Updated Route

View Belgium breweries/cafe stops in a larger map

T Shirt Ideas

I've commissioned Tram's brother, Hieu-Target designer, to help out with a design for this trip.

Place to leave bike boxes in Amsterdam airport for the week.

Left luggage

o At the left luggage office you can safely store your luggage for up to one month.
o The left luggage office is open daily from 06:00 to 22:45 hours and is located in the basement between Arrivals 1 and 2.
o Outside opening hours you can request assistance via the available intercom system.

Charges
o EUR 6.00 per item for up to 24 hours
o EUR 4.50 per item for each subsequent 24 hours (or part of that) from the second to the fifth day
o EUR 4.00 per item for each subsequent 24 hours (or part of that) from the sixth day until the day the luggage is collected

Flights

I'll post flight details for everyone here to perhaps make travel easier.

Kevin Kos
Thu 08JUL NORTHWEST 240 OK W LV MINNEAPOLS/S 325P (W)
TPAUL
AR AMSTERDAM 635A#

Sat 24JUL NORTHWEST 245 OK L LV AMSTERDAM 240P (L)
AR MINNEAPOLS/S 435P
TPAUL

Shaun Sava
Thu 08Jul NWA 240 MSP-AMS @325p
Sat 17 Jul NWA AMS-MSP @240p

Dates and other info

Lads, dates for this adventure have been finalized!!

All should arrive in Belgium on Fri, July 9th, 2010. Begin pedaling on sat. Arrive in Bruges on Fri night, July 16. Fly out on Saturday or later.

Flying into Amsterdam might be the cheapest with a train ride down to the town of Florenville. Round trip train between Amsterdam and Brussels is about $100 so factor that when comparing costs of flying into Brussels vs Amsterdam.

Once in Belgium I am budgeting about 100 Euros/day/person. Hotels have more or less been selected. Arranged the route to accommodate 2 tastings/day with one day of 3.

Thus far the group consists of 4 guys.

Please let me know if you know for sure that you'll be unable to make it.

Route

Think I might have found ourselves a route!! French speaking Wallonia.

Roughly 250 miles over 7 days of riding breaks down to an average of a respectable 35 miles a day. The majority being a well marked bike-specific route through forests and such that don't even appear in Google Maps as roads!!

Start at the famous Orval Brewery in the south, finishing in Brugge. From Brugge, easy direct train to the airport in Brussels.

11+ breweries to visit/drink with 3 being Trappiste.

Another thought was to skip Brussels altogether. Not a fan of cycling out of Brussels. Most of us will arrive in the early morning so better to hop a train with bikes and take it out of town right away. That way we can start riding the following day.

Meet in the town of Florenville close to the brewery on travel day.

Ignore the route that heads north towards Brussels in the middle of the map.

Clicking on the wine glass(no beer glass available) reveals more info on the brewery.



View B4 in a larger map

View B4 in a larger map

From: "Wessel, Robert"
To: dan franch ; kevin kos ; shaun sava ; "joe@smithandtinker.com" ; "mtnoble37@yahoo.com"
Sent: Thursday, September 10, 2009 12:44:42 PM
Subject: RE: B-Cubed

Starting in Amsterdam sounds great to me. Maybe a chance to pick up supplies for the trip.

Since I’m a novice biker (cyclist?), 50 miles per day would probably be my max. Shaun also mentioned that we may want to rent a car/van that one of us could drive each day to transport luggage and give each person a rest day from riding?

Not to be a pansy, but a B&B or hotel would be a preference if possible. I know Sava needs a proper place to douche every day.

rob

From: dan franch [mailto:danfranch@hotmail.com]
Sent: Friday, September 04, 2009 8:22 AM
To: kevin kos; shaun sava; joe@smithandtinker.com; Wessel, Robert; mtnoble37@yahoo.com
Subject: B-Cubed

The Amsterdam/Brussels train is around 45 USD one way.

Again about the dates, Luxembourg is only 2 1/2 hours by train, so I can be there to meet whenever people start arriving. Robert and Joe, are you also using Frequent Flyer Miles? If not, then it is best if Kevin goes ahead and "determines" the dates, so to speak. Then that is done. As Kevin mentioned, it all depends on who has other plans or demands in July. I can work around all my July dates.

Shaun, the time span you mention is fine, and I agree that there is no need to visit a Trappist brewery if we can’t get in. I am flexible about whatever route we take, just let’s get out of Brussels and into the country as soon as possible. And 50 miles perd ay works, too.

Are we still tenting? If so, we need to plot out where such spots are along the route. Here in Eritrea on dial-up, that's not possible, so I will leave all the planning to everyone else.

The Mission

What: 7-10 day biking trip to drink beers in Belgium
When: July 2010
Why: we like Beer!
How: by bike
Who: whoever

Purpose: to taste as many of the original Trappiste breweries on site as possible.

Route: TBD with 50 miles/day as max.

Lodging: combination of hotels, B&Bs, guesthouses, etc.

A convenient way to post trip ideas and suggestions.