August 31, 2022
Day 22: To just north of Herzlake
There is a secret to keeping a beautiful lawn looking beautiful - sprinklers! This is how our hosts kept their lawn so lush, and I know this for a fact because they came on at 5:15 am and sprayed our tent and bikes on and off for the next hour and a half. Luckily Kevin was able to sleep through it, otherwise the long day we had planned to reach the next possible “one night tent” host would have been ruined. At seven Kevin was waking up and we hadn’t been sprayed for a while so I risked making a dash for the house, where our hosts were very apologetic that they had forgot to turn the sprinklers off this night. No harm done though, except we would be starting this morning sitting on very, very wet saddles.
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We were on our way just after nine and the first part of the first section of the day we had some really nice quiet roads where we made fast progress. It was lovely cycling but neither of us took any photos, so here is one of the second part of the first section:
We needed to ride 38 kilometres today which was pushing very close to the 40 kilometre limit we set ourselves, but the good roads meant we made it 15 kilometres in the first of our three planned sections. We took a break in the small town of Menslage on a patch of grass next to some buildings. We got a couple of funny looks but it was fine.
The second section was almost all on a quieter road away from the bike paths and progress was again therefore faster than usual. Our second break was really nice. There weren’t any small towns here, so we stopped by a river and spent the two hours in the forest instead. As usual Kevin seemed to love being in the nature and we all agreed it was one of the best places we had taken a break on the whole journey.
The final 10 kilometres went completely fine and cycling 38 kilometres had felt quite manageable. Kevin didn’t get upset at all and in fact it has been a long time since he got upset in the trailer. I’m aware that I am tempting fate here and that tomorrow is going to be awful as a result, but right now it feels like everything is coming together and clicking really well. We have our rhythm and Kevin knows it too, and it is working better than we ever could have hoped!
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Our hosts this night were a charismatic older couple - Jorn with his colorful rainbow spectacles and Birgit with green steaks in her hair. They have a big farmhouse with lots of space including a special fenced off area for us to camp in. It is really nice to have this space to ourselves; especially as they are animal lovers, as evidenced by the big paw print tattooed on Jorn’s left calf, and have four dogs and four cats. We were introduced to the dogs after we had settled in so that the dogs could give us a sniff and wouldn’t come and bark at us later. It was a bit scary holding Kevin as four dogs charged at us barking and jumping up, but they were okay after the initial excitement, and Kevin was as calm and laid back about it as always. We chatted a bit with Jorn and Birgit before they left us to enjoy the evening. They mentioned that their usual guests were gravel cyclists doing long distances each day and we were doing things a bit different. But we have enjoyed slowing down and taking our time and have met a lot more people than we ever did when we cycled this way much faster without a baby. And yet still we have made our steady progress across the map, and tomorrow will be our last night in Germany. Already we are looking forward to the Netherlands and a brand new country for Kevin.
Today's ride: 38 km (24 miles)
Total: 742 km (461 miles)
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