When I went down to the theatre on Holland America's Eurodam to pick up a sticker for my cycling excursion from Zeebrugge I was sure they would say it was cancelled.
While working in my cabin, I had been watching my balcony flood with all the rain that was pouring down. Even if that didn't put them off, surely the fact that I was wearing a pair of sandals (wot, no protection for your toes!) would break all the health and safety rules.
Wrong on both counts. So an hour later, I found myself in Bruges, doing some practice turns on my bike during a break in the clouds. There were quite a few such breaks, and the sun even came out at times, which was very welcome as in between, we looked like a group of drowned rats.
Actually despite the rain, the trip was really good. Jos, the manager of the bike company QuasiMundo in front, Rony, who had picked us up at the port, bringing up the rear and doing a grand job of stopping the traffic by taking off his clothes and lying in the road.
OK, that was Jos' joke. But Rony really did stop the traffic for us when we needed to get over roads - just a formality really as the Belgian drivers are all very polite and stop anyway when they see a bike (actually I think it has a lot to do with the fact they are always to blame if they hit a cyclist, but whatever, it works).
Our bike ride took us from Bruges to Damme, a thriving port until the entrance from the sea silted up and the port was moved to Zeebrugge. Now it's a pretty little village with a handful of people and cobbled streets, which are not a lot of fun when you're on a bike.
On the way we learned that Belgian Blue cows are white and have been so inbred to create stocky little cows with lots of meat that they can't give birth naturally and always have to have a caesarean. We learned about windmills, bridges on ropes that are rolled up to let boats through, the canals around the city that were dug by Napoleon (there's me in front of one, in one of my drier moments) and the German officer who became a hero because he ignored orders given in the last war to destroy Bruges.
Jos was very lavish in his praise for our cycling abilities, which struck me as strange until he explained a lot of people come on the tours who can't ride a bike. How odd is that?
Back on board Eurodam, I sat in while Diana Moran, otherwise known as the Green Goddess, gave an inspiring talk on the importance of staying fit and healthy despite growing old. As I had just cycled about 15km, I felt very virtuous.
Next stop on this mini-cruise is Cherbourg, where hopefully the weather will be a little kinder.
Jane Archer
