Day 64 Heerewaarden to Woudrichem

Day 64. Heerewaarden to Woudrichem. 52.15 kms cycled. 3.06 hours cycling. 29.45 km/h max speed. 16.78 km/h average speed. Weather – sunny and hot.

When in Holland do what the Dutch do, plan your whole day around supporting your team in the World Cup football match between Holland and Slovenika.
The build up to the game over the past few days has been huge, so I planned the day’s cycling to make sure I was in a town with a campground so I could watch the game.
Complete with my orange shirt I joined a big crowd of fanatical Dutch supporters in a large hall adjacent to the campground.
With everyone in the crowd wearing the national colour orange, I blended in perfectly … so much so that I was even offered beer and food. The fact that I couldn’t speak a word of Dutch didn’t seem to worry anyone. I was barracking for their team and that was all that mattered.
With Holland winning 2-1 everyone was suitably impressed, with high fives and much shouting all around.
As for the day’s cycling, it was much of a repeat of the previous day as I wandered from village to village along the River Waal.
Now that I am getting closer to Rotterdam the towns are getting much closer together and bigger, so the next couple of days of cycling promise to be interesting as I navigate my way through the maze.
Actually my destination before I go to Rotterdam central is to see some of the dykes on the North Sea Coast. Even the locals say they are a must see, so it should be quite interesting.
As I see it at this stage I am right on schedule to be in Amsterdam on July 9 as planned.


captions: pic 1: I love the Dutch windmills Pic 2: Am also fascinated by the traditional Dutch homes with their thatched roofs. Pic 3:A Dutch castle I visited along the way Pic 4: Another river crossing this time on a small boat.

Day 63 Nijmegen to Heerewaarden

Day 63. Nijmegen to Heerewaarden. 76.31 kms cycled. 4.46 hours cycling. 32.5 km/h max speed. 15.95 km/h average speed. Weather – sunny and warm perfect for cycling.

Well, after 63 days cycling it all finally came together today. Perfect weather without a cloud in the sky (an added bonus was a nice tailwind); fantastic scenery and village after village with so much to see.

  It was also Sunday, so everyone was out on the bike tracks enjoying the beautiful weather … it was great to see.

  One woman who stopped to talk to me when she saw my head buried in my map, claimed the weather was “exceptional” for Holland. She also asked me if I knew why the landscape was so green? Without giving me a chance to reply she finished her sentence with the answer, “because it normally &*^%&#@ rains so much”.

  So as you can imagine the locals were lapping up the mid to high 20s temperatures, as was I.

  There is something very enjoyable about starting a day’s ride with basically no idea where you are going to end up at the end of the day.

  Basically as I head over towards Rotterdam I am just going from town to town on a whim with no real purpose to where I am going – and love it.

  As I had once again lost track of the days and forgot to buy food yesterday to cater for Sunday (Holland is like every other country I have visited – absolutely nothing is open on a Sunday), I was scouring every village I went through looking for something to eat.

  Fortunately I finally found a café when I was starting to despair so enjoyed a nice lunch along with about another 10 or so other cyclists who looked as though they had the same problem.

  In the end I found a campground wedged between the Waal and Maas Rivers at the end of a great day’s cycling. Bring on tomorrow!!

captions: Pic 1: Don't you just love the Eten and Drinken sign. Pic 2: Nijmegen Pic 3: They have these great drink stations along the Waal track in Holland. Pic 4: All the cyclists getting onboard to cross the river.

Day 62 Afferden to Nijmegen

Day 61 Kessel to Afferden

Day 61. Kessel to Afferden. 67.58 kms cycled. 4.16 hours cycling. 29.81 km/h max speed. 15.77 km/h average speed. Weather – sunny and warm, mid 20s perfect for cycling.

What a beautiful part of the world this part of The Netherlands is. While Portugal’s wild and unspoilt scenery is still at the top of my list, The Netherlands and Dutch people in general are very quickly catching up.

