Day 7 Liege to Antwerp / Anvers by the AA team, Sam and David C

The day began with a magnificent, sunny view across the Place de
l'Opera in Liege. After Dave's 5th helping at the all you can eat
breakfast, it was time to turn on the Garmins and head north towards
our first checkpoint - St. Truiden. As the language and culture changed
from French to Flemish, so did the variety of shops available in the
villages and towns that we passed through; Bakeries and Cafes
gave way to all kinds of erotic massage parlours, brothels and seedy
looking hotels, with the odd primary school and bank thrown in as well.

After six days of hard graft, The AA team finally had an hour to spend
a bit of time sun bathing. The only down side is that Al is now the colour
of a very sunburnt lobster ready to be cooked in a pot of chilli sauce!

The geography of the land was also on our side today, with long, flat,
straight roads which had cycle paths alongside them - perfect for the
7th day of hard slog. The issue today was not that the roads were
difficult to ride on, but in fact that they were too easy - leading to
a wondering mind and several excursions down small country lanes leading
to sleepy little villages.

Upon arrival at the hotel, the first port of call was aftersun, applied
liberally to the arms, legs and face to soothe the burning pains of
overexposure to the sun. After a quick pitstop, we were ready to head into
Antwerp on the Metro (which was built using a disused sewer in 1927) to have
a walk around and eat our 5th Italian meal of the week (!).

After that, it was off to Bedfordshire to prepare for the final jaunt of
the continental part of the Tour. A small gathering took place in the AA
team's headquarters, where much wine was consumed, and an uncensored version
of this blog was written, which was subjected to heavy censorship this morning!!