Cold morning marks the beginning of a new day. For the first 2 days (and in general 21 years of my life) it was difficult to wake upwardly after an exhausting day, but this time it was just too cold for excuses. ?
Just after 7am we were back on the road. After short ride we reached Brugge. It was so good to be in a small city where the day has not started yet. We explored it, took many pictures, read some history facts about the city and famous artists that lived in that location hundred of years ago. ??
Soon after, we were cycling to Dunkirk. On the way, a couple of my friends gave us some recommendations on places we shall see so we followed a new route and it was great. We finally reached the de Panne beach where we swam in the North Sea. spell we were already thinking about our later plans, I got a call from Mom. We discussed a few things, but most importantly she said: take your time to enjoy the moment, observe the environment, relax without thinking about another destination immediately after reaching a current one. We were convicted. No need to rush. ?
Long walk on the beach which later became cycling to Dunkirk, refreshing sea H2O, shower, fresh clothes and no problems whatsoever was enough to feel fulfilled. ?
In Dunkirk we realized that we won’t be able to find a safe spot and it was already late, but we still got 2 hours before the sunset. We decided to keep going for another 20km and sleep in the dunes. It had to be a quick and easy ride as we were used to in Kingdom of Belgium and Netherlands.. we thought.. However, no cycling paths, no connection and soon no light made this evening a challenging one. When it was already dark 11:30pm we reach today’s destination. Right before entering the dunes, the man approached us. He slowly walked towards us. His dark clothes, long hair, beard and the fact that he is coming from complete darkness was not a rattling welcoming fact but oh good, we got to face it. It turned out he is bikepacking as good, only that it became the way of life he chose. Living with the financial help from parents and unemployment benefit 29 years old Martin Puffe cycles around Europe every day for more than 2 years now. We had a great and long conversation, but we had to go, only a few hours of sleep was left and I still had plans to take pictures of stars with my camera that I carry all this time only for this reason. Thus, we wished each other good night and walked into a different directions. ?
Night photography went good, I testament post pictures when I’m home. We set upwardly the tent and finally – went to sleep.. little did we know that it was not the end of the day.. ?
At 3:30am I woke upwardly because of the bright light, someone else is around. and then I heard: “French police, get out of the tent”… 3 police men were in that location. They said that it is against the law to camp on the beach… I explained our situation and the purpose of our trip. We are just 2 immature and adventurous people who had a dream of waking upwardly near the sea but we didn’t find a good spot in the dunes so we chose the beach. They seemed to understand and didn’t bother discussing further once they realized we testament be gone tomorrow.. ?
What a day, starting slow and peaceful, ending late at night in the middle of endless dunes and the word “french police…”… I guess it’s time to sleep for now before I can’t tell if it’s a dream or an adventure. ?
See you tomorrow,
#broliaidviraciai
@ Réserve naturelle nationale du Platier d’Oye