  The Dutch are very friendly and hospitable and in many ways remind me of most Australians … nothing is too much trouble, love a chat and are very proud of their country.

  Today’s cycling was like riding through a picture postcard. Cyclists everywhere on the country tracks; a change of beautiful scenery at every turn; beautifully manicured gardens and farms; cargo boats on the River Maas and an overwhelming ‘how good is this’ feeling.

  I am still to find out if this part of The Netherlands is typical of the whole country, but just let’s say I’m pretty impressed with what I have seen so far.

  Every small country village is fascinating to explore and people are keen to engage in a conversation … in English!!!!!!!!!!!

  And when they learn that I am Australian, they are even keener to find out more about where I have cycled from – to and about Australia in general.

  After cycling 50+ kms today I thought it was time to find a campsite for the night, so called into the tourist information office at Bergen. Next thing I know I am in the lounge room in the home of Klaus, the guys who runs the tourist office, enjoying a fine French wine and fielding all sorts of questions about Australia and cycle touring in general.

  A photographic artist, Klaus has travelled extensively throughout the world, but is yet to make it to Australia and was keen to find out as much as he could.

  Two hours and four wines later, I finally set off to the campground at Afferden that he recommended armed with all sorts of local ‘must do’ information.

  Then after arriving at the campground, I find myself invited to more drinks with local Dutch campers who also provided me with a chair and table next to my tent so that I could “feel at home”.

  The local history of the area is also fascinating. Normally the boundary between countries is a river or other defining boundary. But not here between Germany and The Netherlands. The boundary between the two countries is just on 7.2 km towards Germany from the River Maas. I did wonder why, but thanks to Klaus I now know the answer.

  When Napoleon was fighting the Prussians (Germans) along the River Maas his canons had a range of 7.2 kms, so the Prussians eventually and sensibly agreed to the boundary between the two countries being – you guessed it – 7.2 kms from the River Maas. And that is where the boundary remains to this day. Great story, eh??

  Klaus was originally from Nijmegen, so that is where I am heading tomorrow. He has recommended a campsite to stay at and says the city has plenty for tourists to see and do. From what I can see it is about 30 km from where I am camped at Afferden, so it should provide another easy day’s riding tomorrow.

captions: Pic 1: They have these great bins along the cycle tracks ... you don't even have to get off the bike to get the rubbish in!! Pic 2: A watermill along the way. Pic 3: A particularly nice garden along the`way.

    

   

      

Day 60 Roermond to Kessel

Day 60. Roermond to Kessel. 32.26 kms cycled. 2.19 hours cycling. 35km/h max speed. 13.90 km/h average speed. Weather – sunny and warm.

Day 60, can you believe it, I certainly can’t. In many ways the past 2 months have flown by and in other ways I have crammed so much into that 60 days it’s incredible.
With my final destination of Amsterdam now in sight, it is great that I can kick back and take things easy for the final two weeks.
And that is exactly what I did today. After setting out from Roermond my target for the day was Broekhuizen a leisurely 40 km away along the River Maas.
After visiting the tourist office in Roermond and getting general directions I decided not to pay another 9.5 euro for a special bike track map. Big mistake. Venlo, the first stop along the way, was just 22 km away but by the time I had done 28km I was only halfway there, so decided to call it a day.
I took a wrong turn somewhere and got hopelessly lost without an adequate map, so Kessel it was for the night.
Kessel is a lovely little town with an historic 12th century medieval fortress that I took the time to tour. The fortress was bombed by the Germans in the Second World War and everything that had been built over the previous 200 years was destroyed. But not the original stone structure, it stayed put and it is now the foundation for a major reconstruction program that is due to start any time now.
Kessel, and the River Maas which it sits alongside, was the front line of the war in late 1944 with the Germans on one side of the river and the Allies on the other.
The big loser was the town itself, with just about everything flattened. Even today more than 60 years later they are rebuilding, with a lot of effort going into the planning of the reconstruction of the town’s medieval fortress.
With a new map now purchased hopefully I can get back on track tomorrow, but who knows where I will end up??

captions: Pic 1: My first windmill. Pic 2: The old fortress at Kessel.

