I am writing this in a bar at a canmpsite in Gigny-sur-soane, France. This is the first campsite in France that has had a computer. Unfortunately Diego's phone, despite having the ability to connect to wifi, does not let us write blog posts. I will do my best to recount our past few weeks.
Below are summaries of when and where we have stopped for the night:
6/24: Waterloo, Belgium- Thanks to our friend Axel and his mom's hospitality this was our first night sleeping in a bed with a roof over our head after a week of camping. We took the train into Brussels in the evening and Axel gave us an insiders tour of the city. I am always impressed by the history that oozes from European cities. The main square in Brussels, Le Gran Place, was definiteluy a highlight. Sitting on the cobblestones surrounded by castle-like buildings, fountains and the hum of human activity is surreal.
Waking up to the rain pattering on the roof was actually soothing. It was like we had beaten nature by having the ability to eat breakfast while perfectly dry, watching the rain through the window.
Axel helped us buy train tickets to Luxembourg city, and after squeezing our loaded bikes into the VERY small cargo car, we got to sit back and watch the scenery go by in a blur. It was so different from a train window than from perched on a bike seat. The only unfortunate part of the day was when diego realzied he had misplaced one fo his bike gloves, althoug in retrospect it turned out not to be a big deal after all.
6/25-26: Luxembourg City, Luxembourg
6/27: Volstroff, France
lake, hot, lost bike computer
6/28: Metz
tire pop
6/29: Jaulny
mpa of samwise
6/30: Mandres-Quatres-aux-Tours
7/1: Villey-le-Sec
river, velocycle
7/2-3: Charmes
7/4: Vittel
7/5: Bourbonne-les-Bains
7/6-7: Langres
pool
7/8: Selongey
7/9: Pontaille-Sur-Soane
7/10: St. Jean de Losne
7/11: Verdun-sur-Doubs
7/12-13: Gigny-sur-Soane: (by emma)
We got quite a late start to the day: hit the road around 4:30 pm. Our excuse for sticking aorund during the day was to complete the imparitive laundry-doing process. Luckily we entertained opurselves by using the obligatory campsite ping pong table(Emma 3 games, Diego 2), and swimming in the town pool next door. Diego brought his guitar, and when the lifeguard came over not to tell us to put it away, rather to prop it on his bare knees and serenade us (and the rest of the pool patrons) with a mediocre (though he got points for enthusiasm and pronunciation) of the Beetles song Michelle, My Belle. Gotta love pudgy, over-tanned, speedo-rocking, concerts.
As we were about to set off, the owners of the campsite told us (in an inappropriately gleeful tone) that ity was supposed to thunder, rain and hail in the evening and overnioght. We pedalled off anyways, and I felt like such a slacker leaving as three other sets of bike touring groups arrived.
Indeed, about 20 minutes after we started the thunder started rolling, and the rain quickly turned into hail. Thus far my helmet has been most useful protecting me from the hail rather than the road. We decide to take smaller roads rather than continue on the more directe route (a highway) that was seriously hazardous due to a small shoulder, tons of puddles and the spray from passing cars.
After about 10 km, Diego discovered the source of a strange flapping noise on my bike that we hadnt been able to figure out. Somehow part of my tire had ripped and every time the wheel roatated the hanging piece of tire slapped against the road. Luckily the tube was not damaged, so we kept going.
It was definitely the most rediculous of all the tempermental weather we have encountered on the trip. We were been hailed on at the same time we could fell the warmth of the sun, there was something that looked like a tornado cloud on one side of the road and a huge rainbow on the other. Throughout the ride we encountered lightening and thunder.
We finally arrived at the campground around 830pm. We set up under some trees, ate dinner, showered, and went to bed with the most rediculous ligthening flashing all over the sky. And of course, we woke up to the heaviest rainfall we have experienced on this trip, and maybe even some of the heaviest rain of experienced in my life. Ate breakfast in the bathroom to avoid the rain.
7/14: (about to leave Gigny Sur Soane). Although the rain was not conducive to biking, it gave us a good excuse to make use of this campgrounds impressive facilities. After a very wet and rather miserable morning, we reserved the jacuzzi and sauna for an hour and then wiled away our time playing pool and foos ball. Although Diego is definitely still the reigning bar games champ, I have definietly improved.
