Terheijden to Hook of Holland - end of the road!

Here we are after 2,900km!

Waiting for the ferry 

We've made it! The route wasn't quite as planned due to the awful and unseasonal weather in Italy and Switzerland. Nevertheless we've cycled from Southern Italy to Holland (apart from a very short train ride at the Gotthard Pass due to the snow), passing through seven countries and seeing the landscapes and culture change day by day. We've experienced temperatures from near freezing to 40 degrees and certainly seen plenty of rain! We've struggled by in Italian - our attempts usually based on stringing together musical terms, German is much better - we know enough to survive reasonably, though Sweizerdeutsch seems almost impossible to understand. French is no problem and as for Dutch....... well they all speak perfect English, so it doesn't matter!

Back to today's ride -
We started off through open countryside before reaching the Rhine Delta with its bridges, tunnels and miles of docklands.

Lots of cyclists enjoying the countryside south of Rotterdam

We took an interesting and complicated route through Rotterdam's miles of docklands - thank goodness for the Garmin!

Wide bike path running between the motorway, road and railway along the Rotterdam docks.

This being Holland there was a wonderful cycle path the whole way with numerous bridges and the impressive Benelux tunnel under the main Rhine/Maas channel. This tunnel which also has separate train and road parts, has a lift for the bikes to descend. You wheel the bikes out and cycle about a kilometre on a well-lit, smooth two-way path - joining lots of other cyclists.  At the other end there's another lift to rejoin the bike network.

Benelux Fietstunnel

Terheijden to Hook of Holland  - 78km, 150m climb

Lommel to Terheijden (10km past Breda) - tot ziens Belgium

We're now in Holland and are only 75km (flat) from Hook of Holland. 

We've spent the day on canal paths in Belgium and the superb Dutch cycle network. Both countries have a system of knooppunt, a sort of cycling by numbers. Every junction on the cycle network has a number and from that point the next number in every direction is signed, so you just follow the numbers to arrive at your destination. 

The cycle network has its own traffic lights and is almost entirely segregated from the traffic. In Holland that means that you can cycle completely safely anywhere in the country.  There are huge numbers of cyclists everywhere. It truly puts the UK to shame.

Yet another reminder of WW2. These blockhouses or gunposts were built every kilometre along the canal we cycled along near what is now the Belgium/Holland border.

We chatted to a couple in a canal canal-side café just before leaving Belgium (they had cycled around the world, so made our efforts seem puny). Like everyone else we've spoken to on this long journey through six EU countries, they can't understand Brexit and can see the huge damage it is already causing. I feel that seeing these remnants of Europe's past division everywhere is argument enough for unity, leaving aside the many other economic, cultural, environmental, etc etc benefits.

Unladen barge. The laden ones were right down to the line between the white and black. 

The only one we've seen so far - proof that we really are in Holland!

We can't believe that this is our last night in the tent. It's a lovely evening and we're at a nice little "mini-camping" north of Breda.

Tomorrow hopefully we can cycle the remaining 75km to the ferry without incident and before it leaves at 10pm.

Lommel to Terheijden - 93km, 150m climb

Vaals to Lommel - back to Belgium

As we were in that bit of Holland that extends southwards between Aachen and Maastricht we took a route north west which brought us back to Belgium. This little corner of Holland is surprisingly hilly, but we enjoyed the landscapes and gentler slopes.

After our dearth of shops for the last few days, it was a real pleasure to come across a wonderful baker in a small village  - we devoured pizza slices and apple and apricot turnovers etc.

The town of Valkenburg was particularly lovely.

Valkenburg 

We crossed the Maas Canal with its barges, then the Maas itself by ferry and into Belgium. 

Barges on the Maas Canal 

Bike ferry over the Maas

 The route in Belgium was efficient, but somewhat tedious, along a canal with a good bike path, but long and straight with few barges to watch.

