Author Archives: mike

Quiet Sunday!!!

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Another Sunday is here and we have nothing planned.  Today will most likely end up like so many others ending with nothing done. 

Still in bed and Lynda has turned up to take Jean and Bryce to Auckland.

 Jo gets up to say hello and then pops her head around the door and tells me to get cracking as we have 5 minutes to have breakfast and a shower before we leave. Apparently we are going to Auckland to see Precilla the musical.

Not quite 5 minutes, but fairly close to it we are off and on our way.  Lynda will stop part way for a break and will wait for us.

We arrived at the meeting place and I lead the way to the Civic theatre. As we approach all the roads around the theatre are closed. Luckily Jo spots an entrance to the car park. I do a quick u-turn and with a shocked look on her face Lynda follows.

Jo and I rush round to the box office to see if there are any seats available.As usual we are organized(not) and don’t have any tickets. 

Unfortunately the girl at the box office doesn’t know us and gives us a choice of seats. After many umms and ahhs we finally make our choice. It ends up that we couldn’t have made a better selection. 

We end up sitting next to an American couple who arrived at midnight. They are telling their friends that they flew from Washington to Auckland just to see Precilla.

Itchen Way

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Today we have decided is the day for a longer walk. We have trialed the walk over the last few days and have managed to walk half way before turning back. In due respect we didin’t start the trial walks until the afternoon and we had already done our morning walks.

So it was up at the crack of dawn and on our way. Well I was up at 7:00 to feed the cats and chickens.

Eventually we were ready to leave at 9:00. Jo went to her wallet to get some money, just in case we needed a ride back, only to discover hat she was missing a credit card.

So after cancelling the card we eventually left at 9:30.

The walk is along footpaths travelling roughly along the course of the river Itchen and is part of the Itchen Way a 30 mile walk the length of the river.

The track also forms parts of several other track namely St Swithun’s Way a track from Winchester to Farnham. The Pilgrims Way and the Monach’s Way a 615 track taken by King Charles II after his defeat.

 

 

Monster Ride

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Today we have finally decided to go for a longer ride, we have been to the beach and turned right (North) several times now and have decided that we should turn left and head south.

We will go as far as we feel comfortable with before heading back.

The first thing we notice is that when cycling through the Netherlands you do need to take care of which way round you cycle. Anywhere near the North Sea it is always best to travel North or East. Travelling as we were today starting off travelling South / South Westerly we had a constant head wind. This didn’t really concern us as on the way back it would be assisting us.

We stopped at several locations on the way recognising hotels and landmarks we had visited a couple of years ago when cycling the North Sea Cycle Route. Jo pointing out the hotel that said it was full when we turned up at the door in our cycling gear. Not sure if it was full or that we weren’t dressed to their standards. Never mind that is all history now.

There were some places we hadn’t seen and we remembered that we were trying at one stage to get to Den Haag before it was too late and we therefore took the more direct route and didn’t always follow the coast.

The ride was very pleasant and as usual in Holland rather flat and although the total distance was only 40km not a huge amount we did turn around at Monster for our return trip.

 

Den Haag continued

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This week-end we are also looking after Jazz. He is having a sleep over with Jeep while his owners are off to Italy for a short break.

Today has been one of the few mornings that the sun has shone and we managed to get up and walk the dogs without getting rained on. As it remained sunny after we had eaten breakfast I decided that we should go for a bike ride.

We left the dogs home alone, well nearly they had Fuji looking after them, and headed off towards the dunes. Part of this ride we have done before, but then we were loaded down with panniers full of clothes, food and camping equipment.

The ride out was easy, up hills a breeze and the down hills going on forever. Then we turned around and hit a head wind which we had to endure all the way back. No wonder the ride out was so easy.

A walk to Den Haag

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Today we decided to take a walk into Den Haag seeing as it wasn’t raining.

On the way into town we saw a large park where tent and marquees were being set up. We stopped a woman and asked her if she knew what was going on, but she didn’t have a clue, only said that there was always something happening there.

We wandered over to take a closer look. In the middle was a jet fighter and there were a lot of military people working. Then we notice a large poster detailing the events for remembrance day on Saturday. So now we have something to do this week-end.

We then carried on into the Centrum while looking around we were still unable to find a post office, so my card for Eddie will have to wait.

Amsterdam – Veurne

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Day 10 Rostock – Bremen

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Rock was the way to Rostock might not be the stop of choice when going from Gryfino to Amsterdam but we didn’t want to get caught in Berlin traffic so Rostock was the way to go.

Heading towards the city centre last night we turned off at the first hotel we saw, well the first one that looked any good and had an enjoyable meal. We initially thought about walking into town but Jo’s leg was hurting too much so we soon turned back.

So today’s task is to get near to Amsterdam without going through any tunnels. After double and triple checking we eventually get a route sorted. We would head off towards Rastede about half way between Rostock and Amsterdam.

Unfortunately today is not a day we are going to reach our destination. The tomtom shows a delay on our route that seems to be increasing by the mile. Jo checks with google maps which calculates a new route. Not having checked the route for tunnels I decide to go with the Tomtom…… WRONG…… The Tomtom changes it’s mind several kms after the detour suggested by Google and now wants us to do a u turn as the road ahead is closed.

