I slept overnight for 13 hours. Unheard of for me. I felt ‘not right’ but decided to give it a crack.

That turned out to be the wrong decision.

If my heart rate went above 100 I was very nauseous. My lung capacity felt reduced. I was dopey.

I gave it 10 km and we went to a rail station in Villeneuve d’Ascq, an outer suburb of Lille.

We spent an hour there. The girl said, using Google translator on her on her phone, we could not book the bikes on. Needed to do that on line.

Turns out, that station is not one that appears on Belgian Rail website to Mons.

So I either need to ride back to Lille, across all the shitty cobbles and traffic, or clear out on quieter paths to Tournai, over the Belgian border.

It seemed we could book bikes on from there, as we would have already crossed from France into Belgium. Same rail company though!

It was a slow crawl as I needed to stop regularly. I wanted to close my eyes.

I was concerned as I thought the anti histamines ‘should’ have left my body. The thing that ‘scared’ me the most was my lungs and nausea at 100 bpm.

That is not a high riding rate. Quite low. Thank goodness it was flat and we had a tail breeze.

Not many photos today as Tony was more concerned about getting me to Tournai.

We did stop here for a breather.

It was relief making it to Tournai. 31 hard earned km.

Tournai is one of Belgium’s oldest cities. We only got to see a few of the sites, taking a breather in the Markt.

The railway station is regarded as one of the most beautiful in Europe.

The French speaking man at the counter was very helpful. I was delighted to see four tickets spit out, and we only needed to wait about 40 minutes.

Down the stairs and then up the stairs to platform 2 was a challenge. I got downstairs ok, but upstairs was beyond me today. Fortunately Tony is strong 💪.

When the train arrived, the conductor actually took my bike and lifted it in. I was beyond grateful.

I was curious that all the on train communications, plus ticket office were in French. I have learned that there is a French speaking part of Belgium, and also a German speaking part, as well as Dutch.

Maybe 45 minutes later we were in Mons. I just closed my eyes.

Mons railway station is like nothing else I’ve ever seen. Futuristic, super modern, clean.

Photos I have copied.

We were too early to check in, so we stayed indoors at the station, sitting in a Starbucks, hot chocolate warming us up. I was intermittently shivery.

It was about another 2 km to our overnight stop. it was up a decent hill of 10%, cobbled! I pushed.

Along the way two photos.

Another interesting town, but after checking in, I went back to bed.

I later reluctantly got dressed to search for dinner. I was not hungry and not really eaten for two days, but have forced myself to eat a few things like grapes and banana. The thought of anything else is puke.

We walked through the main Markt place, rain closing in.

Tomorrow is another day. Will see how I pull up. Decisions then.

Thanks for reading ❣️🚴