We’ve now cycled 2160 kms and are a couple of days away from Holland.

The day started out slowly. I woke up with a headache and a bit of a rash on my face, so we tried to find a pharmacy before leaving but failed. Instead we found a bakery so at least we had lunch.

Mike has downloaded a guide from Cicerone which follows a route (not necessarily the Eurovelo 15) and it has been really good so far. The ride into Cologne that I was worried about was so much easier than I thought it would be. The Eurovelo 15 route went on main roads, but the route Mike downloaded took us along the river all the way into Cologne.

There was an industrial stretch with massive factories pumping out crap into the atmosphere and it was an ugly sight to see.

Cologne was heaving with people and we had to push our bikes through them. It was really awful so we decided not to look around. We saw the big cathedral from a distance and took some photos which was good enough for us, seen one cathedral you’ve seen them all in my opinion.

Getting out of Cologne was a breeze too following Mikes new Cicerone guide. We had to do a big detour around the massive Ford factory which sprawled across both sides of the road. It was Friday afternoon and there was nobody around, no traffic, nothing, so we figured they probably take a half day.

We rode through farmland and beside the river most of the way and then we had to catch a ferry to the other side of the river. We were at 65 kms for the day with no camping in sight, so at the 70 kms mark we found a hotel right on the cycle route and we checked in there. This trip is now costing us a fortune and we need to stop staying in hotels. Or get a job.

The hotel we are in is very nice with a view of the river. We went downstairs for dinner and it’s the best meal I’ve had in Germany yet. I took Lynda’s advice and ordered the vegetarian option and got an amazing Spanish Tortilla with fried mushrooms and salad. Mike ordered luncheon sausage (he thought he was getting proper sausage).

We’re not sure where we’re going tomorrow. We’ll cycle through Dusseldorf and Duisburg and I don’t think there is much after that for accommodation. Guess we’ll worry about that tomorrow.

Aaah, the relief of an airconditioned hotel!

We left camp at 7.30am this morning, a new record for us. We skipped breakfast and coffee, packed up and left. It was actually cold this morning, but it soon warmed up.

It was such a beautiful ride today with many castles up in the hills, and picturesque chocolate and strawberry ripple houses. We’re so glad we left this section for the morning as I don’t think we would have enjoyed it as much in the heat.

The only problem with skipping coffee was, there was nowhere to get a coffee that early! In France, there is always a Tabac or hotel serving coffee in every town you pass. In Germany, nein!

We stopped at the first hotel we saw. He was open but not serving coffee. The next place was an Italian place where I saw people outside drinking coffee. So I sent Mike in while I found a table overlooking the river. I waited for ages when he finally came out and said, they’re not doing coffee.

‘But there’s people drinking coffee here,’ I said in my I need coffee voice.

‘That’s only for the guests, it’s a hotel.’

‘Oh FFS,’ I said and rumbled off over the cobblestones on my bike.

Then we found a ‘cafe’. I went inside and almost walked back out again when I saw the decor and the 90 year old woman at the counter. It was so old fashioned I thought they probably don’t do espresso. But then I saw a massive espresso machine and thought, it should be okay. So I grabbed a table and sent Mike in to order.

Mike came back with a little book about the cafe, and a business card.

After quite some time, the old lady brought out two cups and asked if we wanted milk and sugar. ‘Yes,’ I said, and she left to go back inside, struggling to walk. Mike had offered to help but she insisted she was fine.

I went to take a drink of my coffee and almost screamed. Mike, who was busy thumbing through the book must have seen the look of horror on my face, asked, ‘What’s the matter?’

I picked up my cup, peered inside to double check, then showed it to Mike.

He peered inside, and then looked in his own cup. They were both empty.

After a longer wait, another, younger lady in her 80s who I think might have been a guest, brought out a little tray, and on it were two jugs of coffee, a mini jug of milk each and a jar of sugar. This really is like the olden days. In fact, the cafe has been in the same family since 1951, and the decor hasn’t changed since.

Anyway, the jug provided two cups of coffee, but it wan’t the best, but at this stage, coffee was functional, not to be enjoyed.

After that quirky little experience, we continued on, following the river, marvelling at castles in the hills. It really was an amazing day.

