Picked up Elsa at the station and cycled off to Oerlinghausen to see her aunt. Quite a climb, but we managed. The last time I saw Elsa’s aunt was 39 years ago, when we two 14-year olds cycled from Holland via Hamm to Oerlinghausen and stayed with her. It was a bit of a surprise … Read more
Said goodbye to all the family and left earlier than expected, at 10:00. The route leaving Hamm was still very familiar, after a while even the names of places became less and less well known. For my first break I had bought plums at a farm, my second break was in the gardens of a … Read more
Got off to an early start and therefore had to pack up the tent wet again. Cycled through the school traffic in Lüdinghausen, holidays are definitely over here. Got myself some vitamin juice and a croissant on the way and looked out for a good breakfast spot – I think I found the perfect view: … Read more
Somehow I only realised I was in the Münsterland when I was already there – so I changed my plans for the route. Not the shortest, but partially along the 100-Schloesser-Route. Managed to see quite a few of the castles. Cycling was great on little by-roads and Fahrradstraßen, I hardly noticed the height gain of … Read more
It was really quite hot again today, I took my time with everything. The border was quite close to Nieuw Amsterdam, and very noticeable – the bike paths, especially in villages and towns, are much worse in Germany than in the Netherlands. For every driveway it goes down and up, the kerbs are not very … Read more
Next weekend there are big celebrations in Groningen for ‚Gronings ontzet‘ 350 years ago, so I learnt the citizens of Groningen defended themselves successfully against a ten-times bigger army sent out by Bommen Bernd, the archbishop of Münster. What better place to head to than the direction of Münster. Getting out of the city was … Read more
We actually had breakfast on the campsite, including some (herbal) tea, very nice for a change, but still the tents were not dry by the time we left. Again a very nice route along well made bike paths. The highlight for me was going through the nature reserve of Fochterloerveen. Even the viewing tower was … Read more
Should have known, Dutch campsite near the water, green grass – the tents were very wet in the morning. We did not have the patience to wait for them to dry… We decided to have breakfast on the way, but had not calculated on the places there were being closed on a Sunday, it is … Read more
Robin cycled with me today, conditions were perfect (pleasant weather at around 21°C, tailwind at the end), found a really nice campsite – great day! Thanks to Robin’s local knowledge we had a good route for getting through Amsterdam. Amazing, how little stressful cycling through a major city cab be, if the infrastructure is ok. … Read more
Muggy day, which was particularly noticeable when taking the dog for a nice walk. Jill and Robin live in a really nice area. Cycled into Haarlem to have the bike serviced at Django’s bike shop – it had become necessary. Everything should be fine again for the next 1000km or so. Robin was very good … Read more