May 24, 2014

Well, that is more like it – 114 kilometres – and all of it into a strong headwind.

We set our hearts on getting a good distance done today. It didn’t start well as we woke up to the sound of rain splattering on the tent. It always takes a lot longer to pack up when the gear is wet. Nevertheless, we stuff everything into the bags and get going before most of the campers are awake.

It is another gloomy day, made more gloomy for us by the wind blowing in our faces. Maybe that is another reason most people cycle from the south to the north, not just because it is downhill but because they have the wind behind them too. Still, if it wasn’t hard it wouldn’t be worth doing. We know the landscape is not going to be particularly attractive and we’re keen to get through the cities and back to the more attractive stuff as soon as possible. Having said that, we remember that we must shop for supplies not only for today, but also for tomorrow as the shops will be closed on Sunday.  So we make a stop and load every spare space on the bikes up with food and drinks.  The other essential stop is for coffee and cake – we’re never in such a hurry that we can’t stop for those. We pass dozens of cake shops and coffee bars along the quayside in Düsseldorf but none of them are open. It seems that they don’t open until around 11am, which seems very strange to us. Still, we eventually see somewhere to stop and have the best apple pie and cream ever. 

Most of the day we are right at the side of the river. We notice the same barges moving upstream – we clock their speed at around 15 kilometres an hour. Often we pass one and then when we stop for a drink or for something to eat, we’ll see it going by again. Then we pass it again and so it goes on – we start to feel like we are a part of the river traffic. In fact, although we were travelling through big cities for most of the day, it turned out to be more enjoyable and less difficult than we had expected. 

The camp-site we find is closed when we arrive, which again seems a bit strange as it is only 8pm, but anyway, we get the bikes through the side gate and get ourselves set up.  We’ll sort out paying before we leave in the morning.