We gradually became aware of an accommodation problem today. We had wanted to aim for a very small campsite about 90km away. As it's the weekend I thought I'd better email them last night to check that they had space. Unfortunately they had a large family booking and didn't.
Every campsite we passed early in the day had a notice up saying they were full, including the one we left at Vaals.
So at about 4.30 we decided to phone some others in the area we were aiming for. No luck - it's the first weekend of school holidays here.
So we started on the B&Bs and eventually found one - more expensive than we would have liked and not as far as we'd have liked. It's very nice though and we're sitting in a peaceful garden here enjoying Trappist beer which was brewed in the neighbouring village.

We have though, booked a place at the next and last planned campsite before the Hook of Holland (now only 160km away) and also changed our ferry booking to overnight on Sunday - so we'll be home on Monday!


Vaals to Lommel - 76km, 150m climb

Montenau to Vaals (Holland) - auf wiedersehen Deutschland

We're in Holland, our seventh and final country.
We cycled the whole way to Aachen on the Vennbahn, a splendid route. I'm not a great fan of railway bike paths in general as they are often quite boring and enclosed.
This one is different. Today's 85km were really smooth with gentle gradients and mainly elevated with fine views.
It was quite cold and cloudy and yes, it rained for a couple of hours in the afternoon and we got soaked.
We crossed several times from Belgium to Germany and back again. Eventually we arrived in Aachen.

Cycling on the Vennbahn

Old signal box at Sourbrot

Aachen Cathedral 

We had a look in the cathedral, a bit of a disjointed jumble from outside, but rather nice inside with some fine glass.

From there it was a short ride to the first campsite in Holland, just over the border at Vaals.
We always carry an "emergency" meal - this time flavoured couscous. As I've mentioned there have been no shops on the route for some time, but we were sure that we'd find a supermarket in Aachen. Well we did, but it appears that today is Corpus Christi - a public holiday in Germany and the many shops we passed were closed. This campsite has no shop or restaurant, so the much-travelled couscous (over 2600km) came out and was boosted by some tomatoes, onions, cheese and a small amount of pasta that we still had left.

Montenau to Vaals - 92km, 400m climb

Vianden to Montenau (Belgium) - auf wiedersehen Luxembourg

What did I say about not getting wet again?
We'd only cycled a couple of kilometres when we were overtaken by a violent thunderstorm. Fortunately we were able to shelter on the terrace of a closed café and watch whilst staying dry.

Rain falling over the river Our seen from our shelter

Vianden

 It cleared up a bit, so we cycled on into the pretty town of Vianden. Oddly, in this area we have found no shops. We bought a few things for lunch from the filling station near the campsite, which proved to be a very good move as we passed no other shops at all for the whole day.

Cycle path built out by the Our at Bivels

 After about 20km we left Luxembourg for Germany and started to climb seriously. Half way up the second storm of the day broke. We were lucky this time to find a large wooden shelter, big enough for us and the bikes and sat that one out too.
The sun came out and we carried on upwards. The views were worth the climb - just about!

We descended and crossed yet another border, this time into Belgium. Here we joined the Vennbahn, a disused railway line which goes all the way to Aachen, just over a hundred kilometres away. To begin with they had had to keep taking the route away from the rail line to cross rivers etc. This resulted in some very steep gradients that no self-respecting train would ever have tackled!
After a while it improved and the last ten kilometres were a pleasure, floating downhill at 25km/hr touching neither pedals or brakes.
We just had time to get the tent up at Oos Heem campsite when the last thunderstorm of the day arrived.

Camping Oos Heem in the rain 

Belgian beer

We sheltered in the campsite restaurant with a pizza and Belgian beer - this will probably our only night in Belgium,  tomorrow we hope to get to Holland. 

Vianden to Montenau - 76km, 1400m clinb

Nenning to Vianden (Luxembourg)

We're getting used to this lovely, sunny weather. Perhaps we will get all the way home without getting wet again .....

We had an easy and pleasant morning ride along the Moselle.

Morning ride along the Moselle

We had to cross the Moselle by ferry to get to Wasserbillig in Luxembourg, where we would join the Piste Cyclable des Trois Rivières (Three Rivers? But there are only two of us!)
Wasserbillig is a strange and unattractive town. Having not passed a shop all morning we were keen to find a supermarket to buy some cheese and other ingredients for a picnic lunch. However, the shops in Wasserbillig sold vast amounts of cheap booze and coffee, but little else. We did find some very ordinary cheese and a baker for some bread, but no juice or fruit. There were no more shops for the rest of the day.

