Rheinberg to Langst-Kierst, Meersbusch Camping: Spending the day, riding in circles... - Exploring Holland, Germany and Denmark on a Recumbent Tandem - CycleBlaze
Rheinberg to Langst-Kierst, Meersbusch Camping: Spending the day, riding in circles...
Rheintor Hotel is a Bike and Bett hotel - much appreciated, as a hotel with this recommendation must provide covered locked storage for the bike. Despite the heat, we slept well thanks to a cool shower and a huge window that swung open horizontally German style. We happily would recommend this hotel.
Rather than following the suggested route, we cut across country to save some km. and to see more villages. The countryside was pretty with lovely homes and exquisite gardens. Budberg offered one of the things we love about Germany - a bakery with great baking and good, large cups of coffee. We shared a piece of poppyseed cake and 2 cups of cafe creme - the best coffee of the trip! As well, we found a great bike shop in this small town. We bought a couple of German made, Azub bags for the trunk and frame of the bike. Today was a day of much frustration as we found the signage for the route to be confusing and at times non existent. We found ourselves lost on more than one occasion and we reckon that by the end of the day we had added about 20 km to the day. The extreme heat wave of 36 plus degrees celcius continues - this area is very industrial and at one point we were trapped in a grid lock of freight trucks by the shipping port. We passed a "Chem Park", the home to production for Bayer and other international drug companies . Large pipes loomed overhead with cranes for loading product on to barges and freighters. This is definitely not the Eurovelo route! A low point of the day was being lost in the grotty and run down section of the city of Moers. It was so hot that we took refuge in an air conditioned gas station and bought some frozen fruit bars. The Bikeline routing and the signs were so incorrect, that at one time we had circled back on ourselves to a starting point. Not a good moment.... One street that was supposed to take us to the river and the campground, was completely torn up and covered in loose sand in preparation for the laying of cobbles. The workers (from Spain) encouraged us to come through and enthusiastically helped Barry to manhandle the bike through the sand. One of the men spoke to us in Spanish and was using his shovel to draw a map of where his home is in Spain. His positive energy reminded us of why we are here. The highlight of the day came when we arrived at the campground and saw a cluster of 4 recumbent bikes. Barry went over to investigate and met a family from Limburg, Germany who were on a tour. After comparing notes about our respective bikes, we spent much of the evening enjoying their company and talking about our common interests. The son, Justus, rides a Hase recumbent trike - a beautiful bike...comfort plus. He had spent a 2 week session at the Hase factory as part of his high school electives. The dad was riding his HP Velotechnic recumbent. All of their bikes were so interesting to see - at home, we can only see some of these on the internet or in magazines. We test rode some of their bikes - what fun. They told us about their home and its location on the Lahn River (off the Rhine, south of Koblenz). The Lahn R and Limburg sound quite special so we may take a detour to check out another region while we are here. Such a lovely and interesting family - we hope to see them again. The evening showed signs of a thunder storm - lightning, thunder and a sprinkling of rain. However, it wasn't enough to clear the air. Neither of us slept well as we were so hot in the tent. We're hoping that the weather breaks soon. Meerbusch Camping is set in a beautiful setting on the Rhine - but it seemed a expensive for what it provided. They had a bizarre system in which you had to pay 10 euros deposit for a key to the washroom/shower trailers (not the best facilities). We have stayed in places that provided more, but we got to meet some wonderful people here - so I guess that makes it worthwhile.
Abandoned factories - in contrast to the modern and imposing "Chem Park" a km back. A pharmaceuticals production area where Bayer is one of the main companies.
Having given up on the Bikeline map, we found a map at a bus stop which showed this street name as a possibility to get back to the river. We were not going to be put off by the construction.
Our Spanish friend, passionately telling us in Spanish/German about who he is and where he is from. At one point, he was using his spade to draw a map in the sand to show us his home in Spain.
We had a wonderful time meeting a family who also were passionate about recumbent bikes. Georg and Cora and their kids have a garage full of recumbent bikes. Sounds familiar. We talked about recumbents and bicycle touring well into the evening with mosquitoes buzzing around us.
