We had grand plans of getting up early to get an early ferry back to England.  We were both so shattered we decided not to. We were on the road by 9.30am though, and that is early for us.

We wanted to make the 2pm ferry, but we had to cycle about 52 kms first. We stuck to main roads and we rode hard ( well for us anyway), only stopping for a quick snack, drink and to check directions. We managed to cycle an average speed of 20km/hr over a 3 hour period, which is excellent for us. Usually it is about 12 to 15 kms/hr.

We arrived at the ferry at 12.30. That’s 30 mins ahead of schedule! We had a nice calm ferry crossing and when we arrived we were first off the boat.

It was really well set up for bikes getting out of dover. There were special cycle lanes so we didn’t have to cycle amongst the trucks and we managed to pick up the cycle route straight away.

We will follow national cycle route 2 back to bournemouth (it goes all the way to cornwall along the south coast). It was pretty steep getting out of dover and I was regretting putting some Belgium beer in my panniers when we left Belgium. You can probably buy it here but I wasn’t taking any chances. I love my westmalle tripel.

We stopped in folkestone and contemplated stopping. A couple stopped and told us there was a campground on the beach to our left. They said it was probably best to stop in folkestone as hythe was more expensive and there was nothing for miles after that. It was 5pm so we decided to stop.

The camping was down a steep hill and the thought of pushing our bikes up in the morning didn’t really appeal. As well as that, it was going to cost 30 pounds! That’s criminal just to put up a tent. We found a seaside hotel for only 40 pounds and it had a seaview and included breakfast. You can take your overpriced campground and shove it!

We went out for a curry and had a good nights rest. Must remember the tent was packed away wet.

Arriving in dover

View from hotel

We set the alarm for 6am and were on the road by 7.30am. This was our plan to avoid cycling in the heat of the day. Must remember the tent was packed away wet!

We had a bit of a stop/start to the morning. Some terrible chafing had developed on the inside of my left leg and was agony. Mike adjusted my handlebars so i was sitting more upright in the hope that it would chafe in a different area.

We also had to stop at a bike shop and get Mikes front pannier adjusted as he didn’t have a spanner that fitted.

We rode into a town called leper. There were a lot of war museums and a big memorial arch for those who died in world war one. We stopped for a bit of a break here. As Mike was reading the plaque about the memorial realised we were at the Menin gate in Ypres. On 12 October 1917 in just two hours, more than 2,800 New Zealand soldiers were killed, wounded or listed as missing in the battle of Passchendaele, around Ieper – the most disastrous day in New Zealand’s military history. Every night at 8.00pm (20:00 hours) the ‘Last Post’ ceremony takes place under the Menin Gate and has done so since 1928.

A storm looked imminent. We had done 70 kms and were trying to decide whether to stop for the night. We wanted to get as close to the ferry in dunkerque as possible. There were a few more towns about 15km on in the town of Poperinge so we pushed it to there.  I wanted to ride further but Mike said we should stop as it looked like rain and we had done over 83 kms.

We had just checked into our room when the storm came. Good call Mike!

It was only 4.30pm, but we were both so shattered we just collapsed in our room. My leg was in such pain I could hardly walk. I have doubts whether I will be able to ride all the way back to bournemouth, but I would really like to. Otherwise the alternative would be to catch the train, but we don’t want to do that if we can help it. As well as that, it goes via London, and London will be heaving with the Olympics on.

We had a nice dinner sitting outside at the hotel watching the rain. Only 51 kms to go to reach the Ferry. We want to get back to bournemouth by the 31st and its about 300 kms from Dover. Let’s see if we can do it!

It was due to be a hot day today so we set the alarm for 7am and we were on the road by 9am. It was early for us but not early enough to escape the heat. It was pretty warm when we set out and the day just got progressively hotter.

