where to look for them in advance. The Belgian beer drinker doesn't experiment much, our local breweries even have export-only beer because they don't see a market here for more experimental brews...
Hello, I've been studying in Belgium and what I can say is the following: - roads are perfect (please consider I usually drive in Rome). Also the road signs are good and is difficult to get lost - Belgian drivers are usually very polite (more than italians sure) - the tour of the breweries you mentioned looks like good - once you are there I suggest to visit the city of Gent, that is very nice and not so tourist as Bruge - place on the water that are not well known.... I strongly suggest to visit the Dutch region of the "Zeeland", close to the border and really beatifull. In particular, if you like bicicles, stop in Domburg and rent a bike to visit the neighborhood. Just to give you an idea have a look here (small english translation available) http://francescomartini2010.wordpress.com/nederland/ ciao
