Day 34: To another campsite somewhere.

September 12, 2022

“Let’s enjoy the last few days,” Dea said this morning having read my blog from yesterday. And today would prove to be a very enjoyable day. It started with some good bike paths that took us onto a big bridge over the Waal, the first of two rivers we needed to cross.

There were a lot of orchards in this area - and you can even get your apples direct from a vending machine!

We planned to cross the second river using a pedestrian and bicycle ferry like yesterday that left from the small town of Batenburg. It was 17 km from our start point and we wanted to get close to it on the first cycle so that Kevin could be awake for the crossing. We made it to within two kilometres and stopped for a break just off the road next to a gate into a field.

“Isn’t it amazing how sitting by a gate to a field is so much more pleasant than sitting in a park in a town?”

We then cycled into Batenburg. We had been wondering if this was where Battenberg cake originated, even though it seemed unlikely given it was spelled differently and this was just a small Dutch village. But there must have been some history to the place as there was a big old ruin of a castle or something surrounded by a moat. But we didn’t have time to investigate, we needed to get to the ferry before Kevin fell asleep.

But when we got to the ferry we found it moored up. An information board confirmed that the last daily sailings of the season had been the day before. We were a day too late. It was the same schedule as the ferry we took the day before. I thought I had checked that’s this one was running, but evidently I hadn’t.

No matter, a quick check of the map showed that there was a bridge five kilometres away and it wouldn’t even add very much distance to our day as we would have been going that direction south of the river anyway. And the cycling there was very nice too.

We rode over our second big bridge of the day and then found our way back to quiet bike paths that took us into the forest where we took our second break. It was a really nice forest, such a great place to take a rest.

We saw far fewer protest flags today and even some flying the right way up. Maybe because there is less livestock farming and more fruits and veggies in this region.

Our campsite for the night is quite a big one but with a special area in the forest for bikers and hikers, of which we are the only ones. It’s great to have our own private spot away from all the caravans and holiday homes. It has been a good day, but now I am tired, so I will say goodnight.

Today's ride: 36 km (22 miles)
Total: 1,042 km (647 miles)

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