The Big Green Egg...

We are the first people in MONS town square early Monday morning so photograph the beautiful old town hall without anyone in the foreground. There is a lot of the ancient town intact including an enormous bell tower, but it all needs some TLC. Extensive works have just started to spruce everything up for 2014, the 100th anniversary of the battle for Mons. This first battle of the Great War started on the outskirts at NIMY, where the Germans were completely taken by surprise at the arrival of the British Expeditionary Force. The result was the first shot fired by a British soldier on the continent since Waterloo. This was rapidly followed by the awarding of the 1st 2 VCs of the war to 2 machine gunners who held the railway bridge against enormous odds.
We cycle down the side of this canal and under the very same bridge, to carry on for miles without seeing a soul. Then we head south into the low hills of a nature park, near the border with France.
Warm Showers host Lionel and his family live in a renovated village farmhouse here, and have just returned from a trip to Paris Disney, with their 2 little boys. We are treated to delicious homegrown pumpkin soup then a barbecue cooked on a fantastic piece of American kit called a Big Green Egg (A green, egg-shaped ceramic barbie). With the meat cooked, and the fire out, there is enough heat still to cook a perfect loaf of bread for breakfast. Lionel also has some smart cycling kit including an aluminium recumbent bike.
In all we meet 4 generations of the family as Grandma and Great-Grandma arrive in the morning to look after the boys whilst Mum and Dad drive to their jobs in Brussels.
We join the rush hour traffic too for a few miles, then escape to a very wide canal, seeing no-one for hours, only passing coal barges. At an enormous deep lock 2 large pleasure boats are like toys at the bottom. The huge guillotine of a gate lifts up for the boats to pass under after they have risen up this huge water step. The lock was built in the 60s, replacing 13 smaller locks.
The cycle path then goes awry, leading us into a large wharf where coal is being unloaded from barges, swinging overhead and spilling great heaps in front of us! Our escape is through a working quarry so it is with relief we eventually make it over a bridge to a safer path.
TOURNAI is another lovely old town I'd never heard of! As well as the usual fine town hall on a cobbled Market, there is a covered 13c stone bridge, a Cathedral, and the tallest bell tower in Belgium at a whopping 70 m.
Back on the canal for a while, then across country, completing 60 miles at MENEN to look for a campsite and the famous Menen Gate. The tourist information lady pours cold water on both these plans. There is no campsite and the famous gate is at Ypres! We are too deflated to cycle on and stay the night in a bland hotel.
There is no photo with this blog as Mike was planning to take one of the gate - normal service should return with the next instalment.


Miles to date 4,269

Location:MONS to MENEN

Battling on...

It is simple to find our way from Ghent in the morning, just follow the river, then cross country, through charmless villages and small towns, where we have to get used to potholes again. Traffic is irksome in places as the Belgium idea of a cycle path is just to paint a picture of a bike on the road!
The villages become prettier now with a very pointy slate spire on the church in ONZE-LIEVE-VROUW-LOMBEEK. Marshalls and police line the road here to stop all the traffic (2 cars and a tractor) allowing a peleton of racing cyclists to whizz past.


The small town of SINT KWINTERNS LENNIK has a cobbled town square around a life-size bronze of a carthorse. As we hop off the bikes we immediately pick up wifi and then their bank gives me money, after 2 ATMs in Ghent failing to be forthcoming. So we like this place! Our Warm Showers host family live on a nearby farm. We are especially grateful for Julie and Dimitri's hospitality as they have nearly-new 3 week old Colleen, and it is Basile's 2nd birthday. They make us feel part of the family and we particularly enjoy playing with Basile's new train set!
J and D persuade us to visit BRUSSELS on our way the next day, and it was great advice as the historic centre was easy to get to and has a wealth of fine old buildings.


