This is my first post of the cycling trip as I speak I’m typing this in a tent in the outskirts of Utrecht (with Nvim and Termux). I was worried that I was going to be too cold tonight so I’ve wrapped up with two jumpers.
Today we’ve disembarked from the ferry at the DFDS Amsterdam ferry terminal; cycled to Amsterdam and got a burger; got a coffee and a cake at Weesp; cycled to Utrecht along the Vecht canal.
We started the day out in Utrecht where we got a coffee, pastry and a spanakopita for the road.
Utrecht is bleeding lovely! It has a gothic cathedral (the Domkerk) which you can see above. The city centre consists of a series of canals which have two tiers, the street above the canal and the cellars below (near the water surface). These were traditionally used for storage in the middle ages and are now host cafés and bars.
I only got to day 02 before I gave up on writing the blog on the trip. I found it too much to cycle all day and then write up a blog. I’ve got some catching up to do.
We cheated a little bit, we cycled to the German border and then got a train from Kleve to Köln. In the morning we cycled along the Rijn/Rhine to the German border towards Kleve. We headed south through the city centre heading towards the Rhine. We used the Veerdinest Millingen - Pannerden ferry to cross the river, which brought us walking distance to Germany! There wasn’t a sign telling us that we entered Germany. All there was, was a sign in German.
We left Köln at about 10:30 in the morning heading towards Bonn. The aim of the day was to make it to the town Bad Hönnigen where we would be able to make Koblenz the next day. I felt sad leaving Köln; I really enjoyed the city and was warming to Kölsch in the end. I think there is something to be said about how sociable the drink made people.
We left Bad Hönnigen in the morning heading for Koblenz. Along the way we passed the first set of vineyards of the Rhine Valley. For me, this was going to be the most exciting part of the trip. I had always wanted to go and see the region with its many castles and vineyards.
We reached Koblenz at around 13:00 where we had lunch at a Syrian restaurant. I’ve never had the cuisine before, but it was a phenomenal experience. We both got ‘Syrian pizzas’ that consisted of spinach, cheese and walnuts. We found the restaurant when wandering through Koblenz’s industrial park.