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.

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.

Today is the start of our last house sit before we travel off to Europe and two weddings. To start off our health and fitness we decided to go off for a bike ride.

The initial ride was going to be to the velodrome and back a nice easy start. Having reached the Velodrome Jo decides it won’t be far enough so decides that we should head off back along the way we came and then off then continue along the river ride as far as we can go.

Perhaps we should have planned this a little better.

Off we go returning to Cambridge and then cycling onto Lemmington and picking up the ‘River Ride’ again.

This section isn’t so much of a river ride more a boring ride along side a fast road. At least we don’t have to ride on the road.

Jo suggests that we turn round and head back at 11:00 to which I reply  ‘What time is it anyway is it 5 to 11?’

Jo on checking her watch confirms that indeed it is 10:55. So we turn round and head back home.

Here is the route taken on today’s ride.

Today’s ride entailed an hours drive from our house sitting location.

We wanted to ride some of the rail trail into Thames, having previously ridem both north and south out of Paeroa.
We picked on the old Kopiu bridge as our starting point. Unfortunately the old bridge is closed so we had to cycle over the new one instead.

Kopu bridge near Thames

The path is gravel to start off with passing between paddocks. It eventually turns to a concrete path running beside the main road for a spell.

The main track ends at the outskirts of Thames. We managed to find a sharred cycle/footpath. Well it was really a footpath but we decided to share it.

This path continued through Thames passing behind The Warehouse and Pac’n’Sav.

The path continue onto Ferugeson bay after passing some colourfull fences and paths

Colourfull fence in Thames

Going around in circles

After we had completed 10 kms the path ended so turned around and went back to the car.

And finally the route taken