There is a simple way out, south, through a park, with the roads shut to traffic on Sundays, then offroad through beech forests. We come out of the trees and enter the French speaking state of Walloon.
At WATERLOO we stand on the spot where Wellington stared through his eyeglass at Napoleon, then cycle to stand on the spot where Napoleon stared back at Wellington. Amazingly after all these years the farms, that were so bitterly fought over, are still intact. The only change that would startle the generals is the heavy traffic on the Chareloi road.
Crossing the canal at RONFRIQUES we are impressed by the inclined-plane where barges are lifted 30ms to the next canal section. After 60 hilly miles we get lost in an enormous cement factory (Mike excitedly admires the huge kiln!?), but eventually find our way to the municipal camp site at Mons. As the food shops are all shut we prepare our emergency meal of pasta and tuna.


Miles to date 4,190

Location:GHENT to MONS

In search of Poirot...

The forecast is for intermittent showers, but what we get, as we set off after our laze in Leiden, is rain all morning. Our sandwiches are eaten in a grafittied underpass, but our mood is lightened by a cyclist who spots us sheltering and invites us to have coffee in his nearby church. We don't take up his offer as the rain is easing, but much appreciate the kind thought.
A car ferry takes us over the estuary leading to the enormous Europort of Rotterdam. A massive wall of concave concrete is built as a blast barrier beside an oil tanker dock. Let's hope they never need it! The rest of the delta is bridged by a long flood defence barrier which we cycle over to the traditional village of STELLENDAM and their pristine, spacious farm campsite.
Skeins of geese cross the blue morning sky giving hope of a dry run. The first village we reach as we continue west is about the most charming we have visited in Holland. The narrow streets of GOEDEREEDE are paved with brick and lined with diddy terrace houses. The canal is widened to form a small quay where fresh produce is being sold from stalls.
The cycle path out is through fields where a silly hare runs along in front of us for 1/2 a mile before realising he can escape into the fields at the side. I look after the bikes in the next town while Mike food shops, and as usual, someone stops to chat, this time a retired professional footballer. He tells me he played in goal until he was 35 but it ruined his knees so he can't cycle far now.
We pass over a string of 4 islands, the first two joined by long causeways. Campervans piled high with surf boards line the endless beaches on the north sea side but there is no surf today.


A long bridge takes us over more flood defences and then we pass through wooded dunes.


We are standing looking lost in VLISSINGEN when a local cyclist stops and insists it is easier for him to take us to the ferry than explain the directions. What a lovely chap. The bicycle ferry to the mainland has space in it's "garage" for about 100 bikes. There is a string of large campsites on the other side near BERKENS, so we book in at the first, with 4000 miles completed so far. After a mainly sunny day we are a bit alarmed by our caravanning neighbours telling us they are packing up to go home early as bad weather is coming!
They were right.
At 6.30 am the heavens open for the start of a 2hr thunder storm. Our weather weary tent leaks a little at seams but not in the bed area. We make a dash for the modern facilities, to plug in our travel kettle for tea. Things are worse here with the roof leaking and water pouring through light fittings. We pack up and leave ASAP as the site is below sea level and beginning to fill up with water. Nearby farmworkers in souwesters are up ladders picking the pear harvest. Within 25 miles we are at the village of WATERVLIET and into Belgium (our 8th country). Almost immediately the rain stops (and so do dedicated cycle paths!).
We head into the centre of GHENT down a canalside. What a treasure trove!





Medieval churches and houses surround quays and cobbled squares. Apparently there are 900 listed buildings and this is easy to believe. What makes it all so attractive is the lack of cars as they are excluded from a large area with access only for pedestrians, cyclists and trams. A lot less crowded than Prague, and untouristy.
After a good look round we head back along the canal road to Warm Showers host Roul. An impressive touring cyclist as not long back from a trip via Greece,Iran and China to Thialand, rather raising the bar for us!


Miles to date 4,045

Location:LEIDEN to GHENT

Pottering about...

A day trip to Delft, without the weighty luggage on the bikes, is a pleasant change. The bike paths are really busy on this sunny Saturday morning; Mums with toddlers perched in front of them, youngsters with a friends sitting on luggage racks, and older couples often on electric bikes. No cycle helmets apart from 2 cycling policemen. The paths pass through acres of glass houses, mostly flower factories including lots of Geest's orchids. DELFT is much like Leiden, cobbled narrow streets alongside canals.