We had been following the LF6 cycle route which would take us back towards the coast and then the ferry. The only problem with the LF6 was it seemed to zig zag all over the place. Mike decided we would navigate a more direct route using the gps. The stupid gps sent us on all the main roads and it was awful. The cars and trucks made so much noise.

After about 20kms we saw the signs for the LF6 route again. I decided we would follow that. Sure, it was further, it was hillier, but it sure beat riding on those main roads. I actually started to relax and even enjoyed the hills.

Most of the day was up hill then down hill. It was so hot we sweated buckets and little black bugs got intermingled with sweat and sunscreen. As well as that, I swallowed a fly and the damn thing kept repeating on me all afternoon.

After about 60 kms of  swimming in sweat we looked for a campground. The gps found one about 15 kms away. After a couple of kms the stupid thing sent us off the LF6 route and onto main roads again. Some cursing happened here. Finally, after 15 kms we saw the camping ground sign, and Lo and behold, the LF6 route came here too!

We both woke up with a bit of a headache. Belgium beer is not good for anyone!

Mike got his gps out to navigate us north of Brussels, but it was on busy roads and not very nice. we kept on seeing little cycle path signs to Brussels. We decided to follow these instead as they took us on cycle paths.

The route to Brussels took us beside the railway line and the airport. The route was really well signposted to the outskirts of Brussels and then it just stopped. Great.

We eventually found our way into the centre but found it too busy and noisy. We had only been to Brussels once before where we drove in, had lunch then drove back out again. This time we cycled in, had a snickers bar then cycled back out again.

Cycling out  of town was a scary expeprience. The gps took us through the slums of Brussels. I did not feel safe. Everything was run down, buildings and cars were covered in graffiti, and there were dodgy
characters lurking on the street corners. 

After about 10 km of dodgyness, we made it to the outskirts of Brussels. We were hot, bothered and it was 4pm so we checked into a hotel because it was cheap. It’s a shame really as It’s finally warm and dry enough to camp, but there are no camping grounds.

Belgium seems to have shut down for the summer. Everyone has probably shut their shops and headed for the coast. We cycled almost 100 kms into Belgium before we found a shop that was open. We loaded up on essentials – beer!

The supermarket just happened to be in Hoegaarden, so we stopped at the brewery for a hoegaarden.

It was a lovely hot day for my birthday. It sure beat my birthday last year where we were rained in on the central massif in a caravan.

We stopped the night in Leuven, and Mike treated me to and air condtioned hotel and nice meal. We sat in the square drinking a delicious Belgium beer. I didn’t know which beer to choose, so I asked what the guy next to me was having as I thought the glass looked funky. It was so nice I ordered a second one and wondered why I was feeling so pissed. Turns out the beer was 9.5% alcohol.

An excellent night and a great birthday.

As usual, we had a bit of trouble leaving a major city. We are following a new cycle route now that will take us back to the coast. We were really pleased that the new route went right passed our hotel, so we started following it out of town. Only problem was, we were following it out of town in the wrong direction!

We backtracked and followed it in the correct direction, and luckily this sent us through town as I needed new sunglasses. ( I would have bought these yesterday but all the shops were shut – reminds me of nz in the 70s)

We left Holland today, which was a bit sad, but the weather was much better in Belgium. Clear blue skies and deliciously warm.

There were also lots of hills.  We had to push our bikes up one of them. We have lost a lot of fitness since leaving France having spent the last few weeks tootling around the flat roads of Holland.

The major noticable difference in Belgium was the lack of accommodation or camping. We had cycled 60 kms, and had seen nothing. It was 5.30pm when we arrived on the outskirts of a town. I saw a pharmacy and decided to ask if they knew of anywhere to camp. They sent us around the corner and here we are, camped in someone’s back yard! We haven’t seen the owners yet so we hope it is ok.

We maximized our nice hotel stay by checking out at 12 noon on the dot.

It was another overcast day, but again, it didn’t rain.

We were both well due for a rest day and we were both feeling it, suffering from sore quads, and my left knee started hurting.

