DENDERMONDE

Dendermonde is probably another Belgium town that most people have never heard of. Should I be more correct and say non Belgian people have never heard of? Once again it's a surprisingly good little town with lots of history, now obviously quite well off and a commuter town for Brussels and Gent. It's only ~30 minutes to either city by train and judging by the size of the bicycle and car parks at the station this is the case. The main square or should I say curved wedge shape is a delight with at least 12 bars, cafes and restaurants. Take a look on this link, make sure you pan around. https://goo.gl/maps/jurbmnyMcVw if it works!

Flags on the exterior of Belfort van Dendermonde.

Dendermonde regionally is known for the once every ten year event of the 'Ros Beiaardommegang'. Briefly there were lots of medieval feuding between local lords, France and Spain. Various wars were raged, marriages and treaties confirmed, children born to hopefully join families together. You know the story, all good European stuff. The once every ten year event to celebrate a victory the Ommegang, the festival, involves a 4.85 metre horse parading through the city with lots of other spectacles, performances etc. The reason why I am telling this story is so that I can pass on the rather strict criteria for being one of the 4 riders of Ros Beiaard, the horse. Just is case you have aspirations. Applicants must meet the following conditions as detailed in the official publications:

1. They must be four brothers.

2. They must follow each other in age, no interruption by the birth of a girl.

3. They are required to be a minimum of 7 years and a maximum of 21 on the date of the festival.

4. They have to be born in Dendermonde.

5. They must reside continuously in Dendermonde.

6. Their parents must be born in Dendermonde.

7. Their parents must have lived continuously in Dendermonde.

So no problem with applicants out of a population of 45,000! That aside the next appearance of this strange spectacle is May 2020, so make a note in your diary.

Ros Beiaardommegang in the Grote Markt.

Apart from historical events, they are keeping up to date with recent relandscaping part of the town centre, with all new paving, plants, furniture etc. Cycling past I noticed some unusual bench seats. Why have they got built in solar panels? This could be the future. The benches have solar panels and both contactless mobile phone charging as well as normal USB! I'm sure the cynics will say if you sit on them there will be no solar power. They do have an internal battery so it even works at night. We need these everywhere.

Solar street furniture. The future?