Families of coots, with tiny red-headed chicks, feed among the waterlilies. Little humpback bridges have old fashioned bikes piled against the black railings. The enormous tower of the central church is leaning dramatically, and some of the narrow brick houses are a bit wonky too. A large street antiques market displays local old blue pottery and coloured tiles.There are even some lampposts with Delft pottery cladding!
On the way back to Leiden we follow some of the North Sea cycle route through the dunes, but gradually get ensnarled in the heavy traffic of The Haag, eventually escaping the throng by going through a large country estate.
We give the bikes a rest on Sunday, to follow the Leiden walking trail. This takes us through the historic centre, from the ancient university (where Einstein was a professor in the 20s) to St Peters Church.


Here the cross keys symbol of the city originates, St Peter's keys to the gates of heaven. The Pilgrim Fathers, who eventually left for America on the Mayflower via Plymouth, came from this city, and other houses were occupied by famous artists, including Rembrandt and Jan Steen.


The canalside cobbled central square was a cattle and sheep Market for centuries, only the 2002 foot and mouth epidemic finally finishing it off. As we walk back to the apartment on Langebrug (long bridge), we pass the tiny local "coffee" shop. Tobacco smokers are having to puff away outside, but cannabis users are allowed to puff their pot inside!


Miles to date 3,945

Location:LEIDEN

Cheese and Quackers...

Vanessa took us on a bike tour next morning along the top of a recently raised dyke, affording us panoramic views of a wetland
bird reserve on one side and yachts sailing on the other. We pose for farewell photos with Amsterdam in the background.


Mike and I spend a happy hour watching thousands of ducks and geese before continuing on through a forest track to UTRECHT.
The city centre is heaving with students (and their bikes) at their Freshers Week, but we manage to squeeze our bikes onto a small gap on the pavement and people watch, before heading out to the suburbs and the flat of W. Showers host, Sake. Recently returned from cycling in China, he made it sound really straight forward but he does understand some Mandarin, a great advantage. Next morning, on the way to his primary school teaching job, he leads us on a route through attractive villages. A row of smart barges, moored on the river, however, turn out to be brothels, with ample young ladies advertising their assets in the picture windows. There are potential customers, even at 7.30 in the morning, with window shopping pedestrians and kerb crawlers.
We are heading to Leiden to stay with friends but take a detour to GOUDA. The route takes us over a large lake, on a narrow causeway. Little bridges from this connect to tiny islands, each with one house and a couple of sheep or goats to keep the grass down. Gouda has a beautiful old triangular cobbled town "square". In the centre is an ancient stone Cheese Market Hall. Stalls crowd around selling mostly cheese, there is a "guess the weight of the cheese" contest and a cheese museum. After eating our lunchtime cheese sandwiches we head into LEIDEN.
This is one of the oldest university cities in Europe , and you've guessed, it is their Freshers Week too. The speciality here is the beer bike bus, a wagon like contraption with 10 students sitting around a bar drinking beer and pedalling away. We could not work out who was steering but they were merrily whizzing around the narrow canalside cobbled streets.


There are 3 enormous bike stores by the station as this is a commuter town for Amsterdam and Rotterdam. Apparently there are more bikes outside this station than all of London's stations put together.


After dodging a rain shower, we are welcomed by our friend Paul, 2 of his graduate sons who now work here, and 2 of their Uni friends.
We remember from a previous visit there is lovely 1920s cinema near their apartment and take ourselves there to see the latest H.Potter, in English but with Dutch sub titles. The owner sells the tickets at the door, operates the projector, then the bar at half time and says goodbye at the end. A wonderful, cosy night out, with no adverts!


Miles to date 3,893

Location:LELYSTAD to LEIDEN

Going Dutch...

The wind turbine blades are carving through foggy drizzle this Sunday morning, thick enough to muffle the church bells. With no prospect of coastal views we take a cross country road to JEVER. The townsfolk have stalls lining the streets and a fair, but no punters. Back on the North Sea route, it takes us along a gravelly, former rail track and a famers' road of broken bricks - almost unrideable. Enormous barns have roofs completely covered with solar panels. The harvest is later here and we pass 100s of acres of weather damaged crops.
Lunch is taken in a wooden bus shelter, commodious enough for bikes too. We just beat 4 German tourers to it, who then have to wait to cross the busy road to the shelter on the other side. After lunch a monsoon sets in so I resort to that most attractive of head gear - the plastic bag under the helmet, previously modelled by NZ Judy (sorry for sniggering at you).


