Auf Wiedersehen Pet

Oosterbeek, Holland.      nicer.whirlwind.posted. 

Distance.         105km

Total.              1206km

Thankfully our clothes and bags were dry for this morning.  I’ll give the hotel radiators an excellent review.  Today we had sunny spells and blustery winds to contend with.  There was no breakfast ordered at the hotel but we had an early start and a chocolate pastry at a local Bakerei.  We cycled onto Xanten, which is the only town in Germany to start with an X.  It was a grand place....I had second breakfast..... I need to keep energy levels up!

There was a life sized replica Roman Fort.  I’m sure it would have been worth a visit if we didn’t have quite so far to go.

We did 75km before lunch, over the Dutch border at Millingen.  We said Auf Wiedersehen to Germany and then caught the last ferry ride of our trip to the east side.  We remembered the Auf Wiedersehen Pet series from the 80’s.....’Thats Livin’ Alright’. 

It’s not often you see a Woolly Mammoth on a cycle track nowadays!  Janice got rather caught short, so it’s a good job she came to this town.

We cycled quickly through Arnhem which was very busy.  We knew we were in Holland because the cycle lanes were so busy and we were rather shocked that mopeds were allowed to ride in the cycle lanes and the riders didn’t wear helmets...that’s EU standardisation for you!  We were more interested in getting to the Airborne Museum to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the air drop into Arnhem by Allied Parachutists to secure the bridges before the Allied Armies moved forward in 1944.  We are a week late for the official commemorations but it was still moving to remember the personal stories.

The hotel is in Oosterbeek, near the Museum and it turned out to be a lovely posh place.  We still turn up at reception looking disheveled after a days cycling.  Surprisingly they didn’t tell us to go around the back so proper guests don’t see us!  Although, come to think of it, they did tell us to put the bikes in the shed around the back.

We have done another 105km day,....on our 17th consecutive day of cycling.  We have heard poor forecasts for the next two days so we are rethinking again.  We will go to Utrecht tomorrow as planned but we are considering catching a train to The Hague on Sunday as it is not only raining but winds are predicted of 45mph directly against us......that’s not fun!  We aren’t so fanatical to flog ourselves for the sake of it.  Monday will be our long train journey back to Basel, if we can organise the bikes on the trains too.