Distance: 95.0 km
Ride time: 5:09:31
Average: 18.4 km/h
Max speed: 26.6 km/h
Total: 57193 km
After sharing a perfect rest day in charming Maastricht with Manon, our plan was to cycle the 95 km to her home town of Gemert. Interestingly enough, even though both these places are in The Netherlands, the shortest route goes through Belgium – as if there hasn’t been enough border crossings lately.
Being in Belgium we just had to have Belgian waffles for lunch – something I had forgot when I was there yesterday. This part of the country is Flemish speaking. Yesterday I had spent the morning in German speaking Belgium at the afternoon in Liege where they speak French. That’s three different regions with three languages in less than a day. Pretty impressive I would say.
After 40 km of very flat cycling we crossed into The Netherlands again – where, surprise, things continued to be very flat. Over the 95 kilometers of cycling we only climbed 12 vertical meters and thereby beating the previous record from Florida by lengths.
Another thing which made cycling in The Netherlands something special was the cycling paths. Not a single time did we have to ride on the road itself. Without any doubt or comparison the absolute best cycling conditions in the world – way to go Nederland!
We then made it to Gemert where it was time to “meet the family” and check out the surroundings including the castle, the windmill, and the open air museum where clogs where being made. Ladies and gentlemen, it doesn’t get any more Dutch than this 🙂
I enjoyed hearing Manon’s stories about growing up in Gemert, and though her dad who is a French teacher at the local school I was even invited over to do presentation – luckily in English.
We then took the train to the university city of Utrecht to visit Manon’s cousin. Once again the Dutch autumn weather didn’t disappoint as we enjoyed dinner at an outdoor café after a walk around town.
This had been such a great break, spending time with Manon and getting to know her places. Tomorrow she is getting on a flight to Colombia, and I will get on my bike and ride the final 1000 kilometers back to Denmark. Less than two weeks to go!
Thomas, it’s been a while since I commented on your blog posts, but I wanted to let you know that I never miss a word. I enjoy every single story and picture that you share. Thank you so much for sharing all these details with us!!!
– Scott KA9FOX
Hey Scott! Thanks for the nice words – good to know that you are still following along – only a few more days to go now… Greetings from Colombia!
12 metres gain, over 95km, must have been extremely tough work. 😉 Talk about as flat as a pancake!
Nice bike stories.
I would like to hear more.
Elisabeth
Thanks Elisabeth! Well, after six years on the road there should be plenty of dairies to read here on the the site 🙂