This story picks up where my last post left off. I approached the shepherd and as he spoke noticed that he only seemed to have one tooth. He immediately shook my hand and I thought him a nice chap. Despite not being able to communicate properly, he seemed to get the gist of what I wanted to do and he motioned that he needed to fill up the water tank then he was going home and that I could camp there. He had two little sheep dogs with a total of seven little sheep dog legs. When the tank was full we walked over to his tiny little hut which was really a trailer. I was pretty relieved to have found somewhere to camp. On approach, I noticed that the outside of the hut was adorned with some water hanging up, a towel and a shard of mirror, presumably for shaving. He invited me in. It seemed that everything in the hut was broken and second hand. He had a car battery with a cable coming out of it which he used to charge his phone. He showed me that he had a few different connections and that I could charge my phone if I wanted to. After trying with difficulty to show that I didn't need to (my solar battery thingy had plenty), I nearly did anyway because it seemed that he wanted me to.
He got out a couple of bowls and opened what I assume was his version of a food storage unit. Out came a pot with beans and some sausage in it. I would guess that it was his dinner last night and would be the next night too. Not refrigerated. On a 35 degree day. But I'm not one to refuse hospitality, so I ploughed in, after he rapidly and deliberately did the chest cross thing. He had a mostly broken but fully functional wireless which he put on for ambiance. It was good to fill the silence, because even the most basic of communication was difficult. We went through where I was from and where I was going, then he got in to practical questions like "what time are you getting up in the morning?". I put up my tent and was ready for bed. I had a great feeling about him in terms of his honesty, but I couldn't help being a little uneasy. My bags were in my tent, but my bike was outside and he could easily have called his mate to just come and take it away. Regardless, after an hour of reading (he was on the phone most of the time, lonely poor fellow), I slept easily. At 5.30 he unzipped my tent saying "Sorry, sorry!" and my heart leapt a little. He pointed to his watchless wrist to indicate that it was time for me to be up. He already had a hearty breakfast of eggs and crackling on the stove and ready. I generally don't like crackling and this was like drinking oil, but I put on a brave face and drank a lot of water with my meal. Before too long, my things were packed and I was ready to go. It is impossible to show how grateful one is in those situations. This is a guy who has basically nothing and he was just so willing to help me out. I imagine that in a few weeks, he will have forgotten me. For him, it's not so significant to help someone out like that because of course that's what you do. I honestly think I will never forget him.
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As the afternoon grew long on Wednesday, I was running out of steam both mentally and physically. By this stage the map on my phone didn't have much detail so I needed to find some WiFi. I knew I was around 15km from Ghent but I had no camping plan yet. I meandered away from the main road and bounced along a small street until I came upon a cafe, Donza, which seemed bike friendly. While I was umming and ahhing about how to lock up and what to take in, the cafe owner came out for a chat to say that I could sit in the window to watch my bike, but in Deinze there wasn't much chance of anything going wrong. As I sat down I felt a bit heavy because once again I had nowhere to stay and the plan of camping on the side of the road really wasn't coming along. I had decided to just search for a camp ground again when the cafe owner came over for a chat to hear about my journey. Almost immediately he offered me a place to stay. He introduced himself as Steffan and his partner as Lien. After closing, we headed back to his house where we chatted, ate and drank. It is impossible to describe how my mood changed from when I arrived at the cafe. The trip had not started at all the way I thought it would. There were so many things I hadn't thought of that made me reconsider the way I was going to do the trip and what I could possibly achieve. I was already questioning why I was even doing it. I couldn't possibly see how I was going to meet people the way I wanted to and come out of it with a more positive view of people. Now, sitting at the dinner table with Steffan, Lien and little Bo, their nearly two year old son, I was sure that I was on the right path. By the time I was really to go the next morning with a belly full of hot breakfast and a plethora of handy gifts from Steffan's sister (I think?), I felt like a new person. I rode 100km that day and it felt like nothing could stop me because I now had such a positive outlook. I also had genuinely the best apple I've ever eaten, which was one of the gifts, and a delicious home made energy bar. I can't wait to see them in Australia where I will need to find the best places for coffee now that I have told Steffan that we are good at it. |