At 10.30pm last night we were standing outside the tent,
pondering as to whether or not to break camp. We had already had one heavy
downpour and now with a break in the weather, it was time to make a
decision. Do we stay, on soil that even
after one drenching, was already forming puddles around the tent, or do we make
a dash back to the old railway sheds that had been renovated on the disused
railway line. By 10.45pm, in the pitch
black, we were cycling on our way back the 6kms to the sheds. Only been going
about a minute when I try to take a driveway on too narrow an angle from the
road. My wheel gets caught in the gutter and I’m going head first over the
handlebars, the bike landing on top of me. This was right outside the police
station. Fortunately, no one was paying any attention and I picked myself and
my bike up and with grazed hands, knees and chin, where my face had hit the
ground, we pushed on. You can imagine that I was in a little discomfort by this
time, but we had to reach this shelter before another downpour. By the light of our head torches, which we
pulled out soon after I crashed, we guided our way back there, for the worst night’s
sleep on two extremely narrow benches, with mosquitos as our only companions,
except for one lone cyclist, who at 1am zipped past on his racing bike. Consequently, our morning began at the very
early hour of 3.44am, when we decided to get up, for fear of being bitten
anymore, to have a cup of tea, without milk…didn’t have any….before hitting the
road at 5.02am, when it was at least light enough to see something. And people
ask me why we love to do this ….who wouldn’t….?
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| Sunrise at 4.30am |
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| Our shelter for the night - looked cosier than it actually was! |
Aah yes, my darling husband who will spare no expense in
tending to my every need. As we cycled
past one gasthof (guesthouse) after another, he reminded me that we would be
able to have maybe two latte macchiatos in the morning when we found a
McDonald’s. And that is exactly what we
did. First of all we stopped when we
found a bakery open at 6am and bought a croissant and a bun each which we had
with the last of our cheese and coffee in a bus stop at 6.30am. We cycled on to the town of Ahaus and while
Pete was in the Shell garage filling our water bottles, a McDonald’s bag blew
down the road in front of me. It was
like a sign from God (how do you do it Ray?) and Pete suggests we cycle back
into the Zentrum and ask for directions to Macca’s. Far too straight forward so I say, ‘well the
wind blew the bag from this direction, let’s cycle into the wind (for a
change!) and see if it’s around this corner’….and it wasn’t. But there was another sign – the golden arches
emblazoned on a flag, pointing to the right.
So we followed this new clue like a treasure hunt for wifi desperadoes until we saw another flag
with the big M on and 500m underneath.
We pedalled with renewed hope and there it was, the yellow M glowing
dully in the early morning sunlight, much like the Star of Bethlehem for Mary
and Joseph I would imagine.
Spent three hours there, charging the laptop, writing the
blog and catching up with things that needed seeing to. Have you ever tried to
kill three hours in Maccas…? As it was we got through a lot of stuff. Checked directions, possible campgrounds for
the night, messages from email and facebook, did wages, paid bills etc etc. Outside the sun was trying to break through,
so once we were stocked for lunch….off we went. Heading for Haaksbergen now and
on the hunt for a lovely spot to eat. Only just mentioned it to each other and
there was another one of these converted, renovated sheds, so stop we did.
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| Last stop Germany |
Like most of these shelters, this one was
constructed out of sturdy wood, proper wood, no ply here. This one also had a window complete with
window box and flowers!
Soaking tent and fly out and along with any other wet goods,
drying in the sun. By the time we’d finished eating, they were dry. Not too far
down the line we crossed over into the Netherlands, not that you’d have known,
except for the style of houses, however, whether Dutch or German, they are
still extremely tidy. One noticeable difference is the quality of cycle path.
The Dutch are the world’s passionate cyclists and it shows in their amenities.
Cycle routes marked precisely, no bumpy paths, own traffic lights etc….it makes
cycling here very enjoyable.
Cycled into Haakbergen where a very nice lady walked us to
Tourist Info. There we had two lovely
ladies tell us we could use their free wifi and allowed us to sit at a desk
while we did that. We could also use
their free toilet and they gave us a great map which shows campgrounds and the
excellent dot-to-dot cycling route system for this area. This is the first time we have had a map for
a week as it seemed German Tourist Info just did not want to give them out!
So next stop was a very well-stocked Jumbo supermarket where
prices are a little bit more than Germany.
Got stuff for dinner and breakfast and then cycled the short distance to
the campground. Due to only three hours
sleep last night, we were not keen to go too far today so will have an early
night tonight. As I write this, we have washed some clothes which had no chance
to dry, hence we will have to try tomorrow. Had a drink at the bar, far more
expensive than anywhere we’ve been in Europe as I feel, are food prices. Had a
nice meal at the tent and then watched a bunch of people playing boules
gradually work their way closer to our tent, as they did they got louder and
louder. Eventually they went back to their own van, but they are drunk and it’s
going to be another long night for me at least……unless I kill them….?!
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