We arrived in Koblenz at 1pm and it was already very hot. Thankfully we were able to check into our hotel and the ice cold air-conditioning. After showers we fell asleep. At 6pm we ventured out for food, and the blast of hot air almost had us scurrying back to the hotel and ordering room service. But we braved the heat, ate a kebab, then scurried back to the hotel. It’s going to be hot again tomorrow and we are both exhausted from the heat so we’ve booked a second night here.

We’ll explore the town of Koblenz tomorrow, early to avoid the heat.

We had the best nights sleep in the amazing campsite that overlooked the lake. We were up and off early, just before 9am this morning.

There was not any camping on the route today, so we booked a hotel for today, which we figured was about 70kms away. That was a mistake.

The day started out well, nice cycle paths, but a bad headwind and we struggled to get over 17 kms/hr. But it was shaded and cool, and quite nice. We stopped for longer than we should have in the town of Speyers. I was drawn in by an aeroplane museum, which if I knew we didn’t have to cycle 70 kms, we would have stopped and spent the day exploring it. We snapped a few photos from the outside and moved on.

Then we stopped at the first place that did coffee. We’ve decided to take the coffee as it comes in whatever country we are in. In France it was small espresso cups, which we loved. In Germany it’s more of a long black. If you want milk, the only choice is those little sachets of UHT milk. I’m assuming it’s the same all over Germany. I also orderd a pretzel and Mike had a apple filled croissant. He chose the better one.

After our quick stop, we saw a Lidl next door. Dammit, we could have bought cakes for a fraction of the cost. I did a quick shop for supplies: coffee, bananas and a baguette. Then off again.

Despite all the stops we still managed to ride 35km by lunch time. After a short while, we lost the sign posts navigating our route. Thankfully with Mike’s expert nagivation skills, we were back on the route at no time. It was great riding alongside a railway line, we were hurtling along at 25 kms per hour, a nice tail wind pushing us along. It felt so good, I was thinking at this rate how we’d do our 70 kms by 3pm and we can be settled in a nice hotel, catching up on editing and offloading footage, and having an afternoon nap. And then it happened. We looked at our phones, the garmin, and both swore our loud. We were heading in the wrong direction. The fact we had a tail wind really should have been a giveaway. But we were loving it so much!

Anyway, Mike’s expert navigation skills told us we could pick up the path without backtracking, so I blindly followed him. After 30 minutes or so, we stopped and looked again at our phones. We were now even further away that we should have been!

So backtrack we did, back alongside the railway, struggling into the headwind from hell. Thankfully we didn’t have too far to backtrack (about 3 kms, so a 6 km detour in total) and we found the turnoff we’d missed because we were going so fast.

The rest of the day was pretty much like that. Signs disappearing on us, but now at every turnoff we’d stop and double check, and this would make for slow riding, but at least we were getting regular breaks.

Then, after 72kms, we got to the town of Worms. This would have been the ideal place to stop, except we had accommodation booked. This is why it’s a bad idea to book in advance. Although it is a Friday night and we didn’t want to get stuck finding somewhere.

As we were bypassing Worms and girl said we must stop there and look around the town as it’s absolutely amazing. For some reason we thought it was an industrial town so it wasn’t on our radar. But we didn’t have time to stop, so we kept on going.

Then there was a bridge. A magnificent looking thing, kinda like the Tower bridge, but better, that we had to cross. Locals in this town seem to want to direct us places and a man said we can get to the bridge by heading up there. But the cycle route went down there. Anyway, we listened to the man, he’s a local he knows best and followed his instructions for crossing the bridge. But it led us to the walking part of the bridge (no bikes). So we had to go back down and follow the route signs.

Then there was a choice. We could stay on this side of the river and get to our hotel in 21 kms, but we’d have to catch a ferry across the river. Mike suggested it would be quicker on the other side, but I think he just wanted to ride across the bridge. So we crossed the bridge and on the other side the sign said 23 kms to the town. So we just added an extra 3 kms onto our trip there.

We continued on and it was a nice cycle ride through the country, completely off the main roads. We didn’t see any other cycle tourists, so I figured they must have gone the other way.

After about 17 kms we came to a sign which gave us two choices. To the left the town was 4.1 kms, to the right it was 6.3 kms. So of course we would follow the shorter route, I mean, who wouldn’t! And it was downhll!

