Pedal for Charity's Blog
Andy: 19 July
Time is flying, as it seems are we! Went to Kiel in the morning which was very bland, just some creative cobbling and very little else to see. We had a Brockwurst for breakfast which was very tasty but seemed only to be a larger scale version of the beloved British banger in a much smaller roll, which led me to question the hype placed around the German sausage. Still, it gave us some fuel for the days cycling, which saw us reach Denmark at 9:30pm and slightly frantically, we finally found a beautiful private fishery that we were permitted to stay on for the night. We were only 5 minutes cycle from the harbor but we had already found the scenery to be quite pleasant.
I accidentally had a bit of an adventure today, one which the Mace was not impressed by. I was pedalling along with Jonny some distance ahead as has become customary for us. I somehow found myself on quite a large road. Oblivious to my whereabouts, I wondered why the Germans had had put so much effort into widening a minor road. Little did I know that I was in fact meandering down an autoroute/motorway. Still, the view was very pleasant as I crossed over the bridge, and the cars were courteous enough to leave me in my blissful state of ignorance as they sped past. Unbeknown to me, the Mace sped behind me, attempting to save me from the ever present danger that I was ever unaware of until he zoomed past me, like some great super hero with a potty mouth, screaming "what the **** are you doing?!?!?!?!?!." I continued to toddle on until we reached an exit, and whilst Mace was not happy with me for my error, not happy at all in fact, we soon put it behind us and saw the funny side of my little detour.
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Jonny: 18 July
Going through Kiel wasnīt so exciting. rather boring, but we did have a sausage hot dog thing, which Andy particularly enjoyed chewing on in front of the camera. Reached Puttgarden and took the ferry across to Denmark, why not? Had a bit of a scare, when Andy decided to miss a turn behind me and cycle along the autoroute for a couple of kilometres. I had to chase wildly after him, and annoyingly I fell and almost chopped off the end of my finger, as well as scratch up my bike, which didnīt help when I finally caught up with him and started shouting at him. The strange thing is, when I passed by him, he was smiling and listening to music, after having expressed his wishes to stay away from autoroutes! Anyway, we had a tender moment afterwards and apologized to each other. It was nice. At the end of the day arriving in Denmark at 21:30, we spent the night next to a fishing lake. 1,484 km Read and comment on this article
Andy: 18 July
Clocked another 100+ day today, and stayed just outside of Kiel. Stayed with Torsten, an absolute bachelor....we had beer, showers and used the internet for a bit.....once again the two beers had their effect and we were asleep very quickly indeed!
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Jonny: July 17
Camping within 15 km of Kiel, and hopefully will make it to Puttgarden tomorrow in order to take the ferry to Denmark the next day possibly. Camping in the garden of this nice guy who let us use his Internet and have some beers with him. We ended up watching several trailers with him (batman) as well as a few videos of the Wombats, whom Andy is very keen on, strangely. 1,375 km
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Andy: 17 July
Another big day, with many more ups and downs, both literally and because of the changing weather. We stopped at what looked like a very nice family home but to our pleasant surprise it was opened by a set of female students....JOY! They were English too, which was awesome. Rather than acting like the proverbial foxes in the chicken coop and dazzling them with our wit and charm...we instead enjoyed some english tea with them and chatted about english things for most of the night, despite Jonny's attempt to derail the flow of things by suddenly exclaiming in an over-excited way, "I saw a weasel today!" in the middle of a conversation about music. His spontaneous verbal regurgitation was immediately followed by an awkward silence amongst our hosts who tried to remain polite in spite of the Mace's huge tumbleweed moment. I was thoroughly amused. Many thanks to Kelly and co for making us feel at home.
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Andy: 16 July
A long tough day today, and my legs began to creak once again as the terrain got hilly. We managed 117km which was good news after such exhausting cycling. Bremen was a pleasant surprise of a city with very nice buildings everywhere and it became surprisingly rural very quickly. We stayed on a dairy farm, or a field just outside it, and the journey from the farm to the field proved the highlight of the day, as the farmer, a lady we had met on our way, Jonny and I all cycled to a nearby field whilst one of the daughters sped along on a unicycle and two dogs made chase. We must have looked akin to some agricultural Von Trappe family but alas we did not manage to capture the spectacle. The next morning we had another very nice breakfast with the family and (just about) managed to hold down a conversation despite language differences.
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Jonny: 16th July
We were given a nice breakfast at the farm before leaving in the morning, although conversation was difficult as the language barrier was pretty solid. Cycled to Stade at the end of the day, which is North of Hamburg and put us in a good position to reach Kiel tomorrow and then go up further to Danmark. Camped the night in the garden of a student house close to Stade, where one German and four English University students were staying. It was nice and familiar to have a chat about home and small things. Felt almost like being back in Freshers week again. Strange. 1,265 km
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Jonny: 15 July
Overcast weather makes it enjoyable riding, being neither wet nor cold nor too hot temperature. Completed the trip all the way to Bremen with some time to spare. Quite a beautiful city, shame we didnīt have a guidebook which told us where to go, but weight is key for this trip on us as well as on the bikes. I noticed also that Germans donīt seem as outwardly friendly to us, maybe because we smell or speak English without any faintest idea of what we are being told. Camping on a field owned by a farm and used by dairy cows close to a small stream. Nice environment. 1,167 km
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Andy: July 15
Two weeks down, many many more to go! We stayed on a lower league football team's ground today although not quite on any of the pitches. I am already perturbed by how little the Germans smile. ...it is quite a stark contrast from the Dutch who all seem to smile all the time. I look silly because I smile all the time at passing cyclists and walkers as I became accustomed to in Holland.....but I'm unsure how the Germans show when they are actually upset or angry when they grimace al the time anyway......