We were due to get to Maastricht today, where we were planning to have a couple of days rest. The day seemed to drag. After 35 kms I suggested we stop somewhere and continue on to maastricht tomorrow. Mike suggested we just push on and get there today.

So we did, only another 40 kms it so. We bought a bag of mini snickers to keep us going.

Eventually we arrived into Maastricht about 6.30pm and started looking for a hotel. Every hotel we tried was full. A kind lady at one of the hotels took pity on us and phoned a few hotels. All hotels in town were full. This was feeling like de ja vu.  We finally found one on the other side of the river for an excellent price. When we arrived, I asked if we could view the room first.  The receptionist said we had a free upgrade to the bridal suite. The suite was huge and over two levels. The first level had a lounge suite, tv and a balcony overlooking the river and maastricht. The second level was the bedroom, also with a balcony overlooking the river. The bathroom was huge, with one if those massaging showers and a bath with a flat screen tv! We just couldn’t believe our luck so booked in for two nights.

We went out for a tapas meal which had a lot of raw fish in it.

Day two – Maastricht

It was a Sunday and all the shops were shut and the whole town had a ghost town feel. There were a few tourists floating around looking as lost as us. We had a bit of lunch in the square, then went back to our hotel and enjoyed the sun on our balcony.  Finally we have some nice weather.

We tried to book our room for a 3rd night but It’s not available so will move on.

We are making our way back towards England now so we can spend some time with Mike’s kids before we fly home.

I’ll post some photos later.

Today was pretty uneventful. There were no sheep to kick and it didn’t rain on us.

The highlight of the day was stopping at a high tech hotel with a free minibar and remote control blinds. It was by  far the nicest hotel we had seen but it was out of our price range. I managed to negotiate 20 euros off the price and it was in our price range 🙂

The light switches had litttle leds in them and were red when they were on and green when they were off, and there was a giant flat screen tv. It also had a usb port for charging stuff, which funnily enough I had said the day before that hotels should supply these.

The were two sets of shutters on the Windows and some curtains to really black out the room, but when we turned off the lights the whole room lit up like a space ship.

We settled for a cheap pizza for tea.

Part one

Today was not the best one we’ve had. It started out like any other day. A nice cycle path beside the river Ijssel and thru fields of sheep, one of which I kicked. We also cycled over many roosters. I have made a new game where we have to cry out “cockadoodledoo” every time we run over a rooster. This may sound cruel to you English speaking folk, but a rooster is dutch for a cattle grid. It doesn’t take much to amuse me, Mike’s not quite so easily amused and sometimes refuses to play.

We had a pretty bad headwind today which we moaned about for a bit, and a few more ferry crossings which we also moaned about. We arrived at a town called Milligen, and the cycle path split into two. We made the choice to follow it through the town and the next minute we were in Germany. We were very excited as we had no idea we would be going there. We mucked about at the sign for a bit, facebooking that we are in Germany, then stepping over the border and facebooking now were not. Pretty lame but fun all the same.

We cycled into Germany for about 30 mins before we realised we were cycling the wrong way. Or was it…?

It was a pity as the sun was shining in Germany and I really fancied some schnitzel. We retraced our steps to try and find the cycle route and found ourselves in Milligen again again (I had to throw that in). We mucked about for ages there, trying to find a sign. Mike suggested that maybe it was a sign when we accidentally headed into Germany.  We had been tossing up whether to follow the Rhine through Germany or the Maas river to Maastricht. We had made the decision to follow the Maas, but for some reason the signs sent us to Germany.
Anyway, we finally had to resort to the gps to get us out of Milligen.

Finally, we got back on the correct path (or was it…?) and the path split into two again. We really hate it when this happens as we have to make a decision. We hate decisions! We could either take a diversion to a town called Nijmegen, or we could take a more direct route and avoid it.  We chose to go via Nijmagen and this was the wrong decision…

Part two

It was about 12 kms to Nijmagen and we were ready to stop for the night.  The final kms of the day are usually the hardest. All you can think about is a nice cold beer and a warm shower, but we had a terrible headwind and horrible rutted road to contend with first.

