August 20, 2015
We are nearly in the Netherlands
Walked down town and had an absolutely lovely meal at the Greek Restaurant we found. It is obviously a huge hit with the locals as the place was packed and many of the tables booked. They seem to have an "all you can eat" buffet special and the clientele were doing their best to get value for money. Ken had a huge and delicious Greek Salad and I had a lovely vegetarian dish all washed down with a Klien Bier. The Hotel Zur Post is certainly extremely comfortable, our room had the most extraordinary brightly coloured decoration some of which I have shown in one of the photos.
Breakfast was at 6 so we were away by 7.30 when we find the travelling so much easier. Firstly we went through two small towns stopping at the second at a bakery to pick up our lunch time brotchen and have a cup of coffee. From here the route was dead straight and really rather boring for around 30km. On one side was the big Kusten Canal but we couldn't see it at all as it was hidden by trees and shrubs and on the other side scrubby looking waste land. I was however really enjoying the ride nothing felt an effort and we where whistling along, it was noisy as big trucks were in an almost continuos stream on the road beside us but we were safe on our perfectly smooth cycle way separated from all this.
Our stopping place for the night is at Dorphen. This is an absolutely unremarkable town of about 5000 and is close to the Dutch border and we have a room in a modest hotel above their restaurant, early tomorrow we will cross into the Netherlands.
Steve Miller has written a lot about German Breakfasts so I thought I too should say what my gold standard is. Firstly it concerns me not how many pots of jam are offered (although it does Ken). The fruit salad must be made entirely of fresh fruit and berries add bonus points. Ken is particularly fussy about the quality of the muesli. The brotchen must be warm and there should be a mixture of well seeded and unseeded ones with a serrated knife and wooden board beside them. There should be an impressive display of cheeses, cold cuts and raw vegetables, although I am unlikely to indulge in these much but they please my eye. However there should be smoked salmon, I always eat this. One of the most important requirements is the perfect 5 minute German boiled egg. I am very fussy about this particularly now I can reproduce it. It should be runny but not too runny. Of course there must be no packaged food of any sort including butter and sugar and of course the coffee should be just right and the hot water for the teas should be in a silver samovar. Germans do breakfasts well, I wonder how it will be in Holland
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Today's ride: 64 km (40 miles)
Total: 800 km (497 miles)
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