Today we woke up to a little patch of blue sky (!!!). We have to delay our start until the dryer finishes; the inside of our tent remained remarkably dry, but a lot of clothes were rain causalties. We plan to bike to Creches Sur Soane today (about 32 miles), and get to Leon either Saturday or Sunday.
Overall Gigny was a great success, which is good because it was the most expensive campsite so far (26 euro a night as compared to the average abour 15 euro/night).
TRAINING SCHEDULE
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Monday, July 11, 2011
Friday, June 24, 2011
campsite garden burger
Okay so its actuqlly Gerqrdsbergen but i can remember it this way. This post is being composed on a European keyboard that is messing up my typing so apologies in advance for typos. This campsite was not orginally on our route, but because it turned out to be 70 km from yesterdays campsite to Axels house in Waterloo, and we got rather a late start yesterday, mostly because we couldnt figure out the stupid payphone, we decide to stop here fro the night. It is about 25 miles from here to Axels house.
Yesterday was our first experience with hills. The first one came out of nowhere and was loooong. Guess we arent on the flat Dutch terrain anymore. In the middle of the ride several things seemed to go wrong at once: my front tire came loose, we couldnt find our turn, and it started raining torrentially. Luckily the rain didnt last long, we were able to modify our route and diego was able to tighten my tire.
Animals seem to have it in for us. during a stop on the side of the road yesterday a dog nearly peed on diego as he leaned over to adjust a pannier. Then this morning we woke up to discover that the bird ha decidedour tent was a toilet. That was a fun cleaning job...
More later!
Yesterday was our first experience with hills. The first one came out of nowhere and was loooong. Guess we arent on the flat Dutch terrain anymore. In the middle of the ride several things seemed to go wrong at once: my front tire came loose, we couldnt find our turn, and it started raining torrentially. Luckily the rain didnt last long, we were able to modify our route and diego was able to tighten my tire.
Animals seem to have it in for us. during a stop on the side of the road yesterday a dog nearly peed on diego as he leaned over to adjust a pannier. Then this morning we woke up to discover that the bird ha decidedour tent was a toilet. That was a fun cleaning job...
More later!
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Chillin in Brugge
We are currently in Brugge at Camping Memling, which meqns we had our first successful country border crossing! The scenery here is gorgeous; vast, open farm fields with crops or flowers or various fqrm animals. Taking in full breaths of these Belgian and Netherland-ian air is so incredibly satisfying. The air is not only fresh and invigorating, say, when biking several miles along a tributary that glints in the sun that passes through the large trees that outline the water; there is a sense of satisfaction in the present moment, a reflection of enjoying the pure adventure of this journey.
Maybe thats cheesy, but Ive never camped or biked this much, in a different country, the furthest Ive been from my family for the longest time. There is a strong sense of responsibility fostered within me as we push through the rain or incredible winds coming from the ocean. It is super epic, and I like that.
I need to figure out how to upload pictures from my phone, and find a non European keyboard. Til then, we are alive and about to check out Brugge!
Maybe thats cheesy, but Ive never camped or biked this much, in a different country, the furthest Ive been from my family for the longest time. There is a strong sense of responsibility fostered within me as we push through the rain or incredible winds coming from the ocean. It is super epic, and I like that.
I need to figure out how to upload pictures from my phone, and find a non European keyboard. Til then, we are alive and about to check out Brugge!
Monday, June 20, 2011
FINALLY SOME INTERNET!!
So much for internet cafes in every town...
We spent the night in Oudorp, a beach town on the south west coast of the netherlands. The last few days have not been ideal weather for biking. The wind/rain combined with the fact that our direction reading skills seem to be lacking (although I must say, the Dutch seem not to like to label their streets) has resulted in us being a day beheind schedule.
Yesterday was definitely the most satisfying day of biking despite a wet and windy start. We biked 40 km, our greatest milage yet. Today we are crossing betwen several Dutch islands (the bridges here are impressively long) and if all goes according to plan, we will cross into Belguium tomorrow.
