Continental breakfast going somewhere...

In this little Swiss village I had my first western breakfast from the entire trip. A true continental breakfast. I savored it, before checking the state of my soaked clothing. Luckily most of it was dry. I left the little town and was soon again driving through the amazing landscape of Swiss Alps. It struck me that this would be my last day driving. Tonight I would arrive in Belgium.

I crossed the French Swiss border, filled the tank with cheap fuel in Luxembourg and before I know it I entered Belgium. Little blue sign “Belgique”, surrounded by a circle of shiny stars. No hassle, an abandonded customhouse, no one to check. Before I knew it I was riding on Belgian roads. I made it. Apparently summer was good in Belgium. Temperatures were flirting with the 30 degree mark on the thermometer. I soaked in the Belgian hilly landscape and made a first stop at this roadside bar. I could not resist the ugliness of the big plastic “pakse friet” on their porch. I ordered a beer, and felt strange. I tried to explain to the barmaid that it would be my first Belgian draught in a couple of months. That I had just driven 11000 km from Qatar. She smiled, nodded and went on serving the other clients. I wished I had the ability of reading people’s thoughts, to understand what she was thinking. I was back in Belgium, not that much had changed.

The last 160 km of my journey were kind of a rush. I made a stop in Brussels to visit some friends before driving the last kilometers in a beautiful Belgian summer sunset. A red setting fire to the meadows and patches of forest along the concrete highway to Ghent. In Ghent I pulled the bike on its stand for the last time; people were enjoying the soft summer evening in the central court of my new residence. I ordered my second Belgian beer, and before long I was entangled in a conversation with another adventurous soul. He told me about how he took his Yamaha straight through the heart of the Australian Outback a couple of years ago. I might just have finished this journey but it felt great making plans for future trips. I felt that I had arrived somewhere, for now, anyway…