Essen

A hiking mattress on cold concrete isn’t particularly pleasant, especially when the nights turned out colder than expected. We'd experienced really hot nights in Eindhoven earlier, so we hadn't packed bulky sleeping bags. Instead, we thought sleeping bag liners would be enough - a warm jacket, along with merino clothing and beanies, “just in case”. Thankfully, we had brought the latter too, because the cold woke us up a few times. We ended up wearing all our clothes and huddling together to stay warm, which allowed us to get enough sleep and continue cycling for another full day, covering about 45km.

After packing up our tent, we had some muesli bars and headed towards Ulvenhout on our way to the coast. We stopped for coffee but found ourselves hungrier than expected, so we also ordered some classic Dutch food: worstenbroodje and appletaart. Our bike ride took us through beautiful farmland and forests, and although it was a bit cloudier, the weather was still warm. We even encountered some bike paths that were like "bicycle highways," as Paul called them which made for faster riding. Along one stretch, we passed this long line of wildflowers and sunflowers. Sunflowers were a common sight each day, and we realized that we were sometimes on the "Van Gogh cycling route," exploring the Brabant region where he grew up. While we hadn't visited the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam, this felt like a great way to see the landscapes that inspired his art.

Around midday, we reached a farm/inn just outside a village called Zundert, which we later learned had been owned by the same family since 1861. We enjoyed "green tea iced" drinks and a snack of cheese, salami, mustard, and fish pâté with crackers. It was all delicious, especially the mackerel pâté, which Vikum particularly liked.

Our cycling route even took us across the Belgium-Dutch border, where we stopped at a border post. It marked the spot where a "legendary smuggler" was killed during WWI by communist soldiers after repeatedly evading capture in various disguises, including a nun, a pastor, and even a high-ranking soldier. As we paused here, another cyclist rode by and humorously shouted something in Dutch/Flemish, essentially asking to see our passports.

We had a goal to reach the coast (Zeeland) with one more day of cycling if we managed a 40-50km on this, day two. So, we extended our planned trip by an extra day. Our legs were sore, and we were getting tired, but we pushed on and reached Wouwse Plantage. The campsite was well-maintained, and when the owner, Marcell, came to collect the night's fee, we discovered he had lived in New Zealand for seven years. And the idea for his campsite was inspired by the Top 10 Holiday Parks he had stayed in while traveling there. Giving us another taste of home.

For dinner, we had ‘kip satay’ at a nearby snack bar and settled in for another chilly night. We had forgotten to pick up an extra blanket during the day, which was a silly oversight but did keep our packs lighter.Read more