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.