Eventually the rain stops as we reach the very attractive little fishing port of EMDEN. Despite it being a 3 day holiday weekend we secure a room with balcony overlooking the fishing boats.
There is a bit of a dash next morning to catch the tiny ferry from PETKUM to DITZUM, as it only runs hourly. The views from it are of the Dollart Bay with avocet, shelduck, curlews and lapwing feeding on the mud.
The weather hots up and after days of everywhere looking like Holland we are now actually there! We are not sure where we crossed the border but by the village of BEERTA all the car regs are NL and we don't understand the signs.
The canal we follow into GRONINGEN is big enough to take massive oil barges, with road and rail bridges opening to let them through. In the old town centre there are thousands of students drinking or on bikes as it is their Freshers week.
Kleis is our warm showers host. A very experienced winter tourer, his last trip was Texas and the Florida area, where he met some fascinating Americans and lots of mozzies.
Next day was our longest mileage so far this trip, at 101miles, all flat and in sunshine, but with a strong headwind. Alongside canals and sometimes waiting at opening bridges for yachts to pass under, finally we cross a large Polder and road bridge to reach the town of LELYSTADT. This has a beautiful new harbour full of tall ships and a few fishing boats. Our W.Showers host, Vanessa, cycles to meet us and takes us to her house.


Miles to date 3,788

Location:WILHELMSHAVEN to LELYSTAD

Friesians...

CUXHAVEN is a bit like Newquay but with a container port attached. Balconied highrise holiday flats line the seafront where the wind on tide had flooded the promenade and cycle path. Hundreds of colourful wicker seats, usually hired out to holiday-makers along the front, had been rescued from the water and are drying out beside the grassy dyke. Waterfront cafes are boarded against the showers and wind but on the town edge a mobile hot fish van is doing a good trade.
Once away from the town the puddly path is unsurfaced, amongst the dunes, skirting a pinewood undergrown with acres of purple heather and wild roses. Then into farm land where sheep and cows graze around the path, covering it (and our bike tyres) with their poo! In the farming hamlets tall pointed thatches cover farms and barns.
As the enormous cranes of BREMERHAVEN docks come into view we turn off towards the town. Too late I notice barbed wire lying across the path. As we untangle Mike's bike we are "shocked" to find it is electrified! As if my hair isn't curly enough with all this rain. Then the canal bridge is shut for repair and the alternative blocked by a frisky bull escorted by a farmer, safe in his tractor. Finally we reach the town centre to discover it easier to find a brothel than an hotel (Blue Nights, Cherbourg Strasse, if anyone is interested) but an App comes to our rescue and we are happily installed in a cosy room near an excellent Italian restaurant.
Next morning I spend an hour sheltering from the rain with the bikes in the local shopping mall whilst Mike finds a bank. As always with the bikes, people come up to chat. This time they include a trawler-man, a local cyclist, a Jehovah's Witness and an ancient old man keen to practice the English he had not used since his schooldays.
We catch the ferry west over the Weser river. Having just disembarked my rear wheel gives a horrible twang as the rim splits (well it had done 23,000 miles - we had just rather hoped it would last until we got home).





There was nothing for it but to take the next ferry back to Bremerhaven. With our Rohloff hubs, a specialist bike repairer is needed and a town centre bike shop gives us directions to the Rohloff dealer 5 miles to the south. On the way we pass the best bits of town we had missed first time including a "Burj" style hotel and tall masted ships in the Maritime Museum.





