Last nights hotel was ok but not as nice as the others we have had so far so we didn't expect much of breakfast but infact it had the best spread we had seen so far. A great start to the day. As usual before leaving town we found a supermarket to buy picnic goodies for lunch and we were amused to see little parking signs for dogs outside, with hook ups to tie the lead to. Our path today was moving south eastwards. It was much more scenic today as we found some hills. It was up and down very gradually slopes and the downhills give some respite from pedalling. Continuous flat means no hills but it also means constant peddling. We were in and out of forests, farm land, pretty villages and small towns. ... read more

There was another lovely spread for breakfast and the 'gluten free bread', especially ordered in. We had a very leisurely morning washing, reading, doing puzzles and generally relaxing. On arriving at the hotel yesterday we saw a sculpture of a large figure similar to ones we had seen in Widenbrùck, on our way to Berlin. A leaflet picked up this morning explained they are the work of Christel Lechner, a renowned Sculptor, who specializes in larger than life every day people constructed from concrete. Apparently they are found in many German cities and other European cities too. The one across from the hotel is 'Anton, der Postbote'. Early afternoon we rode into Telgte itself for lunch. A round trip of 8 miles. Telgte is a very pretty little town famous for the annual Telgte Pilgrimage, the ... read more

Another day heading directly east. A day of great variety, through the Veluwe Forest, riding on the tops of dykes, quiet lanes and in and out of villages. Mainly through crops of maize, potatoes and orchards. There were some Dairy cattle and even belted galloways. Lots of fabulous horses too. We stopped at a restaurant at lunch time, essentially to use the toilets but decided to have a coffee as well. A rare treat. Living the high life on a low budget. This pushed lunch back to two o'clock but that meant we had more miles behind us and less to do. Always good psychologically. It was cloudy today and cooler but a much better temperature for cycling. We are heading west to east so the prevailing winds will help us. Mmm so why have we ... read more

After a rude awakening at 5.30 over the ship's tannoy it was breakfast and then preparations for leaving the ship and beginning our journey. We were off the ship for nine o'clock into glorious sunshine. Getting through immigration consisted of showing our passports at a small kiosk and out of the Terminal we went. Paul had plotted a route along the Oude Maas river, a distributary of the River Rhine. There are lots of cycle paths in the area but some take you right through the docks and we have done this for the first eighteen miles of a trip. Not the most scenic route. Our route was through the Biesbosch' National Park, a protected nature reserve and the largest freshwater tidal area in Europe with lots of wild willow tidal forests and creeks. There were ... read more

Nous sommes arrivés à destination. 1216 miles in total. Quite a grey morning with the odd burst of sunshine, but it was dry and not too windy. Our route was Hurst Green, Gallows Lane, Dinkley, Billington, Whalley, Mitton and home to a reception party from the neighbours and the house all trimmed up. Wonderful. The first six miles, of our virtual journey, are a series of challenging hairpin bends as we cross a series of ridges and drop into valleys so characteristic of the area. After that there are several long climbs with the names of local Tour de France cyclists seen on the roads. Finally its along a flat valley bottom and into Lourdes. Lourdes is known for the Sanctuaires Notre-Dame de Lourdes, a major Catholic pilgrimage site The contemporary importance of Lourdes dates from ... read more