27 June 2014 (cloudy, warm, little bit of rain) 58 km

Today we said goodbye to a really nice couple and their great kids.

We had been told by Christine Goodin to go and stay with her son Bart and daughter-in-law Wendy, if we were in Holland in the Lochem area. As we have no strict course to follow, we thought we would, if it was okay with them. Made contact with them a couple of weeks ago, but our plans changed when we had to replace our computer and our friends from America were going to be in Amsterdam. Not wanting to mess them around we tried to keep them as up to date as we could and being the people they are, it was fine.

They went about their business as usual whilst we were there and when we could spend time together we did and enjoyed every minute, including a Dutch lesson from young Kate and receiving a friendship bracelet each from Jenny. It allowed us time to skype the kids at home and plan our route through Germany.

This morning, after Bart had gone to work, we rode with Wendy and the girls to school, as they wanted us to see it. Went in and saw Kate to her room, then back to the house for breakfast and a shower. Said a very slow and reluctant goodbye to Wendy and went into Lochem for a quick look at least.  We hadn’t even left the house yesterday as we were just so appreciative of those home comforts you usually take for granted…..a couch, endless coffee, free wifi and power points, washing machine, even the washing line and pegs where you could fit all your stuff, at once.  Bart and Wendy must have secretly been wondering, “Helsinki?  Don’t know about that.  Barely seen them move off the couch.”

Lochem

When we finally got into Lochem, it was a lovely little village and I wished I’d pushed myself into a little look around yesterday.  Took a few photos and posted a card to our Belgian friends Bram and Daphne who are getting married tomorrow before hitting the road for Goor. They were doing work on that road, which I think sent traffic another way, so we had it to ourselves, before following a canal path, then jumping back on the road again.  

On the way into Diepenheim, we passed through some sort of rabbit colony.  Rabbits are all over the place in Holland.  Our campground in Amsterdam was infested with them but no-one seemed to be worried about it.  This one particular area today also had a lot with one particularly fetching brown bunny that I had to take a photo of, much to Pete’s disgust.  “It’s a bloody rabbit – we’ve seen hundreds of them”.  We’ve also seen our fair share of castles, chateaux and just big, elegant houses, but we still photograph them.  

Diepenheim in particular seems to have a lot of castles in the area judging by the signs everywhere.  We were content to just photograph the ones on our path as we wanted to try and make some headway today, but it is a beautiful village in a lovely area.

Diepenheim has a castle trail where you can ride from castle to castle.

On we pedalled into Goor where they were preparing for a town party.  We asked a man what was the party about.  He said the town has one every year.  I said “You’ll have to have another one when Holland win the World Cup!”  The friendship bracelets Jenny made us are in Dutch colours so we’re ready to celebrate any more wins they may have.

Like a little oasis of loveliness

Another thing that is common in the Netherlands are little shrines at the entrances to villages.  If you've never seen these before, they are like miniature chapels with a statue or some sort of replica of Mary in them.  The ones in Holland (like most things here) are exceptionally well-made and decorative.  

Close up view of shrine - note the comfy seats

Incredibly practical too for two weary cyclists seeking shelter from the wind, rain and or sun, somewhere where the gas burner won't go out and a couple of nice comfy seats to sit on.  Yes we have been very tempted but have not succumbed to this temptation yet.

We came across the dot-to-dot system again and this lead us out of town where we found a park bench and had lunch.  Carried on through farm tracks with no traffic – it was brilliant.  Then we came to a forested area called Twickelar Vaart (I think) and it was really beautiful. 

Another tree-lined lane - never get sick of them

Enjoyed this traffic free ride for about half an hour but had to stop as we left to put on our coats as it had started to rain. 

It looked like we were in for a drenching, but after twenty minutes/ half an hour it stopped and we had the lovely light grey/blue cloud cover we’d had all day. At Abergen we pulled into a supermarket to get supplies for brekky and a munchie !  

Pete makes an ass out of himself

While we were there a couple went past walking two donkeys. A small staffy pup was being checked out by one of them and wasn’t quite sure what the hell this thing was. Pressed on toward Tubbergen and just out of town we spied the Hekke  Noa campground. It’s a small farm site laid out beautifully with individually hedged sites, lounge room with T.V. laundry, showers [ no charge ] and toilet block and even free wifi!  There’s even an old shed we can keep our bikes in to keep them dry.  It is the best camp we have stayed at and the cheapest, only EURO 10 per night. Others have ranged from EURO  13  - 24.50.

A peacock at our campground

So now we are settling in for the night.  We’ve already had showers and it is 8pm and our earliest set up, or at least our most organised. Tea is ready so all there is to say is that today we covered 58km and tomorrow is our push into Germany.