A Trip to the Beach, June 1

Our plan was to spend a couple of days in Veurne, then head down through Dunkirk to the town of Bergues in France. We’d heard it was a beautifully preserved medieval town and just a days travel away. After the visit there, we’d head back to Veurne on Monday for the Bloomenmarkt, a big garden show in the main plaza, then head back to Brugges for a couple of days. Then it would be on to Ghent where we’d receive our first guests of the year, Cathy Jo’s brother Brandt and his new wife, Susie.

Thursday was a beautiful day for a bike ride so we set off from Veurne for the beachside town of Nieuwpoort. On the way, we passed Plopsaland, a giant amusement park with rollercoasters and the usual accouterments. In the high summer months it must be packed but for now not many people were around despite the perfect weather. We thought maybe we were back in southern California; sunny, warm, dry and just a little wind from the northwest. Nothing like we imagined a North Sea beach should be.

This is really not your Southern California beach, though. Lined with high rise apartment buildings and the sand divided up into privately controlled bathing areas, our Coastal Commission would have a heart attack.

Pretty quiet on a Thursday morning in early June.

After a quick lunch and a beer, we cycled the 10.5 kilometers back to the boat down the Nieuwpoort-Dunkirk Canal. We would travel it our way back up the coast after the quick run down to France. Friday morning off we went.