As we got closer to Nijmagen, we noticed a few camping grounds, but they appeared to be private. Then there was a really large camp in the middle of a paddock, full up with tents. We didn’t fancy camping there. As we approached Nijmagen, there were a lot of cyclists heading towards the camp. Some in uniforms and some wearing fairy wings. We thought there must be some sort of festival happening. I know every year they have a 4 day walking march, but that would be too coincidental to coincide with our visit. Or would it…?

Turns out coincidence is a bitch. I was starving and decided I couldn’t deal with this on an empty stomach, so we stopped by the side of the road and had a tuna sandwich. I googled the Nijmagen march and sure enough, we arrived smack bang in the middle of it. 50,000 walkers come here every year. We figured our chances of getting a hotel would be pretty slim.

Anyway, we thought we would try our luck. We stopped at the first hotel we saw and asked if they had a room. The guy just laughed at us. He said all hotels in town were full and suggested we sleep in a farmers paddock.

Shit.

It was 6pm, we’d cycled 70 kms into headwinds, we were tired, hungry and had nowhere to stay. No worries. Plenty of daylight left. 10-20,kms should get us out of town enough to find somewhere. Or so we thought…

Getting out of Nijmagen was a nightmare. The cyclists were worse than Amsterdam but at least we had the good sense not to cycle in Amsterdam. Here we had no choice. Cyclists came at us from all directions. I didn’t know which way to look and when I stopped to check a sign, I was rear ended by a cyclist.  She swore and swore and swore at me. As we were cycling around a roundabout she was still swearing at me. I yelled at her “Look, I said I was sorry”. “No problem” she replied and muttered “Bloody tourists” in Dutch before cycling off.

Mike almost got knocked off by a cyclist as well. I think it was so hard for us as it was the end of the day, we were tired and had no idea where we were going.  As well as that, our bikes are not that manoeuvrable when they are all loaded up.

We eventually found our way out of town.  After some time the cycle path ended up in the woods. This was not really what i wanted. Suburbia and hotels was what I wanted. There were a few places we could probably wild camp, but I didn’t really fancy it. It was due to rain and it would get rather damp in the forest. We cycled past a hotel. It was full. A bit further on in the forest we found a hostel for cycle tourists. Perfect. We went inside. It was cosy and warm, the bar beckoning. I had a good feeling about this. “Do you have a room” asked Mike. “Sorry, all full”. Drat.

By this stage it was 7pm. I had made a decision that if we didn’t find anywhere by 7.30pm, we would start looking to wild camp. By 7.30pm on the dot we arrived at a crowded campground. Luckily they had one space left for us. Phew.

As Mike is putting up the tent, he starts swearing and things are flying out of the tent. My eye mask, ear plugs, emergency toilet paper, all being ejected from the tent. The tent hadn’t been used for so long it’s gone MOULDY! The last time we used it, it got packed up wet. I had been nagging Mike for weeks to air it out, but he just ignores me.

It was pretty disgusting and smelt pretty bad, but we had no choice but to sleep in it. I tried wafting some insense around inside, but it didn’t really help.

We left it to air out a bit and went to have our showers. It was 8pm at this stage and things were not getting much better. The shower required a token to work and the office was closed. FFS, could this day get any worse???

Luckily a kind camper had some spare tokens, which we bought off him. Also, there was a restaurant there so we were able to get a burger and chips for dinner.

That’s it, day over!

Oh yeah – forgot to mention, it rained overnight, but thankfully we were snuggled up in our mould infested tent 🙂

Cycling through fields of sheep – you might even see the one i kicked!

Welcome to Germany sign where were had fun with border crossings

So cute – Jenny – can you get some of these?

Giant Snuffeluffagus