26 June 2014 (sunny and warm) 0 km

By the way everybody, before we start, thanks for all the positive comments.  Sorry we can’t always answer them.  Sometimes we don’t have time, sometimes we just can’t figure it out if the link back to your name is not straight forward enough (as with Marty and Deryn).  But we have just passed 3,000 page views and it’s nice to know people are enjoying the trip with us.

After our longest ride yet yesterday, it was great to sleep in a bed for the night. Wendy hadn’t got in from work after going to Rotterdam, until 12am and we’d sat talking until after 1am. Bart, Wendy and the girls are great and the talk flowed freely, even if Bart did forget occasionally and slipped back into speaking Dutch. They have a lovely family home in the town of Lochem, in the eastern part of Holland and you can tell right away that this is a very happy, loving family. They are extremely welcoming and the girls have been more than happy to have us there too. So thank you guys for the opportunity to rest and plan for the next six weeks.

Both Wendy and Bart had work today and the girls were at school, so Ju and I basically had the day to ourselves to organise and plan and catch up with e-mails and skype the kids.

Enjoyed a nice breakfast after farewelling the girls and then Wendy left as well. Washed the remains of the  breakfast dishes then decided to skype. Managed to speak to Brody and Gigi who were at Mum and Dads place. That was great and it’s really good to see everyone together and looking so good. Over the past few days I’ve had a bit of a blocked head { some would say I’ve always been a blockhead } and first thing in the morning I haven’t  felt the best. Riding without glasses has also been a problem for my eyes with bugs flying in. Some days though it’s not conducive to be wearing glasses and one eye in particular has been quite sore.   (Some people would also say I’ve always been a bit one-eyed).   Later, we reached Briana on skype and enjoyed  a chat with her in Wellington. Gave the bikes a wash since they haven’t been done since the Isle of Wight. Got rid of excess mud and oil and they were looking ready to go.

Family home for lunch and this time when they left, we did our washing which, with the sun and light breeze, dried in next to no time. When Wendy got home with the kids, I enjoyed a couple of hours with young Kate, who had a laugh trying to teach me Dutch. It was a lot of fun but the guttural sounds of some of the Dutch words are hard to pronounce.  Didn’t do any favours for my throat either!

Wendy prepared a lovely evening meal and we sat outside enjoying the end of the day, before Wendy shot out to organise a hen party with some friends, whilst we stayed in to watch some World Cup footy on tele. Julia had mapped out a course for us for tomorrow as we move into Germany for the first time, on our way to Denmark.