Brakel

New country and eventually a curve in the weather with no train today and even glimpses of the sun.

One thing that's amazed me on this trip is that after a crossing a border even though you're on the same road and scenery the same you can instantly feel a different culture.

You hear about it but first thing that strikes you about Holland is how cycle friendly it is. I covered nearly 80 miles today and it was all on cycle paths even through a couple of big towns. Even their bins next to the paths are tilted and like huge nets so you can throw your rubbish in without stopping.

Always nice to have a bit of company on the ride and got talking to a Dutch guy called Rob a triathlete who was heading in the same direction and was happy to cruise at my touring pace until we reached his home town of Nijmegen. Really nice guy and great chatting about places we'd both riden in Europe, our bikes (very jealous of his five!), Holland and triathlons. Definitely reignited my interest in getting into doing one when I get back.

After leaving Rob in Nijmegen it was head down along the river heading West towards Rotterdam. After a nice pint in a riverside pub I rode into the evening and checked into a really nice B&B owned by a lovely couple Ans and Hans. On walking into their home they asked if I loved dogs and said that I love them. The relaxed response of 'oh great we have three' and no warning I was a little shocked when they opened the door to be greeted by three huge alsatians that seemed to be in competition to see who could jump highest on me. Just love the reflaxed attitude of the Dutch as Ans calmly said I thought you said you loved dogs after Id clearly shat myself when they jumped on me.

After the initial shock Billy, Rex and (never caught the third name, was Dutch) they turned out to be big softies and nice evening was spent chatting to my hosts.Read more