Arrondissement Turnhout

Our first day of bikepacking began with us getting used to the bikes and saying goodbye to Tom. We had practiced packing our gear onto the bikes the night before, but started making small changes as we went along. I was glad that we didn't pack too much, and Vikum's bike had bags that could fit nearly everything, so my ride was really light hehe. It was a warm day, and we were happy that most of our route was shaded by trees.

Finding the bike route took us some time, and we got a bit lost using Vikum's phone map near the canals. So, we decided to stop and check the paper maps that Paul had given us; maps that were specially made for biking in the Netherlands. When we realised that we had forgotten them and only brought an empty map case we had to laugh, as we’d spent quite a while the night before making sure we had the right ones. Luckily, V had downloaded the bike route, so if we could find the starting point, we'd be okay.

While looking for the maps, an older Dutch man saw us looking confused and came over to help, speaking quickly to us in Dutch. I used my rehearsed phrase that Tom had taught me, "Sorry, ik spreek geen Nederlands" (sorry, I can't speak Dutch), but I think this made the man think I knew a little Dutch. So, he continued just talking to us, haha. Eventually, we managed to tell him that we wanted to go on the "LF13 route." We used the left and right directions we had learned earlier, like "links" and "recht," and some canal names to understand him. At least…I thought we understood some of what he was saying 😆.

Anyway, we continued our ride, and it was fantastic. The bike paths around the main cities were very flat and well-paved. We stopped in Oirschot for coffee near a beautiful Gothic church as we left town. We also took breaks for water as we biked by canals, forests, and farmland. We had another break in Hilvarenbeek, where we got lunch from a supermarket and had more coffee (they always gave small biscuits and cakes with the coffee, and in Hilvarenbeek the cake was quite big!). We saw many churches along the way, and I really liked the little tunes they played before the bells rang each hour.

To end our day, we found a small “mini campground” just outside of Chaam, about 55 kilometers from Tom's home where we started. It was mostly for motorhomes, so we could only camp on the concrete space. But we were ready to rest, so we were happy with the spot. Plus, we had our own bathroom, which was pretty nice. After showering and getting ready, we rode into Chaam for dinner. When we got back on our bikes, we felt how sore our bums were – they were actually bruised and a bit swollen from getting used to the bike seats. But our hungry stomachs were more important, so we went to Chaam for dinner and to get out some cash to pay for the campground. We had a great dinner at a small place that served huge pizzas and delicious kebabs. There was a TV playing random channels in the corner, and about 10 minutes in, we heard Kiwi accents. To our surprise, "NZ Border Patrol" was on TV – the last place we expected to hear voices from home! Back at the campsite, we briefly met a lady who was born in Huntly, of all places.

We enjoyed a beautiful sunset over the farmland, with a flat horizon in front of us, and had a cup of tea made on our little gas cooker before going to sleep. Beautiful!Read more