We went flying down the hill, excited we were almost there. So far we’d clocked up about 92 kms for that day and were hot, tired and hungry. And then the path turned to gravel, then dirt, then suddenly we were cycling in a paddock! ‘WTF’, I said to Mike. ‘This isn’t a path.’

Not knowing what was to come of this track, I insisted we turn back to the sign and go the other way. So backtrack we did for the umpteenth time that day and followed the road into the town and the dreaded hotel we’d made the mistake of booking the night before.

We ended up doing 101 kms today and are shattered!

We had a nice night in the campground of Neuf-Brisach. When we woke up in the morning, Mike had been doing some research and the town we are in is a walled town, and to look at it from the air, it’s a perfect hexagon. So this morning we took some drone shots, which we’ll put in our video from this day.

We are getting very low on camping gas, and also need a rest day. It’s a 70 km cycle ride to Strasbourg, but last night I was googling a town near here which is off the route. I was so blown away by the picturesque town, I immediately booked two nights in a hotel there. So that’s where we’re heading this morning. To Colmar!

It was only a 20 km cycle ride and we arrived in the town and had to navigate through masses of people. This wasn’t quite what I’d expected. We arrived at the hotel at 11am and were told we couldn’t check-in until 3pm, so we dropped off our bikes and found a supermarket and sat in the park and ate our salads.

We went out in the evening for dinner and all of the restaurants were fully booked. Thankfully one took pity on us and we have a lovely meal sitting outside in the square.

Colmar is a neat town, everywhere you look are medieval chocolate ripple buildings of all different shapes and colours. There is an area called Little Venice, with a river running through the town, restaurants dotted along the side of it. After dinner we spent a good hour exploring and taking loads of photos.

The next morning we got up early and headed out to have more of a look around, and to do a vlog of the town. Hardly anyone was about, so it was a nice time to walk around the town. In the afternoon we found a camping shop which some the gas we needed for our cooker, and I also bought a blow up pillow, hoping it will be more comfy than my clothes stuffed in sack.

Back on the bikes on Tuesday, and we should be in Germany in a couple of days.

We had an amazing sleep in our hotel. The bed was so comfy and the pillow oh so soft, no lumps. That’s the only downside of our tent is my lumpy pillow. I stuff all my clothes into a stuff sack (well they’re already in the stuff sack) and that’s my pillow. But it’s very lumpy and less than perfect, but I still sleep ok. But the hotel pillow was so nice, except for some reason i woke up with a sore neck! Go figure.

Another wonderful day of cycling. Apart from the head wind it was perfect. We cycled mostly alongside a canal yesterday and it was a nice downhill run past about a dozen locks.

The sun was shining, the swans were swimming, and I sang our loud as we cycled along.

After about 60 kms we arrived in the city of Mulhouse and set up camp.

We are now about halfway through our trip and have done about 1500 kms so far. Tomorrow we are off to Germany.

It was cooler today and so much easier to cycle in. We did 50km and could easily have done more, whereas on the hotter days we were petering out after only 30km.

We got away from our little cabin at 10am and it just started to spit with rain. Then it stopped and started with drizzle all day but it was quite nice for a change.

We rode along a bridge which had a canal on it. The bridge was designed by the same people that did the Eiffel tower.

We arrived at our camp at 3pm just as a torrential downpour happened. There was a marquee there, so we sheltered under it. Under the marquee was a swimming pool and in the pool was a giant fish. Not sure why there was a fish in a swimming pool, but it seemed cruel.

The campground office didn’t open until 5pm and the thought of sitting around in the cold and wet didn’t appeal, so we started searching for hotels, but as it was Saturday night and there was a festival in town, they were all booked out.

We found a chambre which was nearby so Mike called them and thankfully they had a room and it was only a 10 minute cycle ride. The lady didn’t speak a word of English and she was trying to tell me something. She put it into her phone to translate and held it out for me to view. There were now two languages written that I couldn’t understand. She’d translated into Dutch!

Anyway, our room is massive with a double bed and five single beds. Reminds me of some of the places we stayed in on camino. But we have it all to ourselves and our own bathroom too.

We walked into town and ate out at the only restaurant there.

A short ride of only 28 kms. But it still took us 6 hours.

We left our hotel in Tours about 10am and took our time, it was a nice cycle ride alongside the river for most of the day.

