Day 20 - Windmills and Tulips

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We had an enjoyable meal in Herentals, slept very well after our long day in the saddle and woke declaring we wouldn't be doing any more 100km days.
We had a leisurely breakfast at the hotel. It's hard not to overdo it when it's all laid out as a buffet but we rationalise the large intake against the energy we'll require for the days ride. Well, that's our story and we're sticking to it!
We were on the road just after 8:30am and our route took us straight back to the canal we rode along yesterday. The plan today is for 64kms and 40kms of that is along the canal. Riding along, we discuss if we'll get used to the canals/rivers and not be so impressed as we are now. I think we might get used to the sight of them, but it would be hard not to be continued to be impressed.
It's a pretty straight forward day, we stop for lunch just before leaving the canal. Back on the bikes we head into a small town and we stop at a bike shop. Jeff buys a phone mount so he'll be able to see the phone properly to navigate, but still hasn't bought a mirror for the bike. We also make the usual request whenever we stop at a bike shop to pump up our tyres. We haven't been knocked back yet.
As we exit the town, we exit Belgium as well, and enter country number four, the Netherlands, synonymous with windmills and tulips. There's a subtle change to the builds and houses from Belgium, but there's the same level of bike lanes everywhere. The town we ride through is picture perfect. It's streets are pristine, there's no litter, and the lawns are immaculate. We've also noticed a lot of older people out on bikes.
Our stop for the day is in Weert at the Hotel Munton. Our room is quite spacious and very comfortable. There's a restaurant down stairs which looks pretty good which we'll probably use tonight. No idea where we're heading to tomorrow yet, just that we have 2 days to ride to Cologne (110 to 120kms) and finally hit the Rhine and our next rest day.
Total travelled today was 69kms.
Total travelled so far is 1150kms.

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Photos

Bridge over the canal
This bridge took us away from the canal and on to the road that took us out of Belgium and into the Netherlands.

Found a windmill in the Netherlands
Didn't think I'd find one considering it's so far inland.

Comments

[Mike1234]

No mirror?
Jeff will need a mirror around the Netherlands, bikes everywhere.