Day 31: To Lieren

September 9, 2022

We spent the morning in Deventer as our plans for returning to the road were modest - a little over 20 km - and our new hosts wouldn’t be home until 5 pm. But Kevin was being unusually fussy. The only way to keep him happy was to put him on my shoulders. So I put him on my shoulders.

But when we put him in the trailer to leave he was suddenly all happy again. The only conclusion to draw was that he was getting restless with our prolonged stay in one place and wanted to get back on the road.

But we were wondering how long we had stayed in Deventer because it felt completely different outside now. The sun had disappeared, the temperature had dropped a lot, and for the first time on the whole trip we had to worry about rain in the forecast.

At first glance you may think this to be a photo taking in 1990s Yugoslavia, but take a closer look and you will see me towing a trailer, and then you will remember you are reading a journal about us cycling through the Netherlands in 2022 and you will realize that there are a lot of farmers supporting the protests.

It was a tricky business trying to find a good place for our first break. We had turned off the highway and followed a canal for a while but there was nowhere good to stop, mostly because our requirements had to be extended to somewhere where we could handle rain. But no big public shelter arrived, and we ended up on a patch of grass between the canal and the road right next to a motorway.

Kevin was happy to be on the road again, as you can see!

It was not really a place to handle rain, and when some spots of rain started falling I quickly ran around and got the tent up and threw Kevin inside.

Hope you don’t mind being thrown inside, Kevin. It’s for your own good!

I was a bit nervous about what the Tent Police would say if they showed up. Wild camping in a tent is very illegal in the Netherlands, Jurgen had even said it would result in a criminal record, but I have no idea about wild break-taking in a tent. Luckily the Tent Police didn’t drive by and after our usual two hours we hit the road again. One hour later and we were nearing our hosts, but it was only just after four pm and so we stopped for another break in the village of Lieren. This time we stopped in a park next to the swings. We hadn’t been there long when a woman came with what I assume was her grandchild. She spoke to us and we had a friendly little chat about our bike trip, where we were from and stuff, and then she wished us well and turned back to the boy on the swings. But then she suddenly turned back to us and said, “the Queen is dead.” There wasn’t much to say to that except, “yes, yes she is. Very sad.” And the woman turned away again.

Then some spots of light rain began to fall again. Once more I risked getting a criminal record and put up the tent, Dea laughing at me a bit about it when the rain immediately stopped. She wasn’t laughing ten minutes later though, when some heavier rain started very suddenly. She was too busy diving inside and saying, “good call on the tent, Chris!”

The rain didn't last long and we were able to cycle the last two kilometres to our hosts in the dry. They were a most interesting couple, Krista and Michel. We had been a bit nervous about their online description that included the words “we eat vegetarian. Cyclists” and their house was also a bit spooky looking. But they turned out to be extremely friendly and nice people. The reason for the house was that it used to be the directors house of a tuberculosis sanatorium that was next door on the same grounds. They now live in it as anti-squatters. Anti-squatting is a program that is especially popular in the Netherlands where people pay a low rent to live in a building that could otherwise be an opportunity for squatters. Essentially they are there to stop people coming in and squatting, and in return they get a big old house to live in cheaply.

Ironically Krista and Michel had used to be squatters themselves, had met in a squat in fact, but said it was almost impossible to do now in the Netherlands. They have also founded a community, are keen cycle tourists and Krista used to be a member of parliament, so there was rather an interesting mix of conversations over the dinner table this evening. Once again our way of slow travel with Kevin has brought us to an interesting place!

Today's ride: 22 km (14 miles)
Total: 950 km (590 miles)

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