Quite warm in the room, there's a fan but even so I take the blanket out of the sheet and use the sheet to sleep under. Alarm at seven, we put on our decent clothes and a mouth mask to go to breakfast downstairs. It's strange.. you can take the mouth mask off only when… Continue reading Deer!
Alarm at seven, we slept okay, not too hot in the room fortunately. We go down to the breakfast room, they have just switched back to the classic buffet system, but ask that you follow a one way tour throughout the area to avoid close contact with others, though there is no requirement to wear… Continue reading Sunny hills
Today is Sunday and tonight we are sleeping in Beckum. Up at seven, the usual weekend breakfast and afterwards we can start packing. We had a family BBQ in our patio yesterday, fortunately everybody helped clean up and the state of the house is not so bad, but we will have to tidy a bit,… Continue reading the first schnitzel
Only one more thing to do: cycle back to Münster, where we left our car more than eight days ago. First though I got to fix my front wheel, I noticed yesterday evening that it seemed wobbly and it looks like it's not properly fastened onto the wheel fork anymore. No problem as usual, just… Continue reading last day
A light breakfast and off we go around nine as usual. The sky is clear and it's pretty cold in the shadow, my odometer says it's 11° Celcius. Not quite cold enough for gloves, but I'm happy with the extra merino wool layer - I'm up to four layers and a scarf now. We're still… Continue reading more hilly than expected
We're ready to leave even earlier than before, but right as we want to sweep out of the castle courtyard Arne's luggage frame drops right off his bike. It seems it was being held on the bike with four screws, which have all come loose. No problem, we get the bags off, MacGyver it back… Continue reading deer
Nowhere to be today, we're just staying in Anholz. We still get up at seven though, this is so ingrained that we usually wake up before the alarm goes off. We have a copious breakfast and try to take it really slow, but even so we're done at half past eight. No problem, we pack… Continue reading a day off
So warm in the room, we left the windows wide open during the night and the shutters a bit open, so they let through a bit of cool air, but still not much improvement. We really must start remembering looking for hotels with airconditioning when travelling in the summer. Breakfast around seven in the big… Continue reading westwards
so tired, it's late, do not have enough energy to write a full post right now. today's highlights: the impressively large Schloss Bentheim water castle Haus Welbergen the many kilometers of bicycle tracks along old railroad routes Schloss Steinfurt the german buffet dinner statistics: Today's distance: 92.8 km - waaay more than planned time in… Continue reading brief
It's just too hot in the room under the roof, we both slept badly and wake up at 6.30 before the alarm goes off. During breakfast we check today's route: sights, lunch options, kilometers. We pack, put on 50 spf sun screen, get the bikes out of the locked garage and set off around nine,… Continue reading 82
Our last day! We're taking the ferry from Hull this evening and need to be there at five, so we get up at six. After a quick breakfast and an efficient exodus we drive south. I really still want to see the Firth of Forth bridge, a steel cantilever rail bridge of almost 130 years… Continue reading Homeward bound
It's still sunny! The car windows are frosted and there is a bit of fog early in the morning, but the sky is blue and cloudless. Still pretty cold, with just a little wind, really enjoyable weather. So far we've been really lucky with the weather.. We drive to the Falkirk Wheel, a 21st century… Continue reading Modern engineering and an old castle
Only one destination today, it's a big one so we're up early! After calculating the different transport options we've decided to take the car to the Ingliston P+R and then the tram to the city centre. It's advised to buy entry tickets for Edinburgh Castle up front since each ticket is for a specific timeslot,… Continue reading Edinburgh
Today is supposed to be the finest day of the week meteorologically and we've planned to do a small hike. Yesterday evening I used the website https://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/ to search for the best trail for our varied family group and used parameters like grade (meaning difficulty), ascent (meaning how many meters will you climb and descend)… Continue reading Highlands
Today we explore Stirling! We're a bit early, so we take it easy on the walk up to the castle. We walk around the old jail, get some information from the tourist office and then walk inside the castle just in time to follow one of the free guided tours. It's still pretty cold, maybe… Continue reading Stirling
This morning I make an effort and refuse to open my book until it's almost seven. We reserved a breakfast slot at eight fifteen, there is time to kill and I browse through the online documentation about the New Forest, trying to find the best walk to do this morning. In the end we follow… Continue reading lots of traffic
after a comfortable night's sleep in the air-conditioned hotel room and a breakfast on the rooftop terrace, we walk back to the car park with our luggage. it's a week day so there's quite some movement in town, even though all the shops are still closed at this hour of nine. in the spirit of… Continue reading Neue Deutsche Härte
we have a busy morning: I'm working until noon while Arne prepares the house for a two week absence. We had such a busy time the last days that we still have to pack when I get off from work. This however motivates us to pack quickly: usually we would dither and doubt about how… Continue reading on the road again
Important Note: I did not write this during the journey, but only in 2019 when adding the journal to the blog. After a leisurely breakfast we set out on the last leg of our trip home. We follow the Valley of the Seven Castles. The drive itself is charming: green fields and forests, blue skies,… Continue reading Mersch to home
Important Note: I did not write this during the journey, but only in 2019 when adding the journal to the blog. Today we drive to Luxembourgh, that's about 345 km so we have plenty of time to visit stuff on the way. We start with Kaysersberg, recently voted the prettiest village in France. We park… Continue reading Colmar to Mersch
Arne picked me up at the Avis office in Como the day before around 6 pm. We drove to the B&B La Villa and visited Como after a quick shower and hugging the local cat. In the morning, I have several texts and calls from family, wishing me a happy birth day. Hugging the cat… Continue reading Como to Altdorf
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