Ultrastefan

The highlight of today's Sunday round was undoubtedly the small town of Aschen bei Diepholz. Here, the residents celebrated the 800th anniversary of their village on the grounds of the local museum. Testimonials of the local history lovingly collected by the villagers are impressively presented here. (See photos) The big round around the moor led over Barnstorf, past Goldenstedt, as well as Vechta, through the Füchteler Wald, back home.

See - trip
To see if the water level in the Dümmer is still constant, and whether the construction activities at the "Marissa holiday park" progressed, the destination was again the Dümmersee. At the Lehmder dam I saw the first surprise and I could not believe my eyes: there, a couple of cranes, probably looking for food, stayed there in a harvested field, they did not even flee when I stopped to take pictures. Exceptional that. Due to strong winds prevailed on the lake called Dümmer brisk sailing and surfing. In Lembruch, on the eastern shore of the lake, on a former campsite, creates a holiday park based on Scandinavian model. 476 cottages and apartments are under construction, the first already occupied. The Nabu is skeptical whether the lake, after all, a nature reserve, the giant resort can handle. Another round of lakes through the Ochsenmoor to the west bank and then with tail wind homeward.

Back home!
 An eventful journey through two neighboring countries is over. Close up we experienced beautiful landscapes, crossed interesting cities, often drove along the river along rivers, and could admire original nature reserves. Fortunately, I recorded everything and captured it in pictures, so we can retrieve the many impressions of the tour when needed. Some places left a special impression, so I was very happy when I arrived in Schiedam at the place described in a book by Maarten`t Hart (God rides a bicycle) and which I had stored in my head. We missed out on a planned section on Zandvoort, Haarlem and Amsterdam, and at some point we had to admit that bike rides and city trips are incompatible, and wheeling your luggage makes it difficult to explore big cities. So we decided to visit the cities of Utrecht, Leiden and Gouda again sometime, then without a bike.

Back in Germany - very unspectacular we crossed a ditch and were in Germany, we would have missed the limit, if we had not oriented ourselves to the map.
We drove on the "Vechtdalroute", which leads from Zwolle to the spring in Darfeld NRW. If you want to experience nature, this route is highly recommended. Water-rich nature reserves alternate with forest and heathland, you drive through historic villages and interesting cities. Now we are in Meppen, sleeping today in a real bed, what a luxury after the many nights in the tent. And tomorrow the last leg will take us home.

From the province of Utrecht to the province of Overijssel we cycled today, and met many like-minded people along the way. The population here was in perfect weather on the Sunday Fietstour. Sporty road cyclists meet us here every day, on today's Sunday felt like everything had wheels on the way. Our neighbors are ahead of us in terms of getting around on two wheels, we can only learn from them.

Yesterday culture - today nature. Right from the start we crossed the beautiful dune area by the sea to Katwijk. The old university town Leiden has a lot of interesting things to offer and we will visit the city again later. A beautiful route along the "Oude Rhin", a tributary of the Rhine, offered nature and relaxation. A true bliss through this meadow landscape, crossed by rivers and canals, to kiss here to Soest. Tomorrow we fietsen continue on some known ways.

Rotterdam, Delft, The Hague, sonorous names and a nice tour. I hope you are good. A nice evening and a nice weekend with course good onward journey 😘👍. LG Jutta and Rainer 🚵♀️🌞👋

We have seen a lot of water today and we are now also quartering at the water, on the Lek, a tributary of the Rhine, near the picturesque windmills of Kinderdijk. Today's route was first through fertile marshes, vegetable fields and lush meadows in the change, all in the province of Brabant. Then the landscape was increasingly crossed by rivers, the Hollandsch Diep we crossed in a heavy downpour. Too bad it was nothing to take a picture of. Here in the province of South Holland, where the landscape is criss-crossed by many canals, where the many windmills provided for the drainage, draw instantly
Flocks of geese over our heads on the way to the night quarters.

In Bergen op Zoom, West Brabant, the Netherlands we landed today, on a nature campsite in the middle of meadows. Unlike yesterday, when we were struggling against stormy winds, coping with enormous uphills and humped over gravel passages on some forest roads, today we were flying northward with a tailwind. Worth mentioning is Mechelen with many listed buildings and the Beguinage. Antwerp, interesting, but too big and too crowded for a short visit .... and then you are glad to leave this bustling, big city and to move across the country through free nature.