Today really typified all that is good about life ‘on the tour’ and travelling by bikes. Last nights campsite owner gave us an App which has all the cycle paths in the area, so Clare linked up a whole bunch of this to use the best bits of the area. We’re still roughly following the River Rhine, but instead of rough or bumpy tracks, it was smooth flat tarmac almost all of the way on our version of the Rhine Route.
Soon out of the campsite, the map declared an uninterrupted 6km stretch! It felt superb cruising along at about 25km/h with what felt like virtually no effort. A Kestrel flew along side us for a while, then later a Heron as the kilometres slipped by.
We turned off into Kalkar to check out the little town and take a break.
It was just what we were looking for and shady bakery cafe in the town square sorted us out with a fine morning brew.
Further on, we detoured around yet another castle!
And even a short forest section felt smooth to ride on.
At Kleve, we suddenly found ourselves in the midst of a busy town centre, but after sourcing some supplies, took a very peaceful lunch in the local park.
After a good rest, we were ready to move on toward the border. This time as we crossed back into the Netherlands, there was no real sign of a border crossing except this little sign! (Or maybe we were just going so fast we didn’t notice?).
Either way, we were getting tired, so pulled over for a drink soon after arriving in Holland.
If it hadn’t been clear on the signs, it soon became apparent that we were back in Holland!
Our final stop for the day was only a few kilometres from our intended campsite, but we decided unanimously that we should have a shop stop owing to there being a comfy sofa at the cafe in the town square! We order a cold drink - we really wanted an ice cream at the cafe next door, but the draw of the sofa won over!
The town hall had a crazy clock/bell combo that rang a happy (some might say annoying) song every 15minutes!
The last few kilometres off the sofa felt hard, but the campsite turned out to be all that we could have wished for. For one of the first times, the cycle touring tent area was bathed in private cooling shade, so we were very happy to hand over our €16 and take a shower. The camp is only small, but had a little bar, which provided a lovely view of the river with our after dinner drink.
We were horizontal in the tent long before sunset and a sleep well before darkness fell. Happily exhausted from a wonderful day of travel.
Total Ride: 55km
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