We will have too get off to a late start today (1130ish am) because we had to wait until the reception office opened to get tokens to do laundry. After almost a week, an actual washing machine is sooo not an opportunity to pass up!
All in all we are well. Certainly every day is a learning experience. EVERYONE PRAY FOR SUN!
We spent the night in Oudorp, a beach town on the south west coast of the netherlands. The last few days have not been ideal weather for biking. The wind/rain combined with the fact that our direction reading skills seem to be lacking (although I must say, the Dutch seem not to like to label their streets) has resulted in us being a day beheind schedule.
Yesterday was definitely the most satisfying day of biking despite a wet and windy start. We biked 40 km, our greatest milage yet. Today we are crossing betwen several Dutch islands (the bridges here are impressively long) and if all goes according to plan, we will cross into Belguium tomorrow.
We will have too get off to a late start today (1130ish am) because we had to wait until the reception office opened to get tokens to do laundry. After almost a week, an actual washing machine is sooo not an opportunity to pass up!
All in all we are well. Certainly every day is a learning experience. EVERYONE PRAY FOR SUN!
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Luanch Day
Normally I find the sound of rain on the roof soothing. Not however when I wake up knowing that i will be biking 30 miles... breakfast now, leaving in an hour and minutes. More later!
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
post out in the city
Diego and I jsut returned from a self-guided trek. Our explorations were centered around the Rembrandt Square area, as that was the only place with a bank that would accept travellers checks in exchange for cash.
I think both the high and low points of the day were the result of our decision to rent bikes from the hotel ( we didnt ride ours for fear of bike thieves). Bikers in Amsterdam are AGGRESSIVE! A woman came up behind me, proceeded to sideswipe me and then curse me out for being a stupid Ameican tourist incapable of riding a bike. I'd like to see her bike 1200 miles in the next two months! Also, it seems that almost every possible pole or fence or rack with bike lock-up potential was taken. We ended up having to move someones bike away from a bench, lock ours to it and then lean the unlocked bike up against ours.
Despite the logistical hassles and ego (as well as arm) bruising associated with biking in Amsterdam, it was quite exhilirating to fly down the streets in a flock of other bikers while being flanked by trams, motorcycles, cars and drunk/stoned tourists. The bikes we rented were big and yellow wtih handlebars about as upright as handlebars can be. I had excellent posture. Diego reminded me not to get too used to the luxury of a crusing bike, we do after all start living on our drop bars tomorrow! (we managed to finish putting together my bike and visited a bike shop to purchase heavy duty kickstands hopefully capable of holding up our gear-laden bikes.
After finally finding the bank, we ate some lunch at a little cafe down a side street (Diego learned that there are in fact burgers in Europe, good ones as I understand it) and meandedered our way through the red light district. Diego asked me after about an hour where the red light distract was and I had to break the news that we were already in it...guess the prostitutes dont really flaunt what they got til the sun sets) Unfortunately, because of our rather late start to the sightseeing (bike assembly and bank seaching took til around four) we never made it into any culturally enriching museums (at least culturally enriching in the strictest sense of the phrase). We did however check out the sex museum (caters to crowd who stays out later). Diego was technically robbed by two old women who insisted that he had grabbed two euro of their change at the ticket counter. A completely false acusation, but as they were yelling at us in Dutch- disconcerting- we just gave them the two euro. The museum was large, but slightly repetitive. Genitalia only really comes in two forms after all. 5 floors of the same was too much.
All in all I really enjoyed the day in Amsterdam. It was very relaxed and much more fun to stumble across diffrent attractions rather than having the stress of trying to specifically find a place, or be holed up inside rather that strolling around taking in the sites.
Tonight should be an early night. Checkout is at 11am and then we will be off. Now that I have experienced the craziness of the Amsterdam biking scene I am a little concerned about maneuvering our fully loaded bikes through thh streets on the way out of the city. Hopefully neither of us gets run over (and lets be honest, if either of us did, it would be me).
Off to dinner and then bed.