After a while we headed inland a bit and cycled through wineries and fields of wheat. Mike put the drone up and got a couple of shots.

It’s a Sunday and everything is closed so we were pleased to find a little cafe open at lunchtime for a snack and a drink.

Apart from that, I’m not sure how it took us so long to go only 30kms.

We arrived in the town of Amboise and we’re struck by the magnificence of the chateau. Our campsite is on an island and I just found out sister Jenny lived on this island for a few weeks when she was picking apples. Would have been in the 70s. So cool.

Thunder is rumbling all around us and we’ve already had a couple of showers. We have our tarp set up so we can sit under it.

After a stroll around the quirky town with wonky medieval buildings, we went for dinner at the restaurant next to the campground.

It was about mid 30s today, and the rain has turned the place into a sauna. Almost cool enough to go to bed. Almost.

We had a wonderful nights rest at the chambre d’ote and in the morning they gave us breakfast. It was just like being on camino again, where we all sat at a big table, we had croissants, bread and jam, and a big bowl of coffee. We love how they do things in France.

The morning started out amazing, we picked up a nice flat cycle path. We had a map which showed the cycle routes all the way to Angers and it veered off at a town called Serges. But when we got to Serges, there were no sign posts to say which way to go. So we double checked our map, but there were no landmarks or roads on the map to know where we were supposed to turn. This is very typical French.

We followed the cycle path a bit further on, hopeful it might lead us south, but alas, it was heading north. So Mike had to resort to his garmin to get us there.

It worked out okay in the end as we followed quiet roads and they were mostly flat. In the afternoon it got very hot and humid, but we slogged away, knowing that we had two rest days coming up.

The garmin truely behaved itself today and we navigated to the camping ground in a big city, without seeing hardly any traffic. We’ve booked into a chalet in the campground, so we have power, our own bathroom and cooking facilities.

We walked 30 minutes to the nearest supermarket and stocked up on healthy supplies for the next few days, as it’s Sunday tomorrow and all the shops will be shut.

Mike is hoping to do some maintenance on the bikes such as replacing the brake pads, and oiling things. I am hoping to get some editing done. Oh, and of course we’ll visit the town of Angers.

Due to the frogs partying and the church bells donging, we had a late start today, getting away about 10.30am.

The roads today were quiet country lanes with very little traffic. It was the perfect day for cycling, overcast and not too hot.

We were still trying to head to Nantes, but the gadgets still want to send us on the main roads. We know there is a canal path, if only we could pick that up. We’d been heading south, but due to avoiding the main roads yesterday, we ended up at a campground to the east. Now when we look at the map, Nantes is in a SW direction, when ultimately we want to be heading east towards Switzerland.

Then we realised, we don’t actually have to go to Nantes. It was just a starting point for the Loire valley cycle route, but we’ve been to Nantes before, so don’t really need to go back. We can pick up the Loire valley route from Angers. So we changed our route to navigate to a campground on the way to Angers.

There were no shops on the way today, but we stopped at a town that served coffee. We sat and had a little rest, before heading on.

We were feeling very pleased with ourselves, managing to avoid main roads. We were navigating to a camping ground at the 43 km mark for the day. But when we arrived tired and hungry, we found it was shut. This is starting to become a thing. The nearest campground from there was another 37 kms on. As well as that, my knee, which had been fine for a few days, was playing up again. And we hadn’t had any lunch and it was now 5pm. We scoffed some walnuts and peanuts and biltong and that helped curb the hunger.

We had a break while looking at our options. There was a town about 10 kms away with three hotels, but I didn’t want to cycle there to find they were full, or shut. Mike tried calling a couple of them, but there was no reply. I was willing to set up camp at the closed campground if need be.

After about an hour of researching where to stay, Mike found a chambre d’ote (B&B) about 7 kms in the direction we were heading. He rang them but they didn’t speak a word of English. Using his schoolboy French he managed to book us a room for the night. Phew.

I put some anti-inflammatory gel on my knee and put on my knee brace and we were on our way. Thankfully there was a shop on the way and I was able to pick us up some ready made salads for dinner, and some ham for Mike to have with his baguette as a salad wouldn’t fill him up.

We arrived at the chambre d’ote and it’s a big house on a farm. Our room is very comfortable with our own bathroom and a patio for the bikes.

Tomorrow we head for Angers for a two day break.