Getting off the motorway and finding a new route is too difficult for Tomtom so we revert to Google. The only problem being everyone else also seems to be diverting the same way, so progress is slow.

Our first attempt at finding a hotel is a failure as there is no one on reception and with the doors firmly locked we have to resume our search.

Re-joining the traffic our progress is slow and eventually we make it to a hotel just outside Bremen.

 

 

Day 9 – Bye Bye Poland

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We’re not sure what happened but we ended up booking breakfast with our room rate so while we relax and eat Paul and the others are off to find some breakfast for themselves.

As checkout isn’t until 12:00 we decide to have a walk around the town before leaving. Wandering aimlessly we manage to come across the town castle where we see a group of children in national costume.

We then caught up with Paul, Pam and Katherine in the local shopping mall, this is a complete waste of time for us as we can’t really carry any more stuff on our bikes even if we were inclined to go shopping.

We headed back to the hotel and checked out. Jo doesn’t trust the Garmin’s directions so we head off in the opposite direction. Eventually we find our way onto the port road going the wrong way. We continue on until we find a safe place to cross. If only we had trusted the Garmin we could have reached the train station at least 15 minutes earlier.

Our next problem is buying the tickets. The machine refuses to accept the Polish money Jo drew out yesterday and we have to resort to using the credit cards. Tickets in hand we now have to find the correct platform… Perhaps we should have learnt some Polish instead of Spanish. We end up having to use a lift to get us to the correct level then exit the station, traverse a road and then carry our bikes down a flight of stairs. Only to arrive on the correct platform 10 minutes after the train has left.

Although the train has space for bikes getting them on board is not the easiest task as they have to be lifted up 3 steep steps onto the train, and also 3 steep steps to get them off. After a 40 minute ride we are back in Gryfino. 3 1/2 hours in 40 minutes out…. sounding a bit like our taste of Spain a couple of years ago.

Now all we have to do is cycle the short distance back to the car. All is well until the final 100 mtrs an uphill to our destination. Jo changes down to low gearing and bang the chain set catches on the spokes of her wheel and is pulled apart, pins and gear wheels flying all over the place. Luckily she managed to get across the traffic before this happened. We will have to make some phone calls while in Amsterdam to get it repaired.

After loading the bikes onto the back of the car we head off towards Amsterdam our first stop Rostock.

Day 8 – Third day of wedding and start of the bike tour.

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Day three is the start of the parting of the ways.

John and Marlene are heading off to Paris and Jenny, Barry and Lynda are heading home departing Berlin.

Paul, Pam & Katherine along with Jo and I are attending the bbq at Kasia’s parents and then  Jo and I are starting our bike ride going to Szczecin.

We packed up from our hotel and drive to Kasia’s parents we were planning to leave the car, we hadn’t realised that this would add an extra 30km to the ride so arranged to leave the car back in Gryfino.

The late morning / early afternoon was lovely weather for cycling, blue sky and not too hot. After eating a light lunch and declining the local Vodka we said our good byes and drove back to Gryfino.

After setting up our bikes and testing them out (I had forgotten how heavy a loaded bike was) we headed off. I had read that the roads in Poland weren’t very good and after only a couple of kms I realised how bad they really were. Along with rough surface and potholes there were also cobbled streets, making progress rather slow.

Within about 30 minutes it started to rain and then the sky opened up with a terrific flash of lightening and crash of thunder immediately overhead. We managed to find some shelter and waited out the storm. Eventually the rain eased and we headed back out on the road, well pavement actually, as this was smoother than the road. This lasted about 10 minutes until the next downpour hit us. Luckily we found a bus stop to shelter at only to find that the passing trucks threw up great masses of water from the puddles that had formed in the ruts soaking us more than the rain.

The storm quickly passed and we were back on the road again still cycling on the pavements. Eventually we were forced back onto the road and I began to think that this was easier than pavement cycling. Keeping an eye on a car waiting to pull out as I passed I decided to stay on the road. I then heard a loud crash behind me. My first thoughts we fuck that car has just pulled out and knocked Jo off. I stop and look round Jo is sat on the pavement and her bike is laying in the road. I park my bike and rush back to her relieved that she hasn’t been hit by the car.

I make her sit for a while before attempting to get up, this is when she reveals that she tried to get back onto the pavement and failed to see a raised road stone. This had caused her to crash off, going over the handle bars. With a badly swollen leg Jo managed to get up and rest on the garden wall while I go and retrieved her bike.

After a short rest Jo manages to get back onto her bike and we set off again slowly.

As we get nearer to Szczecin we can see signs of the storm that had passed by earlier with large puddles filling the side of the road and in a couple of places the road is completely flooded forcing us to cycle along the middle of the road. As we are unsure of the state of the road surface below the water we are forced to go slowly hoping there aren’t too many pot holes.

We manage to contact Paul and he books us a room at the hotel where they are staying, at least we have a bed for the night, if we ever get there.

Eventually we arrive at Szczecin. What should have been an easy 2 hour ride turned out to be a very difficult 3 1/2 hours, forcing us to make the decision to abandon our Polish cycle ride and head for easier terrain.

Day 7 – The reception continues

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We managed to last the distance last night,  finally finishing at 4:00

Day 2 commences at 12:00 and we turn up with very few people about.   Things start to get going at about 1:00 and appears to be similar to last night.  Music,  food and vodka