Despite leaving a couple of tour sized holes in my calender, I’ve been unable to get away. First of all a dental issue scuppered my trip to Köln, then right before a lovely 5 week gap between work jobs, I picked up a nasty chest infection, which even with consuming unhealthy amounts of antibiotics has proved quite stubborn.
I’ve had to console myself by thinking about all the places I can go once I’m recovered, whilst at the same time watching my window for doing so shrink before my eyes. Fortunately the generally poor weather has made the waiting a bit more bearable. I’m now getting close to crunch point though, with this week probably being the last chance of going and doing a fairly long tour.
So I decided to do a test pack/ride into central London today, with a view to going further if I felt ok. I was a bit wheezy at first and close to turning around, but made it ok to Central London. Rather than come back, I booked a train to Dover and a hotel by the ferry port.
One thing led to another, so I now have a booking tomorrow on the 1000 ferry to Dunkerque. I’ll try and find a hotel in France/ Belgium a shortish ride from the port, then decide what comes next. I’ve various scenarios buzzing around in my head, just going to take it as it comes. If I don‘t feel up to it, I’ll head back. One definite decision is not to camp, I think my body needs a decent warm and dry bed each night. Maybe do a camping trip in the summer.
P.S Love Premier Inns, so bike friendly. Ground floor room for me and the bike, with sea view !
Steady Pedals 
Hi Adrian.
I’m sorry to hear about your health issues and happy that you’re now hopefully on the mend. Just take it easy and don’t overdo it – make sure to go lightly in the beginning.
For my own part, my plans remain the same. I’ve got a ferry ticket out of Sweden and a train ticket across northern Germany to Arnhem booked since forever so in mid June I’ll hopefully be off and away. I’m still planning to do the round trip I scheduled two years ago, except that I’ll probably cut the bits past Rotterdam to Hook of Holland. The EV 15 and 19 routes share paths or go parallel to each other there so it would basically be four days out-and-back-again with lots of it pretty industrial (I think). I’m going to lop off the bits where EV 15 and 19 join up (at Woudrichem) and head east+south along the Maas from there.
I think you did some bits around Arnhem and maybe also the Biesbosch on your tour a while back. Any suggestions, must-sees or don’t-go-there tips you can share?
Hoping you’ll get back in full form quickly,
/Torsten