Early start this morning. Woke up at 4AM and the English coast was already in sight. Within an hour we were docked at Harwich, but couldn’t disembark until 6.30. I was second off the ferry and soon heading out across the rolling Essex countryside towards Manningtree. I decided that was as quick as waiting for … More Last leg

After long, hearty and very tasty breakfast, I finally left the hotel around 11. There was no great hurry today, I’d around 70km to do and couldn’t check in for the ferry until 8pm. So the idea was to take it easy and take in a couple of sights. I was off, it was dry … More Here comes the sun .. (sometimes !)

So the final weekend of my tour begins. Today I was heading for Oudewater, just west of Utrecht and then on Sunday towards the Hook and a ferry home, maybe with a sightseeing detour thrown in if it’s dry and I’m not facing 35mph headwinds ! I decided to have a big breakfast, so as … More Almost done !

Today’s game was to see how close to the Dutch border I could get using DB trains. I bought myself a day rover ticket, which allowed use of any train in Germany until 0300 the next day, with the exception of Express trains. An early breakfast and I was ready to leave the hotel for … More Let the train take the strain

I’d always planned a rest day at Trier, with hindsight I might have been better building one in earlier in the trip, but there wasn’t really anywhere as interesting as here. I don’t think I realised how tired I was until after breakfast, when I got back to the room and just collapsed onto the … More and relax …

As my journey nears the Moselle and Rhine rivers, I’ve now had to install a new app on my phone. Poor weather over recent weeks has caused major flooding in Germany, with both the Rhine and Moselle affected. I’ve already read reports from other tourers of detours having to be made or plans changed, but … More Water, water everywhere

This morning was going to start with a lung busting climb out of Monschau, but before that the Brompton needed some TLC. A quick clean of the gears, but more importantly some oil. I’d noticed yesterday that the chain was very dry and a bit squeaky and it was actually rusty this morning. My oil … More What goes up …..

I always had the impression that Maastricht was a boring place full of faceless EU bureaucrats, but in fact it was vibrant, with lively crowed bars and restaurants. It wasn’t that vibrant when I rolled out at 9 in the morning though ! Everything was pretty deserted. I knew this was going to be a … More Monster day to Monschau

Thunderstorms overnight didn’t bode well for the day. The forecast was for heavy rain until around 9, so a leisurely breakfast was in order, not that I had that much choice as it didn’t start until 0800. By 9 the rain had indeed eased off to a light drizzle so off I went. Today wasn’t … More Bloody Cyclists !

The second or third day of a trip, I always seem to find quite hard. My mind and body haven’t quite got into a routine and the thought of another day in the saddle is quite hard. Today was the day for feeling blue. I planned an early start as I knew it would be … More A bit of a slog !

The day got off to a good start with a decent breakfast, Greek yoghurt and fruit, bacon& sausages, pancakes and maple syrup and pastries, all washed down with copious quantities of tea and water. Rather like a camel I was fuelling up just in case of shortages. The hotel got full marks for insisting on … More A better day

An unreasonably early alarm call heralded the start of the day. I wanted to make sure I could take full advantage of Premier Inn’s “all you can eat breakfast” before heading off to the ferry. Suitably stuffed I prepared myself for the day ahead. In this case that meant rainproofing myself and the bike as … More …and we’re off

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 … More Will he/won’t he ?