13 July 2016 (cloudy, rain, cold) 86 km

After the drenching the tent got during last night’s thunderstorm, I was a little apprehensive when I woke this morning at the late time of 7.30am, as I was expecting to have leaks everywhere. But no….our dome had once again…..with the help of our rubbish bin liner, kept the water at bay and we woke to just some dampness on Julia’s sleeping bag at the bottom. The guy in the tent on one side of us was Spanish…..cue Manuel off Fawlty Towers…and he was cycling 1300 kms, before picking up his car in France and driving home. The guy on the other side of us was with his partner and had a cough to die for…..and by the sound of it ….it probably will kill him. He was doing an awful lot during the night and early morning.

Tent packed, although still wet on the sides not yet catching the sun, so we were hoping for a good stop today to dry it out……it was not to happen..!

Set off about 8.30am and first priority was to find a supermarket as we had no breakfast with us.  So we set off in a westerly direction, following the signs to Utrecht.  About 6kms along we came across a Lidl supermarket so locked the bikes up and went inside to drool over all the food and then just pick up our normal yoghurt and milk, two buns and a banana.  On the road again for what was actually undulating riding which we were not expecting in this country known for it’s flat terrain.  We were now on the lookout for a nice place to eat our breakfast but since we left Germany, the high quality shelters have dried up.  All that was on offer were park benches and often right by the road.  We prefer a better class of shelter and not just stuck by the roadside with all that traffic noise to distract us from the serious task of eating.  We stopped and rejected three such sites and then decided to ditch the roadside cycle track we were on for a cycle track that led out into the countryside.  Great decision because no sooner had we set off down this track than we came across a concrete table and two benches.  It was tucked into some bushes in a nice possie that kept us sheltered from the wind and the sun – although it wasn’t exactly hot today.

The riding was easy today and we managed to avoid the worst of the ever present wind by riding through a lot of forested areas.  We came across some nice villages and continued to marvel at the fantastic cycle tracks and the way they are interwoven with roundabouts and traffic lights so easily.  We were waiting at one particular set of traffic lights this morning when a Dutch lady pulls up beside us and as she gets her umbrella out of her pannier, lets out a terrified squeal and drops her umbrella.  We asked what was the matter and she says “A mouse” and we just laugh and start riding but realise that she’s actually scared of it and doesn’t know what to do.  So Pete gets to rescue this damsel in distress and lifts the lid of the pannier, then removes a plastic bag and there in the bottom of the pannier is this darling little dormouse.  We both go “Aaaaahhhh, look at him” and Pete goes to catch him with his bare hand and she looks at him like he’s about to slay a dragon for her.  The mouse jumps onto the edge of the pannier and then down into the street and runs away and the lady thanks Pete profusely.  I felt like saying “Calm down, it’s only a mouse” but I didn’t and we rode away on our trusty steeds, the rain bouncing off Pete’s suit of armour.

We spotted an Information Centre so thought we’d go and see if we could get a map – but was only offered one to buy.  So just got our bearings and thought we would continue to Utrecht as it wasn’t too far out of the way and someone had told us it was very nice.  The weather was a real pain this morning though and we had to shelter several times.  After picking up some lunch supplies we had to shelter in a bus stop as there was nothing else around and decided we may as well make our lunch there.  Nobody else came along thankfully and we were able to shelter both ourselves and our bikes while we ate.  As we finished our coffee it stopped raining so we packed up and hit the road again.

Zeist

We passed through the beautiful town of Zeist and then by several big beautiful houses on our way into Utrecht.  The whole area is very nice and we were also very impressed by Utrecht itself.  

It must be a university town as there are so many young people about and as such, it is very vibrant and with canals and a massive cathedral dominating the skyline, also very picturesque.  

Utrecht

Unfortunately we couldn’t spend a lot of time here as after a quick stop at McDonald’s to check where a campsite was, we realised we had to cycle another 20km to the nearest one.  So uploaded two days of blogs and then we were out of Utrecht and heading south-west for a campground.

The weather had cleared up and we started off following the dot-to-dot system.  Almost immediately there were some roadworks that made it very confusing and we were unsure if we were going the right way or not.  Cycle tracks and cyclists everywhere so it was time to refer to the compass.  So we guessed our way for five minutes and stumbled back onto the dot-to-dots we were following in the first place – talk about lucky.  

More modern buildings on the outskirts of Utrecht

It happened again in a wild park area where we just guessed our way and found the right signs again.

Didn’t get to the campground until 7.30pm and were delighted to find it only cost 11 Euro .  So we put up the tent and got on with dinner, blogged and did photos.  This will be our last night in mainland Europe as we plan to catch the ferry to England tomorrow night.  We can’t believe how much we’ve seen and done and are very glad we have kept this blog or we would have forgotten most of it!