Ferry across the Moselle to Wasserbillig in Luxembourg 

The path by the Sauer was excellent, though it climbed constantly.  The valley was very pretty too.

Echternach by the River Sauer, or Sûre, depending which side of the border you are

Eventually we crossed the river back into Germany, before following the Our Valley on a quiet, very undulating road upstream.
Then we crossed the Our once more, back to Luxembourg where we are camping at Vianden.
As we'd failed to find a shop to buy anything for our evening  meal,  we set out - stomachs rumbling  - for a restaurant a few hundred metres up the road. Tuesday was their day off.
Fortunately there was a filling station a bit further on which had a small shop. It stocked the usual cheap booze and coffee, but we did manage to buy some very nice bread, cheese and a tub of potato salad - as well as a couple of cheap beers.
We sat and enjoyed these finds in our peaceful spot by the river.

Camping by the river Our in Luxembourg 

We've now cycled 2500km and think that we should get to the Hook of Holland by Sunday or Monday at the latest. We're both fairly tired and though still enjoying our experience, we're looking forward to getting home soon.


Nenning to Vianden - 76km, 1000m climb

Varize to Nennig (Germany) - Au revoir la France

We've arrived in our fourth country (yes we did pop into Germany for about half an hour near Basel, but now we'll be here for a bit longer). We're just north of Schengen and obviously passed without noticing from France to Germany. Luxembourg is just over the river and over the next few days we'll be in and out of Germany,  Luxembourg and Belgium.

Hayes - must be nearly home!

The Moselle

We had a splendid breakfast at our excellent B&B. This is a farm which has diversified hugely. They have wheat as well as cows and horses. They have a bio-digester which converts the dung from these animals into methane which is used to heat a local swimming pool. Every barn roof - a huge area - is covered in solar panels, they run a riding school and of  course the chambres d'hôte.

After 50km of similar open, undulating and empty landscapes to yesterday we reached the Moselle and then Germany.
It's bright and sunny - lovely in fact - and we are at a nice campsite by the river. We've celebrated our arrival at this significant waypoint with a bottle of local wine!

Varize to Nennig - 75km, 400m climb

Mittersheim to Varize

We've been lucky with another day without rain. Last night wasn't so good though and it poured for hours. Unfortunately somebody (yes, me) had left the edge of one of our waterproof bags sticking out from under the fly sheet of our tent and it had acted as a funnel allowing a large puddle to develop in the middle of the outer porch. Along with this water and dampness had come a veritable army of slugs. They and their slime were everywhere. I found one in my sandal and there was one in Ben's helmet. Fortunately we were well zipped into the sleeping area, so that was clear!

Now I do enjoy camping - I have visions of sitting outside in the sunshine, coffee or wine in hand (depending on the time of day) and looking at a lovely view. This was a long way from that ideal.....

What is more this was not a nice site. It was full of holiday cabins and static caravans with just a small, scrubby and grubby area for tents. The only consolation was that there were a few other touring cyclists there and we were able to have a good laugh with them about the slugs. 

Having removed the slugs and their slime (hopefully all of it) we got on our way. It was another day of quiet roads and open views. This is a very under populated area, with few small villages. We were warned that there were no shops on the route for 100km. There are fields of sweetcorn, wheat and sunflowers for miles.

It was over 120km to the next campsite and we were finding the undulating topography quite heavy going, so took the recommendation of a Dutch couple who were heading in the opposite direction to stay at a farm B&B in the small village of Varize. It is indeed very pleasant here and we have a sunny balcony where our damp tent is currently drying,  a kitchenette where we'll cook our supper soon and a huge comfortable room.

Wide open views and undulating roads

Mittersheim to Varize - 75km, 600m climb

Molsheim to Mittersheim

Rather surprisingly it hasn't rained today, even though the forecast suggested that it would this evening.

