The Home Straight - Rotterdam to the Hook of Holland

Last day of the tour in mainland Europe started off with a savagely steep ramp out of the campsite and up onto the dyke. It doesn’t look much in the photo, but it was a low-gear, standing up off the saddle affair!

In a fantastic quirk of luck, the prevailing westerly winds have switched to easterly, so we were blown towards Rotterdam at top speed and with very little effort on our part.



Past lots of windmills!



Although we had given ourselves plenty of time to get to the ferry, there was still an underlying pressure to make sure we got there! Typically, bstacles seem to present themselves today like no other day of the tour! Firstly, the ferry we were due to catch to cross the Rhine, was no longer running! 



A new route was quickly worked out and we took a different ferry for a euro each onto the northern side of the river.



A few kilometres later, we found our new route was still under construction! Another detour was required!



When Rotterdam appeared, it felt like we were entering a completely different world to the quiet flat countryside that we’d become used to living in. Buildings rose up everywhere in all shapes and sizes with some impressive architecture.





A cafe by the water eventually materialised and we were glad to slump into a chair and enjoy the new views.



The buildings got even more creative as we meandered through the city suburbs towards the main city park.



Here we stopped for lunch.

Onward into the afternoon past more interesting buildings…



On the western side of Rotterdam, we found ourselves in a beautiful area, which seems to be famous for its Gin making! 



It was super pretty and really quiet. 



After seeing another cyclist conk out and another ambulance crew called (that’s two in two days!), we stopped at a delightful cafe that turned out to be a library too.



Over a restful drink, we pondered over why in Holland, having witnessed two cyclists fall off and bang their heads, why we were probably the only cyclists wearing helmets. 



Things turned more industrial on the way out of the city…



But bit by bit, we got closer to the goal…







The final straight literally seemed to go on forever!



But just before 6pm, we made it to the ferry port, with one hour to spare before check in opened. 

It wasn’t just us that was tired… my gloves, now several tours old, were feeing the strain…



And my favourite short are now not only oil stained, but literally threadbare and worn through!



No wonder really - the GPS was giving a very respectable tour total of 1024km from the last three weeks! At least our bodies and bikes are in better shape!



In the queue for the ferry, we pulled up next to one of our neighbours on his way back to Wales from the Alps!

Total Days Ride: 60km