Bruges/Brugge/Whatever

I've just got back from Bruges/Brugge/whatever in Belgium, and it was fabulous - sun, canals, quaint buildings, beer, chocolate - what more do you need?

Anyway from a green point of view, the amazing thing was the sheer nmber of solar PV installations. I took quite a few train trips as I had a number of work appointments and it was rare to see a village or a suburb without at least one house with panels. The photo is a bit rubbish as it was taken from a moving train with a camera phone. I saw dozens of these in each one hour trip. As a comparison I saw a miserly two solar hot water systems on the trip back from London to Newcastle. They have a feed in tariff, we don't. Go figure.


As with most Northern European cities the cycling facilities brilliant despite the limitations of the medieval streets.


One way for cars, two way for cycles and scooters.


Cycle paths on narrow streets - we saw really young kids using these.



The mother of all cycle parks, Bruges station.

As a keen cyclist, I was very jealous!