Day 13 – 19 miles to Gellik

Tarmac, forest, forest, forest, tarmac, tarmac, tarmac, forest, forest,

tarmac, tarmac, forest, tarmac, etc.

Left foot is really painful. Have been trying a loose boot for a couple of days. Didn’t help. Today tried tight boot. Moved the pain, but it’s still there. Need to get off these roads/cycle tracks.

Have also got a bit of chafing on the top of my leg. I think it’s a mosquito bite rubbing against my shorts.

Body’s falling apart!

In case you had forgotten. Here’s what a wood looks like.

I am also quite partial to a signpost…

As you might gather the walking wasn’t the highlight today!

The path decided to take the longest, most convoluted route possible through the woods.

Three sides of a square, or two sides of a triangle, when there is perfectly good straight path – perhaps they thought we haven’t seen enough woods yet?

Two bits of good fortune.

• Found a bakery this morning and managed to buy a ham and cheese sandwich (well a baguette). Kept me fed all day.
• Detoured into a town to get water. Asked someone mowing his lawn. He insisted on feeding me biscuits and iced tea, while we discussed the state of the union and how much better designed Belgian houses are than British ones.

Camped by the Albert Canal. Must be the 4th time I’ve crossed it. And again tomorrow. Hopefully the boats stop at night. It’s about one every 15 mins at the moment about 10 yards from the tent.

Enough for today. Time for tea. The culinary delights tonight are salami, Bruges cheese and a thai pot noodle. All to be followed by a couple of Pringles.