Day 59 Erkelenz (Germany) to Roermond (The Netherlands)

Day 59. Erkelenz (Germany) to Roermond (The Netherlands). 35.97 kms cycled. 2.22 hours cycling. 33.70 max speed. 15.16 km/h average speed. Weather – not a cloud in the sky and about 25 degrees … perfect.

Well here I am in country number five, The Netherlands. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised, but every time I have crossed from one country to another the scenery has changed so dramatically. As I have said previously about the other countries, everything here is so Dutch!!

  It is only my first day, but The Netherlands really does look like a beautiful country. Mind you it does help that it is a perfect weather day, but Roermond where I have camped for the night really is a beautiful city.

  There is the traditional old city plus a modern new city complete with a huge outlet shopping precinct and a large business district.

  After arriving about noon after only 36kms of cycling I set up camp and then set about exploring the town. I have just about got this down to a fine art, riding through the streets on the bike first to get my bearings, and then setting out on foot to explore the small laneways, churches and shops of interest.

  Like many German and French towns, Roermond was extensively bombed in the war, a fact graphically illustrated in a series of pictures on display in the foyer of the town’s cathedral, but you would not know today.

  One of the first things I noticed after crossing the border was the fantastic network of bicycle tracks. They go in every direction and there are cyclists everywhere making use of them.

  The only problem is that you have to watch out for speeding bike riders. On a couple of occasions I nearly got cleaned up by bikes flying through intersections or coming around a corner too fast. Wouldn’t that be ironic … survive France’s roads and crash on a Dutch cycleway!!.

  Anyway, as you can imagine there are bikes everywhere, a great sight indeed.

 I will study the map closely tonight and work out my route for the next few days then. At the moment the plan is to follow the River Maas, but the lady at the tourist office suggested another route that would take me through all the main towns on the way to Amsterdam.

  Whatever the decision, now that I have got plenty of time I can really kick back and enjoy the ride.

captions: Pic 1: Finally made it to The Netherlands Pic 2: The bikes come in all colours schemes. Pic 3,4,5 and 6: Roermond.

 

Day 58 Cologne to Erkelenz

Day 58. Cologne to Erkelenz. 73.72 kms cycled. 4.50 hours cycling. 34.85 km/h max speed. 15.23 km/h average speed. Weather – mid 20s perfect for cycling.

The good weather is back, I’m back on the road, feeling relaxed and fit … it’s amazing how much more enjoyable cycle touring is when the weather is fine.

  After leaving the Rhine at Cologne, the day’s cycling was via a series of small back roads, laneways and even narrow tracks heading towards Roermond in The Netherlands.

  While the initial estimate that it was a 60 to 70km trip was off the mark, it was such a nice day to be out cycling that it didn’t really matter.

  In the end I booked into a small hotel in Erkelenz, with Roermond another 30 to 40 kms cycling tomorrow.

  Erkelenz is a lovely little town, but like just about everywhere else I have been to in Germany it is impossible to get internet connection. Hopefully it is a different story in The Netherlands.

  Riding along a narrow cobblestone pathway between farms today, I started to think about all the different sorts of roads/tracks I have cycled on since leaving southern Portugal.

  You name it from major freeways to muddy tracks with everything else in between. Overall Portugal had the best roads (although just about every village had the dreaded cobblestones), with Germany’s Rhine track the worst by a long way.

  This was another reason I decided to leave the Rhine track and head for The Netherlands. You can take just so much bouncing along muddy, rocky and badly paved and signposted tracks. I did about 400kms and that was enough!!

  Today’s riding was through endless potato and wheat farms, so there wasn’t really anything of any interest to photograph. Hopefully that will change once I get to the Maas River over the border.