Our trip is nearly finished, and we are starting to get excited about seeing family and friends at home, and also sad about not being on tour anymore. But we have had a lovely week with my dad, and managed to see quite alot of Dutch family, and my mum, as we have travelled through Belgium and Holland.

We started this week with a “day off”, and despite the threat of heavy rain, did a really nice ride round the hilly Ardennes, getting up to Belgium’s highest point (699m) and having an amazing lunch after getting quite cold and wet in a hailstorm.

But we left the gite the next day in the sun, heading over to Germany and with a long day that was pretty much all downhill. We kept crossing between Belgium, Germany and Holland, and ended up in Maastrict at a very nice airbnb. That evening we popped over the border to Belgium to get chips, pinda saus and an assortment of dutch fast food for dinner.

After a really big breakfast we went back into Belgium and headed to Turnhout. We had a long day but with the flat and nice weather it was OK. We stopped in Zundert to see the house my Oma grew up in, and I only got a little sunburnt.

After Zundert we doubled back on ourselves to Eindhoven, as my mum was visiting my second cousin, and we wanted to say hi. We had a lovely evening seeing family and cuddling Miro the dog.

We really upped our daily milage and speed, partly due to the flatness of Holland, but also to keep up with my dad. The weather got really nice, and we enjoyed some lovely beer and bitterbollen stops.

In order to visit somewhere we hadn’t been before, we cycled into Zeeland, and enjoyed some killer headwinds as well as lovely views, and a fantastic Chinese takeaway. We then headed north, cycling through a very busy rotterdam and to the beach in Schevening, competing our second europe coast to coast. We followed the well ridden path through the dunes to Katvijk for a beer on the beach before heading to a quite posh Pelican hotel for the night (Field family joke). It’s been ace having my dad with us, and doing more miles and nicer stops, but we can’t help getting sad that it’s very nearly over!

Jade

Jim’s words – Fens, Netherlands, Long, Miro, Statues, Windmills and Ribs.