Belgium, England and France - DAY 2 (Belgium)

Here’s DAY 2 of my trip report (DAY 1 here). Note: this was the day with the least flying and the most sightseeing. Those who are mostly interested in the flying will have to endure (or skip). But stay tuned for days 3 and 4, which were mostly about flying…

So, this was Thursday, the 1st of May and therefore a public holiday in Belgium (not in UK, by the way). Speaking of which…from where I was (Brussels), I would have liked to hop over the Channel on that day. However, there was a front and associated area of rain over the Channel. I therefore decided to just fly to Ostend (EBOS) that day and use Ostend as my international aerodrome for my departure from the Schengen area the following morning. The idea was to land in Ostend before the front arrived and then hope that it would pass through before the next morning. Let’s see how that turned out.

Since there would be little flying to do that day (Grimbergen – Ostend is just a little more than half an hour) I had the time to spend the morning to see some more of Brussels. I ended up walking most of the city centre, which is quite feasible in two hours.

The Grand Place / Grote Hof and the City Hall.

Männeken Piss… a joke after all. A tiny figure relieving himself all day long. Not really impressive.

What was more remarkable than the figure itself, was actually this:

A few more impressions of Brussels:

This short visit to Brussels was nice, but in the overall scheme of european metropoles, I would say that Brussels can be given a miss.

At 11.30, I took the train to Vilvoorde and arrived at Grimbergen airfield by 12.15. The weather was still sunny and it was quite warm. I had a last peak at the radar image and was reassured that most of the rain was still out over the Channel. Ostend reported some TCUs but nothing else.

It was all very straightforward. Ostend requires no PPR. Also, since this was a VFR flight within Belgium, a flightplan was not required. Simples.
Since I had already paid my landing and parking fee the evening before, I was soon ready for start-up and taxi.

Here, you can see one of the two distinct giant round hangars of Grimbergen airfield.

An N-reg. Piper Aztec parked at Grimbergen. I love Aztecs!

Here you can see me ligned up for departure on the runway 01 “starter extension”. It is about 250 metres long and even though I was reassured that the “juncture” between it and the grass part was very smooth, I wanted to see if I manged to get airborne before reaching the grass.

It turned out be no problem at all. I was off after about 200 metres.
Departures from Grimbergen are northbound only and again, the noise abatement procedures were very distinct.
The north of the Brussels metropolitan area turned out to be very densely populated.

Also, on this flight, a notion of mine was once again confirmed: Belgium is definitely “the land of the waterways”. They seem to to be very fond of their countless waterways, especially canals. The country is full of them…

1100 feet MSL was a good cruising altitude for this flight.

The nice thing about the leg from Brussels to Ostend is that the direct route takes one over the two arguably most beautiful cities of Belgium: Gent and Bruges.

Here’s Gent:

Looks great, doesn’t it?

On my way to Bruges, a prime example of those isolated TCUs.

One more time, a canal.

Flying through a small shower took care of the bugs on the windshield.

Bruges:

I then called up Ostend Approach, who were very relaxed and sent me on a right hand downwind join for runway 08.
Abeam the city of Ostend.

Here’s the huge runway of EBOS.

Taxying past the terminal with the carcass of a retired MD-11 parked there, waiting for a buyer.

The “Follow-me” guiding me to Apron 3. Note that they a very keen on “high-vis” at Ostend. Sound familiar?

Upon arrival, formalities were zero. The follow-me driver dropped me off directly at a gate next to the terminal. I took the bus to the city which worked flawlessly.
Here’s the Ostend marina.

Train station.

Architecture.

An old sailing ship in the marina.

Despite the holiday, there was a fish market at the Visserskaai, the street facing the harbour. Loads and loads of delicious soles there. Had one for lunch and it was excellent.

A modest supply of bicycles at the train station…

I took one of the very frequent trains to Bruges (takes only 14 minutes) and after sorting out the hotel for the night, explored the city, which is a UNESCO world heritage site. Due to the holiday, it was quite packed, but not too much so.
Bruges (the name derives from “Bridge”) once was one the most important cities of the “Hanse” (Hanseatic League), just like my hometown, Lübeck. Towards the end of the Middle Ages, it supposedly was the richest city of Northern Europe until it lost its access to the North Sea and subsequently declined.

Grote Markt.

City Hall.

A few more pictures.

The unevitable Waffle wagon.

Selfie alarm.

Bruges was definitely worth it. Very beautiful. Quite similar to Lübeck (which was however destroyed to a much higher extent during the War).

Oh, and by the way…after I reached my hotel, the first raindrops started falling. Perfect timing I would say.
Stay tuned…