Holland and Germany

We are now in southern Germany feeling a little tired after conquering many big hills. Its a bit of a change from the easy going endless flats of the Netherlands. Its very pleasant to have a change of scenery as the north was getting a bit monotonous. Field after field of grass got a little boring. We even climbed the highest hill in holland that we could find but at 77 metres it was not very challenging!!

Camped in central Germany we woke to find snow had fallen. It made a nice  change to the continuous rain  for the previous three weeks

Spring is coming on fast here with many woodland flowers emerging and leaves and catkins bursting from all the trees. The last few days however have seen a change with the winter returning. This morning I woke to all my water frozen and the zips on my tent frozen solid. I have fished a handful of times but have not secured my first catch yet, but as things warm up so too will the fishing I hope. From here we are going to follow the Danube through Austria to Bratislava and on to Budapest to meet Angela who is coming out for Easter. Unfortunately the northern route through Czech Rep. will take too long so we are settling on the easier flatter option..with many fishing spots!!

In the first few days we passed through a cold and bleak northern France.   Crecy forest  provided some  quiet camping in an otherwise arable landscape.  It was cold and wet so there was only one thing to do! Cook pizzas in the camp oven!

Hopefully I will be able to write a longer account of the past month soon as at the moment we are pressed for time! Lets hope not too much more snow comes down but maybe just enough so I can throw a snowball at Huw!

The weather was truly abysmal for the first month of cycling through  France, Belgium, Netherlands and  most of Germany.  Underpasses were a good place to dry out a little and have a bite to eat.

Amazingly, occasionally the grey skies cleared and a weak sun shone through onto the  open and flat landscape of northern France.  Cycling suddenly became remarkably pleasant without cold drizzle driving into our faces but it was most days it was short lived.  we would hope to get a bigger enough window of good weather to dry our tents, still sodden from the night before.  A stop in a village boulangerie to buy ingredients for a baguette would be followed by a tent drying session much to the curiosity of the local

After a little over a week of cycling east we arrived at the  border  of Belgium  and felt a sense of elation, if we could make it through one country and the February weather then we were well on our way. It also meant we were a step closer to the Hague and warm flat. Nick had kindly invited us to crash at his for a while.

After a confusing and very long day picking our way around various water courses  and trying to follow cycle routes through western Holland we arrived at Nick's place in the Hague.  It was great to catch up and also give the rain a miss. We planned to stay just a few days before heading on to Amsterdam, but a few days turned into a week as every morning we were greeted by rain. it was an easy choice to stay in the nice warm flat, but eventually we did leave and of course didn't stay dry for too long. Thanks for your hospitality Nick.

In many of these photos the sun is shining but don't be decieved; the camera  stayed tucked away for most of the first month!

Following the Dortmund Ems canal made for quiet cycling and easy camping.  We didn't really  want to spend money on hotels so spent every night camped up in some likely woodland. No one ever bothered us and it meant we could cover exactly how far we wanted each day.  A big dinner of pasta stuffed full of meat and cheese kept us going through the cold times.

A powerful storm ripped through a big chunk of Germany  just prior to our arrival and the damage was visible everywhere. In coniferous forests large trees were broken clean in half and debris made finding camping spots pretty tricky. We just hoped that another similar storm wouldn't pass while we were camped in the forest as thing could have turned out pretty bad indeed.

As we moved south in Germany the landscape slowly became more forested and usually the small roads we cycled on were quiet.

It was a very interesting experience to be outside 24/7. It gave me  us a fine appreciation of  exactly what was happening  in regards to the weather and the natural world. We watched spring emerge day by day; it was however somewhat sped up thanks to our continuous movement south.  The fine intricacies of the weather started to become unlocked for us and changes could be seen before they were visible.  It was a very free feeling we experienced, the only question being which route should we follow on the map. 

The River Rhine, so full of big fish that I was convinced that something would take the bait  while we camped in  a small plantation by the river. It didn't quite happen how I imagined and it ended up with us nearly being the ones caught. A group of hunters slowly drove the river bank after dark with a powerful spot light looking for deer. And our camping spot was 15 yards from the track they followed. With nearly all our equipment being reflective we quickly covered the lot with the green fly sheets and lay low. We weren't sure whether we could camp there and really didn't fancy having to try explain what we were doing. They passed by very slowly, their voices seemingly on top of us but luckily their hunting skills were lacking and they missed the two English cyclists hiding in the bushes.

German architecture along the Rhine

After discovering there was no ferry running across the Donau, as we were  a month or so too early, a detour had to be made up a very steep hill.  It was a cold day and the sky threatened to drop rain any minute, which it did so as we neared the summit.  A little way back we'd passed a hunters cabin with a very inviting covered verandah out the front. Now it was raining,  the veranda seemed all the more inviting but we decided to push on.  Out across the fields we pedaled received by a strong headwind bringing a now slushy sleet to our faces. Some large stacks of fire wood in the field offered some shelter from the terrible conditions, but not much. Stumbling around the back I was greeted by a crate of beer and suddenly things no longer looked quite so bleak.  Now, usually I would never take someone's beer but after a lengthy discussion we came to the conclusion that the owner, if there, would probably happily share some of his beer with us. unfortunately he wasn't there so we had to make do with each others company but we thanked the owner heartily. A short ride back down the hill and we made ourselves at home in the cabin's porch confident that no German hunters could be stupid enough to be out in the blizzard that was now covering everything in a layer of snow.

Lunch stop of baguettes and salami by the River Donau while wondering what fish swim  beneath.

The Landscape of southern Germany and Austria was breathtaking and sometimes a little tiring. By now though our fitness levels were high and stamina's had increased so that riding a loaded bike all day was no great problem.  Compared to when I set off from England I now felt super fit and could happily keep up with some of the road cyclists that trained along the river paths. One guy cloaked in lycra on the latest light weight machine seemed slightly annoyed with me sitting on his tail for ten kilometres..ah the perks of cycling 7-8 hours day!

Dream girl on the River Danube