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Jonny: 14 July
Ended the day camping on a football ground in Germany, close to Leer as well as reaching the 100 km mark, bringing our total to 1,050 km. Very tired. 1,050 km
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Andy: 14 July
Epic day. We cycled from 10:30 until 6;30 without more than 3 minutes break here and there...but with all the shops shut there was little point in stopping, especially once the rain began to pour in the afternoon. Had crash number 2, a pretty good one in fact.
With my turning circle being of a similar size to an HGV, I managed to nudge into Jonny on a corner and bounce over my bike and skid along a little way. Fortunately the Mace was not brought down by my error and I was surprised to learn that I had manage to remain unhurt, as had my bike. We stopped in Groningen, Jonny found a great little (guess what?!) Italian restaurant and we had a big dinner that really hit the spot.
We really hit the jackpot in terms of where we ended up staying. Jan and Monique own a dressage stables. We were lucky enough to stay in their separate apartment for potential horse buyers, meaning we got a shower, kitchen and toilet to ourselves and a delicious breakfast. Hoorah! Jonny, as always, made the animals his priority, going to play with all 10 horses, and I even ended up stroking these magnificent animals for quite some time.
Next we journey toward the old foe! Am quite looking forward to it actually....
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Jonny: 13 July
Good long day of cycling, reaching 110 km following the northern coast line and going through Groningen, where we treated ourselves to a pizza restaurant, after all the bread and cheese we had been eating. We ended up leaving Groningen quite late and finding a very friendly home who allowed us to stay in the small house they had just built next to the horse dressage stable they owned. Incredible to have a nights sleep in a bed after so long and having a shower and breakfast also. Thank you Monique and Jan. 960 km
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Andy: July 13
We cruised up the coast today which was very enjoyable and travelled some 20km over a bridge/damn which proved novel, even if our view of water either side was slightly obscured. I continue to battle the sun who seems intent on keeping me pink rather than brown, despite my continual application of sun creme. We stayed in the garden of a very nice coastal B&B, for free of course, and the young couple who ran it gave use of their washing machine which allowed s to clean some of our smelly clothes. We got another great breakfast and off we went once again!
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Jonny: 12 July
Good distance covered on the bike, with a stop-off in Harlingen, where a friendly waitress provided us with beer, internet, food and company at some times. Passed over the bridge during the day, which wasnīt really a bridge, more of a Dijk really (dam). Ended up camping in the garden of a bed n breakfast, where the friendly owners allowed us to use the washing machine. Nice to have clean clothes and a shower, I felt almost new again. 850 km
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Andy - 12 July
After a very wet morning we reached Amsterdam, which turned out to be as good as all the dutch people had suggested on the way. We found a very nice little bar/cafe and had some beers whilst watching the world go by. We toured a few of the sights, namely the red light district and the palace, but left feeling like there was much more to see than our timetable allowed. That evening our faith in dutch hospitality began to waiver as various individuals turned us away, but eventually a small campsite took us in and offered us a free place to sleep for the night. Phew. A man called Hank allowed us to stay on his designated patch (as a semi-permanent resident) and chatted to us about his dislike of Rupert Murdoch using an excellent array of English expletives for a person who did not have English as a first language.
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Jonny: 11th Jully
Amsterdam is a little overrated to be honest, nice city with nice buildings and canals, and quite cool red light district. Well, it may be because we passed through it without really knowing what to look at, although locals werenīt too helpful in guiding us anywhere special. Dutch people also werenīt very friendly, not letting us stay on these huge fields that they owned. Anyway, ended up at a camping site, staying for free and sharing a beer with a camper, which also allowed us to have a shower in the morning. 747.5 km
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Andy: 11 July
Had a great day cycling today. Picked up a knee support early on which has sorted that problem out. It was another wet day but this time with dry spells to keep us sane. We visited Gouda, but would have liked to have seen more cheese based attractions than we did. We then made our way to Rotterdam, which was okay...with magnificent bridges but an overall sense of disappointment with little to see/do as visitors. We headed on and enjoyed a nice evening of soft sunshine and cycling. We ended up staying on a golf course, or an area of land that joined a teeing off point of one of the holes. We went to sleep with the sound of frogs, horses and the nearby river but were woken by the sound of middle aged men getting frustrated at their inability to master the game...which was a good indication that it was time to make our way to Amsterdam!
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Jonny - 10th July
Nice breakfast from the greenhouse owners then passed through Gouda and made it to Rotterdam. The city was nice, not particularly awe-inspiring but very pleasant nonetheless. The day ended in sunshine and the night spent on a garden basically on the 12th hole of a golf course. Good form. 654.5 km
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Andy: 10 July
Really nice cycling today but the day was really really wet weather wise. We enjoyed being flanked by rows of windmills for sections of our journey along some good cycle routes. Soaked to the bone, we struck it lucky once again as we turned up in the early evening to ask for a place to stay. Our hosts for the night offered us a greenhouse to sleep in which allowed us to dry some of our gear, although much was still very damp in the morning. We were treated to a bottle of dutch heineken which is a far stronger affair than the exported stuff we see lining supermarket shelves. We were treated to a lovely breakfast which we nibbled as we enjoyed our view of the rivers that the greenhouse backed onto.
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Jonny - 9th July
Almost reached Gouda (the cheese city) after a terribly rainy day, completely soaked through, but left to stay in a greenhouse, where it was dry at least. 560.5 km