I think both the high and low points of the day were the result of our decision to rent bikes from the hotel ( we didnt ride ours for fear of bike thieves). Bikers in Amsterdam are AGGRESSIVE! A woman came up behind me, proceeded to sideswipe me and then curse me out for being a stupid Ameican tourist incapable of riding a bike. I'd like to see her bike 1200 miles in the next two months! Also, it seems that almost every possible pole or fence or rack with bike lock-up potential was taken. We ended up having to move someones bike away from a bench, lock ours to it and then lean the unlocked bike up against ours.
Despite the logistical hassles and ego (as well as arm) bruising associated with biking in Amsterdam, it was quite exhilirating to fly down the streets in a flock of other bikers while being flanked by trams, motorcycles, cars and drunk/stoned tourists. The bikes we rented were big and yellow wtih handlebars about as upright as handlebars can be. I had excellent posture. Diego reminded me not to get too used to the luxury of a crusing bike, we do after all start living on our drop bars tomorrow! (we managed to finish putting together my bike and visited a bike shop to purchase heavy duty kickstands hopefully capable of holding up our gear-laden bikes.
After finally finding the bank, we ate some lunch at a little cafe down a side street (Diego learned that there are in fact burgers in Europe, good ones as I understand it) and meandedered our way through the red light district. Diego asked me after about an hour where the red light distract was and I had to break the news that we were already in it...guess the prostitutes dont really flaunt what they got til the sun sets) Unfortunately, because of our rather late start to the sightseeing (bike assembly and bank seaching took til around four) we never made it into any culturally enriching museums (at least culturally enriching in the strictest sense of the phrase). We did however check out the sex museum (caters to crowd who stays out later). Diego was technically robbed by two old women who insisted that he had grabbed two euro of their change at the ticket counter. A completely false acusation, but as they were yelling at us in Dutch- disconcerting- we just gave them the two euro. The museum was large, but slightly repetitive. Genitalia only really comes in two forms after all. 5 floors of the same was too much.
All in all I really enjoyed the day in Amsterdam. It was very relaxed and much more fun to stumble across diffrent attractions rather than having the stress of trying to specifically find a place, or be holed up inside rather that strolling around taking in the sites.
Tonight should be an early night. Checkout is at 11am and then we will be off. Now that I have experienced the craziness of the Amsterdam biking scene I am a little concerned about maneuvering our fully loaded bikes through thh streets on the way out of the city. Hopefully neither of us gets run over (and lets be honest, if either of us did, it would be me).
Off to dinner and then bed.
AMSTERDAM!
Well we made it across the pond. Only 1250 miles to go...
We arrived yesterday afternoon after two relatvieltyt smooth flights (layover in Spain, ironic huh?) The most stressful part of the day was the debacle of a last minute perscription pick-up fgor me at a pharmacy. I was at the airport waiting with our ungodly amount of cargo for early check-in to begin and so Diego, and Diego's mom & dad had to do the dirty wok (ie. trying to pick up the Rx for me). Apparently I am Jorge's daughter in law, Adriana herself and also Adriana's niece. Luckily it was all cleared up in the end. WHile all this was going on, I was having a lovely chat with a Bosnian woman also waiting to check bags.
Our original plan had been to try and a take a train to the hotel, but that was more realistic in theory than in practice. While the boxed bikes were not incredibly heavey, they were very bulky and combined wtuih the two suticases containg all of our supplies, figuring out how to get on a train and any walking involled would have been next to impossible. In the end we took a cab. Despite the price, 75 euro for 14 km, it was a good decision. Our taxi driver spoke English, but didnt really seem to understand it. He kept suggesting we go to bars and clubs, most likely a saavy business strategy, trying to get tourists drunk so they call taxis..
Our hotel (bicyclehotelamsterdam.com) definitly serves out purposes. It has the steepest stairs I have ever climbed and the room is quite small, but it's clean and the staff is very friendly. This morning we had a very carb-heavy breakfast (cereal and toast) provided by the hotel, the highlight of which were the numerous spreads available (Nutella, honey, various jams, peanut butter and ice cream jimmies??) They have a bike storage shed that we used yesterday as a makeshift workshop to put together Diego's bike. It was quite the process, seeing as neither of us have ever put a bike together before (handle bars, saddle, pedals, and both wheels were all disassembaled for the boxing process).