Google was mean again to us today.

We had planned to go to Chateaubriant which was 53 kms away. She started by sending us down a main road with big trucks barrelling past and no shoulder to cycle on. After about 15 minutes of agonising cycling I told Mike I would not be following this for the next 53 kms and we pulled over to look for an alternate route.

We’d met a couple of English cycle tourers at the camp the previous night and they said they are following a book which navigates them through picturesque paths off the main roads all the way to Nice. I wish we had’ve gotten details from them.

Anyway, I found a route on my phone which would take us off the main road. We just had to cope with another 1.5 km. Just before we turned off four big trucks rumbled by and I decided I would do whatever it took to stay off this road.

As we turned off Mike noticed a dead end sign. I didn’t care, I’d be doing whatever it took not to go back on that main road. I’d push my bike through fields of ticks if need be.

We cycled along a nice tarmac surface, no other traffic about. Then the road turned to dirt and we suddenly appeared to be cycling through somebody’s farm. I thought, here we go, dead end ahead. I stopped to take a photo of some horses in the paddock when I noticed up ahead that Mike had been pulled over by a man on a tractor.

I pushed my bike up towards him as the angry man on the tractor pulled away.

“We’ve got to go back,” Mike said.

“Back on the main road?” I said, remembering my vow not to go back there.

“Yes, this is private. The man on the tractor said we can’t ride through here.”

I showed Mike my maps. “But Google is sending us this way.”

“It doesn’t matter. This little section is private and he is watching to make sure we don’t go through here .”

I looked ahead and it was only 50 meters through their private property to the road on the other side. I heard voices to my left. There were two men inside the property talking.

“I’m going to ask those men,” I said, hoping they might be nicer to a girl. “Come with me to translate.”

Reluctantly Mike followed, constantly looking back, worried that tractor man would reprimand him again.

I explained my situation to the two men in my best English, showing them my map and how I did not want to go down the main road.

“C’est prive” he said in his best French. Clearly my best English wasn’t getting through to him. Mike then had a go in his best French asking if we could walk our bikes 50 metres through their property to the road on the other side.

“Oui, no problem,” they said.

Phew, we were out the other side and on our way.

It was far more relaxing cycling through fields of corn. We stopped in a small town and had a coffee at a restaurant overlooking a magnificent church with an intricate steeple. It donged while we were there and made our day.

It was one of those days where Google kept trying to send us back on the main road, and us fighting back. We decided to give up on navigating to Chateaubriant and navigate to a campground in the general direction we were heading. Just to be sure we were going the right way, Mike navigated on his Garmin and I navigated on my phone.

But this is where the problems began. Mike’s Garmin would want to turn us left but mine would want to go straight ahead. Then mine wanted to go right while Mike’s wanted to go left. Not only were we fighting with the gadgets, we were now fighting amongst our selves. Our phones were annoyed we weren’t listening to them and had turned us against each other.

After a few terse words backwards and forwards, we found solace on the church steps. We sat down for a break, ate our quiche Lorraine’s and regrouped.

Relaxed and well fed, or fed up, we took another look at where we wanted to go. It turned out we were both navigating to different campgrounds!

We both decided to go to my campground, but after about 10kms it told us to turn right. No longer trusting Google, we stopped and checked. Just as well we did and it was trying to send us back onto that stupid main road!

We ignored Google again and went straight ahead and were transported into a stunning medieval town. Why would Google want us to miss this? We sat and marvelled at the wonky chocolate rippled buildings, trying to forget that we were trying to head south whilst adhering to my vow earlier of avoiding that main road.

There was a campground about 20 minutes ride away but it was only 1pm and we decided it was too early to stop. We tried to find a route south, but all roads led to that dreaded main road. By this stage I was feeling exhausted and felt like an afternoon nap. Mike was getting grumpy because he wanted to keep moving.

After about an hour of procrastinating in this picturesque town, the bakery opened and I bought us a couple of pastries. These were like the elixir of life, giving us the boost we needed to make a decision. We decided to head to the nearby campground as it was now 3pm and a good time to stop for the day. Turns out it was the campground Mike was initially navigating to.

It’s a small municipal campground in La Guerche-de-Bretagne and is only costing 11 euros per night. A man keeps hovering around us and our tent, so if you don’t hear from us tomorrow, send help.