.Day 1 three weeks before day 2
12.06.2021. Day 1 three weeks before day 2.
We still have to work for 3 weeks, but today felt like holiday. To make efficient use of the 3 weeks holiday we planned to cycle the tandem to the most southern part of the Netherland this weekend in a 180km long day, which would take 2 days travel time off our ambitious planning.
The alarm was set at 5.45 for a scheduled depart at 07.00 but due to navigation problems with one of our Garmins we lost 30 min of precious time. It was a great day for the outdoors, warm cloudy and not much wind.
In the first hour we reached the Rhine bridge at Emmerich Germany, this is usually where the feeling of being away from home starts to creep in. It was a lovely passage through NiederRhein and through the pelgimage town of Kevelaer. We went back into the Netherlands after 45 km. I knew that Arcen was a nice little town on the border of the River Maas, so we pushed on. We found a restaurant with a view on the river and reloaded calories with Asperge Soup and a 0,0% local brew.
The route bypassed the bigger cities of Venlo and Roermond with 2 ferries and in the afternoon we had another 20 km through Germany. We were very lucky to find a Radler Cafe ( bicycle cafe) open when the blood glucose was low again and reloaded with the local cakes (Vlaai) and a Coke.
At 18.00 we arrived at Grego and Edith’s Hotel in Valkenburg where the tandem will stay for 3 weeks. The hotel was fully booked, after a nice half hour with Grego and Edith on their Hotel’s street cafe we went to Maastricht by train. We were running a bit out of time now, we booked into our hotel in Maastricht. We had a quick shower and went to the local Belgian restaurant for a Moules frites and a Belgian stew. And some nice 0.0% Belgian Brews.
It is always good to be in Maastricht; the food is so much better than in our home region. France is already around the corner. We were the last to leave the restaurant, after an very short evening walk it was time for bed.
