I stopped in Brussels because I figured a trip from York to London, then up to north London to drop off some equipment with the Hudsons, then back to the train stations, then the Chunnel to Brussels, well that was probably a full day travel.

I was unimpressed with what I saw of Brussels. It was notably dirty, compared to every single city on this tour. There was a lot of low quality graffiti, lots of homeless screaming and fighting with each other, broken windows, boarded businesses, and no one was smiling. This in spite of it being one of only two gateway cities through the Chunnel.

My intuition told me not to linger in Brussels, but I had two nights paid for at the hostel. So I daytripped to Bruges. And kept my lodging in Brussels.