Did I mention riding to Arnhem? The Hoge Veluwe Nat Park with the sand dunes? The 33 German cylo-tourists? The ride from Arnhem to Zutphen on to Deventer? There were hills!
Deventer was really cool. Good place to wind down. Chilled but not dead. It was funny seeing a red-light district in such a small town!
Camped by the Ijssel river across from town. Went to the cinema and saw War of the Worlds (english with Dutch subtitles) for 8euro. Camping there only cost 7.50euro for three nights! (he actually miscalculated: 1.25 x 3 does not = 3.25!). Nice, very basic campsite anyway with some friendly residents. Spent the money I saved camping on ice-cream treats from “Talamanis Ijs Salon”. They reckon they’ve been dealing in ice cream since 1892! Did ice-cream exist back then? Did freezing?!
Foud a nice telescopic fishing rod on the bridge. Normal hippy would’ve taken it. Touring hippy doesn’t have room so it was left there – doh!
Watched the tour in “Stads-stamcafe DE WAAGSCHAAL”. One of the locals shouted me a beer! Tried some other beers I’d never had before. Ate “Snee brood met gehaktbal” or was it “Zelf gemaakte gehaktbal”?? Basically an open hamburger minus some of the key Aussie ingredients. The Eiskoffie (Iced Coffee) here was awesome! Read some of my book in the sun and had a shitty kebab dinner from “Donerix” in the Brink. Washed it away with some ice-cream from Talamani. Vowed to avoid kebabs for a while.. and frites. Read some more by torchlight in the tent – the book was getting really interesting! No pillow is perhaps causing me some back pain?
Monday 18th:
The supermarkets were finally open today so no expensive cafe brekkie. “Rozijen Punten” (raison buns), “Yoghurtontbijt” (breakfast yoghurt – normal strawberry yoghurt with cereal grains added to it). To wash it down? “Returnity – Nutritional drink, coffee appeal”. Iced coffee with added vitamins or some shit? Apart from the caffeine, it also contains 7.2mg of “Nicotinamide”. Mmm.. sounds real nutritious that does..
Did quite a bit of riding here, like the 140k “adventure” to Zwolle and back and then to Apeldoorn and back (plus the first hour, which was spent lost), bonking (not the fun kind) at the 125k mark and getting lost again in my sugar-deprived, semi-deluded state. Found my way back with some help from locals. I was feeling awesome at 120k, thinking how fast I’d be with some speed work if I was training back home and then BAM! I went all vague and it felt like my muscles had disappeared from my body, leaving only pathetic tendons to try and haul me home. Lucky I had the sense to stop and turn back to look at the sign. The sign was no help, but the motorist I delayed was! Thanks!
Just a quick “fsck you” to the woman at Zwolle’s “Bakkerij Bart” who wouldn’t fill a bidon with frickin’ tap water. Sure, she doesn’t have to, but that’s still frickin’ tight! Oh, their coffee is totally shithouse too! I vowed to avoid this chain store in the future.
Saw a guy skiing on the road! He had what I assume are training skis – skis with wheels on ’em! I was impressed and he was obviously happy I was impressed. We shared “a moment” haha
Saw the aftermath of a scooter vs. bicycle accident on the bridge near “home”. Looked like both were okay, but cops were on the scene taking photos of a bent bike.
Although the LPG suggested riding along the river, I preferred the non-Ijssel route. I guess I like quiet, tree-lined paths.
“Huzaren Schotel” for dinner (mixed with tinned tuna) and “Boterkoek Los Bo”, an obviously very unhealthy “butter cake”.
Big thanks to the nearby bowling alley who’s “frontal toilet location” allowed me to take a dump without 1) having to ride back into town or 2) having to pay for the use of the loo! Ahh.. (that was a turd-related story for Anthony).