Cycling to Holland Gone Wrong

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Trip start
December 13, 2015
Cycling to Holland Gone Wrong Tom Banks
Saturday Morning, Düsseldorf
December 13, 2015 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 6 °C
Saturday morning in Düsseldorf. The washing is done, time for a bike ride to Holland. It's a little grey and drizzly, but nothing too extreme. This will be the first bike ride without being able to follow the Rhine (and following the Rhine isn't without its problems) so I've made a little map. What could possibly go wrong?Read more
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Cycling to Holland Gone Wrong Tom Banks
Meerbusch
December 13, 2015 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 6 °C
As planned, I make it to Meerbusch. From here I want to go to Willich, however I'm on the road to Kaarst. Kaarst isn't on my map and I'm not sure if it's the right direction. I start to question my preparation.Read more
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Cycling to Holland Gone Wrong Tom Banks
Kaarst
December 13, 2015 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 6 °C
In any case, I carry on to Kaarst.
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Cycling to Holland Gone Wrong Tom Banks
Geese for Sale
December 13, 2015 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 6 °C
Geese for sale and I'm lost.
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Cycling to Holland Gone Wrong Tom Banks
Korschenbroich
December 13, 2015 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 6 °C
Pentair. Where have I heard that name before?
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Cycling to Holland Gone Wrong Tom Banks
Mönchengladbach
December 13, 2015 in Germany ⋅ ☁️ 6 °C
From Korschenbroich I follow a sign to Mönchengladbach. The centre is swarming with football fans wearing black and green. I don't stop and take a picture; I realise I've been heading south-west, when I should've been north-west. I consider heading to Roermond instead.Read more
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Cycling to Holland Gone Wrong Tom Banks
Viersen
December 13, 2015 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 6 °C
Viersen. I find a sign for Viersen and realise it's a stop off point on my homemade map. I have but a few hours of sunlight left, so I have to get a move on. I don't know my way to Roermond, so Venlo it will have to be. On I peddle to Viersen.Read more
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Cycling to Holland Gone Wrong Tom Banks
Utopia
December 13, 2015 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 6 °C
A buss station. Utopia. Quite!
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Cycling to Holland Gone Wrong Tom Banks
Dülken
December 13, 2015 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 6 °C
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Cycling to Holland Gone Wrong Tom Banks
Dyck
December 13, 2015 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 6 °C
Lost in Dyck and the light -- in so far as there was any -- is starting to fade.
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Cycling to Holland Gone Wrong Tom Banks
Lobberich
December 13, 2015 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 6 °C
In Lobberich I see a bike sign for Venlo and start to feel optimistic for the first time in hours. Still, the sun is really starting to fade now, and I know to get to the Netherlands I have to pass through a large forest on the border. Keep going and don't worry about the rear tyre which seems to be slowly deflating.Read more
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Cycling to Holland Gone Wrong Tom Banks
Hinsbeck
December 13, 2015 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 6 °C
I get to Hinsbeck and the tyre is deflated now to the point where I can no longer side down and ride. I have to get off and walk. I'm in two minds, head back to Lobberich or walk the remaining 10 Km to Venlo. At first I try to walk, but it quickly becomes apparent that it's way too dark to walk through miles of forest with no light or electrical devices. I turn round and head back to Lobberich.Read more
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Cycling to Holland Gone Wrong Tom Banks
Lobberich
December 13, 2015 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 6 °C
I walk back to Lobberich in the dark and chain my bike up on the square in front of the church. Now what? I entre a Italian restaurant and ask for directions to the nearest train station. 'There isn't on here,' was the response. 'You need to head to Breyell'. 'Ok,'I say, 'and how far is that?'. 'About twenty minutes by foot.' They give me some basic directions and off I head.Read more
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Cycling to Holland Gone Wrong Tom Banks
Breyell
December 13, 2015 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 6 °C
I get to Breyell , buy a beer and wonder what to do about my bike. It's chained up, with a flat tyre, miles from Düsseldorf. It doesn't fit in my car, I don't have a pump, the shops are all closed on a Sunday, and next weekend I'm in Paris. The weekend after that is Christmas. Can I really leave my bike abandoned until the new year? It looks, at this point, like I have no choice.Read more
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Cycling to Holland Gone Wrong Tom Banks
Düsseldorf, Saturday Night
December 13, 2015 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 6 °C
An hour later and I'm back in Düsseldorf. The train, strangely, follows roughly the same route I had on my bike, stopping at both Viersen and Mönchengladbach.
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Cycling to Holland Gone Wrong Tom Banks
Düsseldorf, Sunday Afternoon
December 13, 2015 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 6 °C
A late start, and the weather has deteriorated with the rain a little heavier today. But I find a bike pump (two actually) in the new apartment, and decide I better finish what I've started. I put the pumps into my backpack, and off I go to retrieve my bike.Read more
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Cycling to Holland Gone Wrong Tom Banks
Breyell
December 13, 2015 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 6 °C
An hour after leaving Düsseldorf, I'm back in Breyell.
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Cycling to Holland Gone Wrong Tom Banks
White Heron
December 13, 2015 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 6 °C
I walk from Breyell, through the wet, flat countryside, to Lobberich. I see a white heron. A white heron? A White heron, really?
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Cycling to Holland Gone Wrong Tom Banks
Lobberich
December 13, 2015 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 6 °C
Back in Lobberich. Pump, pump, pump.
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Cycling to Holland Gone Wrong Tom Banks
Hinsbeck
December 13, 2015 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 6 °C
I'm back in Hinsbeck, the little village I made it to the day before before turning around. It's dark again! I had two inflated tyres, which is more than I had the day previous, but I still need to ride through the forest, and do so in the dark. Onward, quickly!Read more
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Cycling to Holland Gone Wrong Tom Banks
Glabbacher Bruch
December 13, 2015 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 6 °C
I'm in the forest, and yes it's dark.
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Cycling to Holland Gone Wrong Tom Banks
Venlo
December 13, 2015 in the Netherlands ⋅ ⛅ 7 °C
19 hours after I originally sett of from Düsseldorf, I arrive in Venlo. I've made it from the Rhein to the Maas, from Germany to the Netherlands. I feel a sense of accomplishment, but wow it was not without drama!Read more
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Trip end
December 13, 2015