We flew to Frankfurt Hahn and biked to Amsterdam through Germany, Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands. Here's a simplifed map of where we went:
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As you may notice, we chose the countries that are a) flat and b) well known for great cycle paths. Neither of these facts turned out to be strictly true! Therefore, add at least 50% to the distance...
After re-assembling our bikes, the first few days were cruisy (~50km/day) up the hot Mosel River valley. It's a well known wine growing area and has a brilliant cycle path, which was well frequented by wine-tasters.
Near the Germany border, at Trier, we met Claudia (one of Mark's climbing friends from Edinburgh) and Julian. We had a day off cycling to look around at old Roman ruins, including an amphitheatre, plus get caught in a thunderstorm (the first of many along the way). I was touched that the people next to us at the camping ground took in our washing when it started to rain.
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Julian cycled with us through Luxembourg. While we'd got by on our limited Germany before, now it was super confusing because every person seemed to speak a different language. We now know how to say 'cycle path' in nearly every one of them.View Larger Map
As you may notice, we chose the countries that are a) flat and b) well known for great cycle paths. Neither of these facts turned out to be strictly true! Therefore, add at least 50% to the distance...
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Shortly after entering the Netherlands Mark's camera card died, so we have no more photos. However, the last few days in Belgium and all the way up to Lelystad were pretty straightforward although possibly the hardest in the trip as it was 30+ degrees and we were trying to get in some serious kms. At Lelystad we were extremely grateful to be staying with our friend Mattijn, who generously showed us around and got us eating the local delicacies.
From here it was but a short hop to Amsterdam (actually Ijmuiden - just an unplanned extra 40km cycle, opps!) to catch the overnight ferry to Newcastle.
3 comments:
damn it. My turn to be jealous.
Typical Belgians, putting the cycle route through a cement factory......keep us updated on the rest of your trip, I'm very jealous!
Chris said, no wonder you had no trouble keeping the German tank at bay Sylvia..........it's an American tank!
Glad you had a great trip.
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