A giraffe tethered outside the travelling circus leans right over the fence to give us a close inspection.
We did not get to them until 2pm, but the lovely bike shop (Bastler on Weserstrasse) had everything needed for my wheel rebuild, and had it ready by 5pm! Then it finally stopped raining and the sun came out!
We are not choosy about where we pick up free Wifi and get a good signal, this time, outside a funeral parlour, to catch up with remainder of Ted and Sue's Norway blog.
With deja vu we approach the ferry terminal next morning, just as the barrier comes down on the gangway and the lights turn red, but they reverse the ferry engine thrust, lift the barrier and let us on - heroes!
As the wind has disappeared we do not now need to shelter behind the dyke, taking instead an estuary farm track for magnificent views including a 3 masted tall ship in sail. Curlew, oystercatchers and avocets feed on the mud, and a large flock of spoonbill cover a small lake.
At a small seaside resort, there is a brisk Saturday trade in 4 wheel family size hire bikes. One lot are having to half carry theirs back to base as a wheel has dropped off!
The path then wends through fields, and we are briefly delayed by a farmer (on his bike) bringing in his friesian herd to milk. Well we assume they are friesians as this is West Friesia. We spend the night at WILHELMSHAVEN.






Miles to date 3,564

Location:CUXHAVEN to WILHELMSHAVEN

To the North Sea...

The other cycling campers in the woodland site are 3 middle aged ladies from N Holland, a German couple and 2 Irish girl students.
The next morning we soon encounter 10 miles of very rough, forest track, especially tricky over slippy roots. We had wondered why a whole gaggle of cyclists had taken the ferry across to the other side just before this section!
Then we are back to the typical flat dyke path, with thousands of geese and lapwing feeding alongside cattle on the partially flooded meadows.
The weather deteriorates, with driving rain slowing us for the last couple of hours, so it is 7.30 by the time we complete 70 miles and reach HAMBURG. A recumbent cyclist hails us to warn that the cycle track is blocked by roadworks. We ask for directions to a hotel and he points out we are only round the corner from a Holiday Inn. Despite 2 coach loads of excitable Italians and Spaniards booking in just as we arrive, there is room for us, on the 10th floor with a fantastic view northwest down the estuary.


We marvel at the enormous busy docks and the church towers of the old district. Our luck holds as we secure the last table in their restaurant.
The World News channel headlines are shocking pictures of London burning and looted shops.
Free wifi at StarBucks next morning brings a cheery email from Kirby and his photo of "our" cygnets from back home.
Despite the intensive battering of Hamburg in the war there are a surprising number of fine Art Nouveaux office blocks, quaint old bridges and churches. One burnt out church remains as a memorial, as in Plymouth. By the huge statue of Bismarck lots of homeless people are sleeping under a bridge.
The cycle route takes us along the cobbled quay in front of the old Fish Market, restored as a function venue, then past the current Fish Market and little restaurants specialising in caviar and crab. The long estuary side parkland path leads us northwest for miles. The very strong wind on tide is causing floods across lawns and beach, to the edge of the path. Cyclists coming the other way assure us it is passable (just!). The majority of park cafes are boarded up as the very strong winds and rain drive away all their customers - only determined touring cyclists are out in these very unseasonal conditions.
There is a lot to see, though, with huge Chinese freighters pulled along by tugs, water taxis battling the waves past a striped lighthouse, and in dock 'The World' cruise liner.
We have to cross a wide canal near Kronsnest or there will be a 20 mile detour. Our map shows a ferry but there is no sign of it! A farming granny confirms it no longer exists but we can cross a swing bridge 5 miles away. The only trouble is it can only be crossed at certain times of the day, and she doesn't know when. We pass through 2 seriously engineered dykes to find the bridge in our favour but a closed red gate. With relief we open the gate and the control tower let us through. We had not seen another soul on this route so had not been hopeful. Now we reach the Elbe estuary car ferry at GLUCKSTADT. There are some benefits to being on a bike as we cycle to the front of a very long vehicle queue to get straight on. At least 50 of the cars we passed will have to wait for the next ferry. The estuary is very wide and choppy here with a strong wind blowing from the north sea. On the other side another dyke cycle path is blissfully free of cars but into a relentless head wind and showers. We give up at OTTERNDORF (the village of otters), just short of the coast, as the rain becomes torrential.
Next morning, under threatening skies and drizzle, we reach CUXHAVEN at the North Sea. There are many windfarms here, so blowy must be the norm. Sorry for the lack of photos but this is not the weather for getting out the phone!


Miles to date 3,480

Location:BOIZENBURG to CUXHAVEN

Off the wall...

