Last days in the Netherlands

After having a bad night's sleep, we decided to stay an extra night at our lovely riverside campsite and spent the day reading on our picnic blanket and napping. In the afternoon, we went for a walk and met a lady walking five disbanded dogs. I was craving ice cream but couldn't find a single gas station shop or corner shop to buy from. In the end, I went into our nearest restaurant, which said we couldn't eat there as there was a private function. However, when I asked if they had ice cream to take away, they agreed and gave us huge scoops of vanilla and even accepted 50 cents short of the full price as I was short. It was the best ice cream ever!

After our day of rest, the biking was a fair bit easier, and we had a pleasant ride through national parks and passed some interesting statues. Our evening campsite was very pleasant, and as we were close to Germany, we decided to make our own bratwurst, which were delicious.

The next day, we set off along more Dutch dikes and sadly had a headwind for most of the ride, which left us pretty miserable and tired when we got to a campground owned by a farmer who had horses, llamas, and curious cats that tried to get into our tent and sprayed it when we didn't let them in. At night, the horses and llamas were stabled indoors, and you passed their curious heads poking out at you as you went to pee.

On our ninth day of cycling, we crossed the border to Germany. It was the most underwhelming border crossing ever. We weren't even sure we'd crossed as people still had NL license plates and there was not a single flag in sight. We were finally sure when we saw a wilderness sign written in German. That's what you get for crossing a European border via a walking path, I guess.Read more