Well sportsfans, I write this in the rec room of a gorgeous little camping spot we found today - which means, yes, Mustang Sally is back (let's see how it all goes tonight)!
We had a magical day today with our t-shirts finally seeing the light of day, and tail winds giving us an enormous lift on our 45km ride. I'm a little dulled as I write by the glorious sunshine we've had, the wonderful scenery, and the fact we just came back from an after dinner walk where we saw a crane building his nest on top of the neighbour's chimney. But before I can talk too much more of our best day so far on the bike, I need to return to yesterday.
Yesterday.
Yesterday morning we left our little local hotel (where Mike wrote the last blog post from) in a light drizzle. We had 30km to get to Enkhuizen, a harbour town where we had to get the ferry over to Friesland, and of course it rained all the way. All the way. We arrived soaked through - but never fear, we were lucky enough to stumble on a few characters that lit us up - first the owner of a cafe that looked closed but he let us in because as he said, he couldn't leave us outside in the rain. So in we went, he had his record player going, so with a backdrop of the Eagles we drank hot drinks, and he even made us some pancakes (that weren't on the menu) - YUM YUM! We had someone else wander in with her bike helmut, and soaking wet, her name is Ana Maria, a 79 year old Swiss lady also waiting for the ferry because she's on her way to Friesland too with her electric bike and her tent to camp on one of the northern islands on her own FOR ONE MONTH! Now Ana Maria sat with us on the 1.5 hour ferry ride and told us about some of her adventures - she can hardly walk, but has no problem on the bike, and has very bad lungs, but still gets around Europe to camp with her trusty bike. Incredible. She used to go to Iceland to ride and camp until too many tourists turned up! She was fantastic. She was an inspiration. A legend.
So while all this chatting is going on, it's still raining outside - and the radar was telling us it should stop by the time we get to Stavoren, our destination. We were hopeful.
We shouldn't have been. It poured. Poured all the way to our campsite - 11km of it, dodging cows on the road (Friesland is farming country), and the winds off the sea. But all I could think of as I was clutching the handlebars was "what would Ana Maria do?", and of course the answer was, suck it up and enjoy it all! So, that's what I did. I enjoyed every mouthful and earful of rain - woohoo! That wave of elation didn't last all the way to the campground - but of course once we arrived, completely drenched, freezing, and for me a little surly, the rain stopped. And then miracle of miracles, once we found the campsite owners we discovered there was a trekking hut available WITH A HEATER! OMG, I nearly cried. We went for a walk across the road to watch the insane kite surfers and have a spot of early dinner, and by the time we got back our little gypsy wagon was ready for us - ah....the warmth - we could put all our shoes, socks, and clothes out to dry (and ourselves too) - bliss. Betty and VB the couple who owned the place were gems, looking after us with their big smiles and kindness. It really was a day of meeting characters who really helped us on our way.
We slept really well, had some brekkie, then on VB's recommendation a walk in the surrounding forrest before we took off on the bikes. And the day just got better and better. We rode off in sunshine, there were so many people out and about, and heaps on bikes. It's a long weekend here with a public holiday yesterday so everyone was in holiday mode. We stopped to get some supplies and off went our sloppy joes, and we happily cycled the day in 20 degree sun, and FANTASTIC TAIL WINDS! I just did a big sigh as I think back - blissful cycling day. Amazing scenery. Friendly people. And just one of those days where you can't believe your luck in life. It's now 8.45pm, the sun is still up, and I'm looking across green farming fields with birds twittering and four deer frolicking - it doesn't get much better than this.
Are they cranes or storks. Look to see if they’re carrying babies Ha Ha
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ReplyDeleteBrave, so brave, so adventurous. Love the smiles despite the rain.. looks like you're having fun and lots of yummy food. Love the gypsy caravan. Makes me very happy to see you both living the dream. xoxo look forward to the next report. xoxo
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