The "U Bahn" underground and "S Bahn" overground whizz us to the city centre. After the obligatory snap shots of the Brandenburg Gate, we were hoping for a view from the Reichstag glass dome, but a terror alert means only pre-booked parties are admitted. Instead we head, in the hot sunshine, to the large stretch of remaining wall, now called the Eastside Gallery, to view the murals.





Some are messages of peace, others cartoons of the political characters of the time, a few completely incomprehensibly "off the wall". A passing convoy of restored Trabants look a fun way to see the sights.
Then we wander off the tourist trail, past heavily graffitied blocks of flats, home mainly to Muslim immigrants, before ending up at the unique tourist draw of Checkpoint Charlie.


We sit for a beer at a streetside stall, pestered by wasps, a perennial city summer problem. Al-fresco diners and drinkers constantly waft them away.
Bikes of all shapes, sizes and states of (dis)repair are everywhere. Most riders are 'as-the-Dutch' i.e. no helmet or special clothing, just normal everyday clothes, plus the full range of riding styles, from the very upright european, to the posing 'look-at-me-no-hands'.

Location:BERLIN

Rising damp...

As the forecast predicted, it is still slashing down in the morning as we head towards the middle of DRESDEN. However it stops just as we reach the restored centre, so we enjoy sightseeing, magnificent murals, churches, and the enormous cobbled square. We also pick up emails, one from Jane and Mike saying they too are having Scottish weather back in Nestrasovice.
The cycle route follows the river closely now as it meanders through a wide floodplain of meadows, with the occasional, old windmill. Not surprisingly, the Elbe is very full. Every small village and hamlet has flood defences, either ancient stone ones or modern reinforced concrete.
The path is mainly traffic free and a good tarmac surface, however in some places, it is cobbled, rattling our vertebrae and teeth. One large house has, about 15ft up the side wall, a mark showing where the flood water reached in 2002.
Meissen, famous for its porcelain, is surrounded by quarries of muddy red stone so we're not sure if this is used for the china. The town has an impressive castle on a cliff outcrop above the river.
There are no stock hedges and few fences so the long horned cattle, goats and even sheep are often tethered. Three large bulls are prevented from trampling us only by chains pegged into extremely soggy ground - it looks like one sneeze and they would be free!
We take a room in an ancient courtyarded farm in the beautiful old village of BELGERN. The elderly owners make us very welcome. We get up early the next morning to explore all
the cobbled streets, then tuck into a breakfast as only touring cyclists can - eggs, ham, cheese rolls, yoghurt, muesli, plus homemade chocolate cake! Then it's down to the small vehicle ferry, which comes over for us, the only passengers, straightaway.


The Elbe cycle route carries on through Hamburg to the North Sea, but we are leaving it now heading NE. It is 81 miles to WERDER, just west of Potsdam, and our next Warmshower hosts. There is the usual headwind, but no rain and mostly flat so an enjoyable pedal. Dirk and Stella live, with their 3 young children, in a modern apartment overlooking a lake. There is a charming view of willows, water lilies and village centre beyond.


The family have not long returned from several years in Edinburgh so their English is perfect, even the baby can understand us! They help us plan a very good route for the next day, into the historic palace gardens of POTSDAM and then along the Mauerweg cycle route, following the line of the wall and barbed wire that used to isolate the city of WEST BERLIN from East Germany. There are simple, but moving, memorials along the way to those who were killed trying to escape through this route to the West. For instance 33 year-old Eduard, a railway worker who tried to escape where the railway ran close to the border. He was shot in the back by border guards as he reached the 3rd row of barbed wire.
We wend our way into the suburbs of the east side of Berlin, using cycle ways through small parks to avoid the traffic, and then push the bikes through the very crowded Asian area along Karl Marx Strasse. There are Chinese and Vietnamese restaurants, Turkish coffee houses, Indian fabric shops , enormous fruit and veg stalls, goods spilling out onto the pavements, with sudden wafts of spices.
We are staying near here at the apartment of Sarah and Hans, cyclists we met on the trip to Oz. Hot summer weather has returned so we dine at a pavement table, in a vibrant restaurant area, 2 stops down the Underground.


Miles to date 3,100

Location:DRESDEN to BERLIN