Monday, 25 July 2022

Cycle Rest Days

Without a fixed tour itinerary, we’ve been able to chose our route each day, deciding on how far we’d like to go and what places to stop and see. Being on the road for this long, we knew we’d need a rest stop at various points and the campsite at Gennep has presented us with a fine place to actually rest. Due to the incredible heat, our day off the bikes wasn’t actually that restful, but here at this quiet campsite in the middle of nowhere, we felt compelled to sleep.
After an 11hour, un-interrupted sleep, followed by a few hours of dozing and reading, we got up for a late breakfast at around 10am. 



About 100m from the tent is a splendid cafe bar that overlooks the river. We strolled down there at a leisurely pace for late morning coffee and decided there and then, that we were definitely going to need a second day of rest!



Morning coffee led seamlessly into lunch and we devoured burgers and beers feeing like our bodies were craving more fuel.



An afternoon snooze followed before returning for more food in the evening!



By Monday we were all out of supplies, so had to ride the few kilometres back into town. It felt odd not having a loaded bike and peddling in flipflops!



While in town, we made the most of the journey by stopping for an ice cream too. We still felt tired on the ride back, but had at least got a pannier full of nice food for dinner. 



It’s still around 200km to the ferry at the Hook of Holland and we need to be there in Thursday. We’ve therefore taken a bit of a gamble that an extra rest here will put us in better shape for the ride, even though it now means riding beggar days. Just to be sure that energy levels are at the max, we stopped at the riverside cafe again on the way back from Gennep.



I also joined a Team Meeting online this evening with fellow members of the AMI/Rab Test Team to talk through some new Rab products that I’m going to be testing over the next year. It’s amazing to be able to be part of a meeting from my phone while sitting in a tent in a foreign country! Tomorrow will see us setting off on the final legs of the journey - we have a deadline that we must make! We certainly feel more rested. Hopefully the current headwind will ease off overnight!? 

Total Ride: 5km

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