Before tackling the bike assembly yesterday we had lunch at a cafe near the hotel. Given that it was our first expereince with a dutch menu (and there was no english translation) it worked out pretty well. The only hitch in our lunch was the fact that from somewhere above us somebody (hopefully a kid and not a hitman) kept shining a little red laser beam on outr table. WE could not figure out where it was coming from. Slightly disconcerting but at least we werent sniped..
After taking a nap (neither of us slept on the planes) and setting up the bike, it was almost 11 pm and we had a diffocult time trying to find a place for dinner. We ended up at a bar that let us order food as ong as we ordered the same dish. We washed down our cheese cannolinis with of course some belgian brews (Heiniken). On our walk back to the hotel we stumbled across another bar that upon first encounter seemed to have live music playing. It was live music of a sort: some very bad a cappella sung by a guy from Las Vegas. Think a cross between a very stoned Carrot Top and Richard Simmons gone yoga instructor. ONLY in Amsterdam...If that guy could get a gig here, Diego would have no problem. (We have of course my clarinet, his travcl guitar and both of our voices. We figure if funds run low, perhaps we shall do some busking later in the trip..)
I am on the public computer at the hotel and there are people waiting, so more later!
We arrived yesterday afternoon after two relatvieltyt smooth flights (layover in Spain, ironic huh?) The most stressful part of the day was the debacle of a last minute perscription pick-up fgor me at a pharmacy. I was at the airport waiting with our ungodly amount of cargo for early check-in to begin and so Diego, and Diego's mom & dad had to do the dirty wok (ie. trying to pick up the Rx for me). Apparently I am Jorge's daughter in law, Adriana herself and also Adriana's niece. Luckily it was all cleared up in the end. WHile all this was going on, I was having a lovely chat with a Bosnian woman also waiting to check bags.
Our original plan had been to try and a take a train to the hotel, but that was more realistic in theory than in practice. While the boxed bikes were not incredibly heavey, they were very bulky and combined wtuih the two suticases containg all of our supplies, figuring out how to get on a train and any walking involled would have been next to impossible. In the end we took a cab. Despite the price, 75 euro for 14 km, it was a good decision. Our taxi driver spoke English, but didnt really seem to understand it. He kept suggesting we go to bars and clubs, most likely a saavy business strategy, trying to get tourists drunk so they call taxis..
Our hotel (bicyclehotelamsterdam.com) definitly serves out purposes. It has the steepest stairs I have ever climbed and the room is quite small, but it's clean and the staff is very friendly. This morning we had a very carb-heavy breakfast (cereal and toast) provided by the hotel, the highlight of which were the numerous spreads available (Nutella, honey, various jams, peanut butter and ice cream jimmies??) They have a bike storage shed that we used yesterday as a makeshift workshop to put together Diego's bike. It was quite the process, seeing as neither of us have ever put a bike together before (handle bars, saddle, pedals, and both wheels were all disassembaled for the boxing process).
Before tackling the bike assembly yesterday we had lunch at a cafe near the hotel. Given that it was our first expereince with a dutch menu (and there was no english translation) it worked out pretty well. The only hitch in our lunch was the fact that from somewhere above us somebody (hopefully a kid and not a hitman) kept shining a little red laser beam on outr table. WE could not figure out where it was coming from. Slightly disconcerting but at least we werent sniped..
After taking a nap (neither of us slept on the planes) and setting up the bike, it was almost 11 pm and we had a diffocult time trying to find a place for dinner. We ended up at a bar that let us order food as ong as we ordered the same dish. We washed down our cheese cannolinis with of course some belgian brews (Heiniken). On our walk back to the hotel we stumbled across another bar that upon first encounter seemed to have live music playing. It was live music of a sort: some very bad a cappella sung by a guy from Las Vegas. Think a cross between a very stoned Carrot Top and Richard Simmons gone yoga instructor. ONLY in Amsterdam...If that guy could get a gig here, Diego would have no problem. (We have of course my clarinet, his travcl guitar and both of our voices. We figure if funds run low, perhaps we shall do some busking later in the trip..)
I am on the public computer at the hotel and there are people waiting, so more later!
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