It started with the Jogle
Utrecht
I quite like Utrecht. It's a busy but calm city full of people eating and drinking in the cafes that line the streets and canals.
I woke later and did little with my morning. In the afternoon I headed out to explore. I enjoyed an excellent pancake brunch, mooched round little shops and had a look round the cathedral.
Apart from that I've been relaxing, reading and knitting. Exactly how a holiday should be.
Much as the Netherlands is fully set up for cycling, it can be confusing. I think it's probably most like driving abroad, because there is so much infrastructure and so many bikes, you need to know precisely what you're doing. And as I'm following a sat nav, and left/right are confusing, I often don't. I'm also driving a heavy bike with a massive turning circle so try to proceed with caution.
All this is to say, the shorter cycle to Utrecht was uneventful. I stopped in a pretty town just after the ferry and had a very good breakfast. Then it was a lot of orchards - cherry and pear - then some horses and maize, then some moorhens and goats, then some woods, then a camp site.
I was here that early (luckily I'd booked once I noticed it was the weekend) that I set up, had a banana and then headed off into the city centre.
I did some shopping in including visiting a yarn shop, a bead shop (neither had what I was looking for) and an English bookshop. (Deleted rant about lack of variety in bookshops). I eventually managed to find something suitably dark and went on my way.
I rounded off my day with Nachos, a (virgin - bike) cocktail and my new book in a bar overlooking the square.
I've had rather a nice day.
It started off strong with an early start and a farm shop breakfast. After that it was a little windy - giving me weather related anxiety - but that soon died down.
I cycled along quite happily, enjoying the floral country side interspersed by occasional farms with lots of sheep and horses.
I even stopped for lunch, because I passed a sign at just the right time. That was the point I checked my navigation. The site I had been aiming for seems to have been one I'd visited before on the 'disaster tour' (injuries, thefts etc. - you know the one). With absolutely no desire to revisit those memories I diverted to a new site not too far away.
The site itself is a little hidden (took me a while to locate it) gem with community lounges and an honesty cafe.
No breakfast but a quiet night's sleep seems likely.
I was glad to be back in the country side (although I quite like an industrial view) and after arriving a bit early at a few sites, I thought I'd have a slower start.
I think that slow start made me feel slow all day. It was quite a pleasant ride overall, through the north of Germany and into the Netherlands. With the church spires popping out of wooded horizons it's a bit like cycling through a gallery of Dutch Masters.
The only thing that marred it was the near constant head wind, it varied in strength but it was always there and with more miles of straight lines that was rather annoying.
I feel like I should clarify here - and I'm sure I've said it before. Tail winds and cross winds do exist. Cross winds you notice and if they're strong they have a bit of an impact. A tail wind however, that you never quite feel until you turn around. In a bit of a metaphor for life - you never notice the wind at your back.
That little gate is the border between Germany and the Netherlands. At least that's were the language changed on the signs.
Annoying wind aside, it was a pleasant ride and the campsite - along with farm shop - is lovely. Right down to the breakfast I've ordered for the morning.
Started the day off strong
I'm finally out of the cities - Cologne, Düssledorf and Duisburg all sort of merging into one factory filled sprawl. Compared to yesterday, today was a bit more starting, a bit less stopping. In fact, my only stops were at the supermarket and in a couple of bus stops to eat the food from the supermarket. Which impressed me because it was one of my longest rides.
I dotted in and out of towns and through a chempark or two. Eventually I hit the long straight (probably Roman) stretches that took me into the country side, easy riding marred just a little by a slight headwind. Nothing too strong, but noticeable when you're heading in a straight line for miles.
I arrived at the campsite too early to check in - that's been a bit of a theme (unusually for me). I spent the time hunting for the toilets. Then set up, had some coffee and cake and settled in for the evening.
I'm sat here in trousers and a jumper. I've even put socks on. It isn't that cold but at least it's not boiling and I'm far happier for it.
There isn't much to report from today's ride. I visited the shops in Cologne, first to replace a plug I'd left behind. I always have 2 because inevitably I leave one behind; in fact I have 2 of a lot of things. What I didn't have was 2 pairs of trousers, I have three pairs of shorts instead. In my enthusiasm for being organised I over edited and miscounted therefore I have one unworn pair of shorts and one well worn pair of cotton trousers. So I stopped to buy some leggings too.
Jobs jobbed, I set off on what was sure to be a very urban - read stopping and starting - day of cycling. And that was largely what it was. I took myself out of Cologne and into the fields. Then into a town and past some factories. Then a field or two and then a bigger town, eventually I reached the edge of Düsseldorf. I'm a bit citied out so I stuck to the left bank and made it through the very busy suburbs until I was amongst the fields again. Then I found the river and cycled along a dyke until I reached the campsite.
And do you know what I did when I got to that site? I made a cuppa and had a chocolate biscuit whilst reading my book. As opposed to slowly melting and ruminating on the pointlessness of showers if they just make you sweaty.
How I'm loving this change in weather!
Another day of relaxing and sight seeing today. I went out for breakfast at a bakery and then took myself back to the Cathedral to see the treasury.
When I bought my ticket yesterday we had a long discussion about how long it was valid for, could I come back tomorrow to see the treasury? There was colleague consultation and the answer was yes. Arriving at the treasury the answer was no. So I hiked over to the ticket office, got the ticket stamped because the college consultation was wrong and headed back to the treasury.
I wasn't the only person facing ticket problems, I'd say that most people at the gate were turned away for one reason or another. The treasury was - as one would expect - full of treasures. Very beautiful, very fine and some pieces very old. I resisted the urge to point out to an American lady that it wasn't a tapestry it was an embroidery (look at me with my self restraint). The work that went into those pieces is beyond comprehension.
After the treasury I went to the art gallery. At first I'd planned to see the Yayoi Kusama exhibition but consultation at another ticket desk revealed it had sold out almost on release. I settled for the main collection and after returning to the ticket office as I had somehow ended up with two tickets and then having to return for a third time to put my bag in the cloak room I finally went to look at some art. Once again some familiar names and works. I did manage to glimpse into the Kusama at points. It looked busy and involved queuing so I'd probably have been grumpy about that had I managed to get in.
Art experienced I went back to the hotel for a little siesta passing a queue for the Cathedral that snaked round and round the square.
My final destination was the Golden chapel at Saint Ursula's. It may have been my favourite of the trip - although I worry how much I enjoy seeing old bones. It is a beautiful chapel and reliquary decorated with bones theoretically from the martyred virgins although really from the Roman bones found when expanding the city.
Ursula apparently was a Cornish princess who went on Pilgrimage with 10,000 virgins to avoid a heathen marriage. She was and her companions were behaeded in Cologne by the huns with Ursula herself turning down the hand of Atilla leading to her being shot by an arrow. All of this is open to interpretation and errors in translation but the mix of references blows my mind.
