May 22, 2014

Despite it having rained most of the night, the kit is not too wet – that is because since about 5am there has been a howling gale blowing and drying it all off.  I’ve been lying in my sleeping bag listening to it and worrying if it will be a headwind.

It is a headwind, but it’s not too bad – not enough to spoil the day.  We’ve decided to get back on our original route by crossing the open countryside and avoiding getting involved in more road-works.  We’re really organised now with the way-finding – at the first route board at the side of the road I write down all the numbers of the junctions we need so that we can just keep going without having to stop and consult the route boards.  It works a treat, so basically, we have it all sorted out just as we are about to leave Holland and move into Germany where the marking of the cycle routes is completely different.

Our first experience of the German cycle network is as we roll off a river ferry into a small village and can see no signposts at all of any description.  Back to the compass.  We are beginning to be slightly concerned about our slow progress over the past couple of days.  However, after making a few wrong turns here and there as we find our way through the first few villages we start to get a feel for the new system.  On a junction we meet an Irish cycle tourist who is cycling the Rhine from the source to the sea (the right way – downhill) he asks us about the route through Holland and gives us a few tips about the places we will be visiting.  He recommends a camp-site in Xanten.  I hope that we will be further along the road than that before we stop for the night, but the weather has other plans.  The wind becomes really troublesome and just as Xanten comes into view the heavens open.  We end up dashing into the first hotel we see in Xanten.