Some bits of our journey today have been really easy and some quite hard. The first 20km were on a voie verte - a disused railway line with a tarmacked surface. The next bit was on country lanes and was hilly, but beautiful with wide open views.

Top of first climb

 We left Alsace and are now in Lorraine.  The architecture has changed. The towns, though pleasant are not as breathtakingly pretty as the ones in Alsace.
We liked the church at Marmoutier though.

Marmoutier

 There followed a stretch of the Rhine-Marne Canal which rose steeply through multiple locks until it disappeared into a tunnel. Of course we had to climb over the top of the hill it had burrowed through.

Picnic spot by the Rhine Marne Canal 

We went through Sarrebourg and rose again onto an undulating plateau, again with wide open views, then joined another canal which led us easily to Mittersheim.
It seems to have been a good day for herons - we've seen lots along the way.
We were delighted to find a mobile pizza van just before we arrived at the campsite - we were starving after our long day and it's saved us the trouble of cooking tonight.

Molsheim to Mittersheim  - 88km, 1000m climb

Turckheim to Molsheim - the rain is back

We packed a dry tent and set off, but though the forecast had implied that there would be very little rain, it drizzled (or more) most of the day.

We found the energy to wander around the lovely town of Turckheim yesterday evening

Undulating between the vines 

Today's route was mainly car free, undulating through vinyards and pretty towns on the Véloroute des Vignobles.
It would have been gorgeous, but for the continual drizzle. We are getting a bit fed up with getting soaked most days!

We took a long lunch break in a very good pizzeria which we chanced upon when the rain really started to come down hard.

Obernai

After 75 soggy kilometres we arrived in Molsheim and found the campsite only to be greeted with the words "désolé, nous sommes complet" Apparently the Molsheim marathon is this weekend. The next campsite is another 15km, so we emphasised the smallness of our tent and the weather (whilst trying to look old, wet and tired - not very difficult!) and were taken pity on. There does seem to be a reaonable amount of space and we are relieved not to have to go further.

Turckheim to Molsheim - 75km, 500m climb

Huningue to Turckheim - all in sunshine!

It rained all night, but the morning was bright and sunny - and so it remained all day for a change.
Our route north at first followed canals for about 20km until the Pont du Bouc. This was the scene of a terrible battle in WW2 in December 1944 which resulted in the liberation of Mulhouse, but only at the cost of 1500 lives. There was a small exhibition of a gun and tank with some explanatory boards. Sobering thoughts as we rode through the peaceful forest which had witnessed such horrible scenes.

 As we arrived in Alsace the road took us through vinyards and pretty villages. There were storks nesting in trees and on church towers.

Eguisheim

We're camping at a nice campsite at Turckheim, which had its own resident storks happily strutting around the tents.
Turckheim I believe is lovely,  but we'll leave the exploration until the morning as we're too tired now.

Huningue to Turckheim - 82km, 300m climb.

Stusslingen to Huningue (just north of Basel in France), auf wiedersehen Schweitz

It was raining when we woke up (nothing new about that!), but by the time we were packing up it had stopped.

Our first task today was to cross a "small" Jura ridge - a climb of just over 300m and surprisingly steep and knackering!

View from the top of the climb

Water fountain on descent 

The view from the top was lovely and we enjoyed the descent through the pretty Liestal.
We arrived in the centre of Basel without difficulty.

Basel Cathedral 

Then the problems started. We kept on the west bank of the Rhine as it turned north and followed a splendid newly built bike and pedestrian path by the river.  This took us just over the French border where we found this -

It seems that the Swiss have finished their section of the the route, but the French are still working on theirs. We had to make a detour back into  Switzerland, over the Rhine into Germany (handy supermarket there to buy ingredients for an evening meal), then back over the Rhine on the impressive Pont des Trois Pays - a beautiful modern bridge for pedestrians and cyclists only - to reach the small campsite at Huningue by the river in France.

Passerelle des Trois Pays - Germany on the left, France on the right of the bridge and (of course) it must be raining in Switzerland as there is a rainbow over that country!

Stusslingen to Huningue - 58km, 700m climb