Watou to Oudenarde

Today found us embarking on our longest (and last) leg of the trip...a metric century from the brewer's house at St. Bernardus Brewery to the Refuge Kappelberg near Oudenarde. This was a well-planned wind-at-our-backs cruise with a stop in Ieper for some cash and lunching stuffs and in Dadizele at the Rosarium for lunch and to swap drivers and riders. Dave and Jeff drove the first half of this while Linda and Lindsay drove the second.

The Menenpoort in Ieper commemorates the 54,896 commonwealth troops who died in WWI and have no graves.
Also in Ieper, the handiest dandiest little bike feature to assist in moving your bike below the train tracks at the station there:Also en route, this sweet canal fortification:
And, oddly, there were many witches set up around Beselare...more info on the phenomenon is here. One of the many witches we saw:
Once in Oudenarde, we found our way to the Refuge Kappelberg, a really really nice restored farmstead where we stayed for two nights under the watchful eye of host Tom, an unabashed talk-your-ear-off Belgian who thinks French soccer players are "pussies" and loved to promote Speculous, the Belgian-designed award winning and patented cinnamon flavored spread. It was in ice cream in a lot of places, but we hadn't had it in all it's forms until the Refuge. Thanks again for that Tom!

The Refuge: