Day 5 : Into Germany

The sun rises here around 6.30am. Another cold night in the tent but once I’ve had some porridge and coffee and packed everything else up it takes until about 9.30am for the condensation to have mostly dried off the tent so I can pack it away.

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Tent in the morning sun

Once again the LF 4 national long distance cycle route took me across lots of unpaved roads, gravel and dried mud tracks. Other than during Summer you’d probably need a mountain bike for this section.

Lots more pretty scenery. I cycled through a nature reserve and past many fields growing sweet corn.

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Up at the lake

I popped into a supermarket mid-morning for some sustainance. Alas what I thought was a vanilla flavoured milk drink turned out to be custard..

Lunch was a bitterballen sausage on bread and some ham and cheese on bread.

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Pickled carrot on the side

Whilst crossing a bridge I cycled past two teenagers sitting on it on beach towels. When I’d crossed and looked back I saw them jumping in. Easily over 10m – impressive!

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8.5

By mid afternoon I’d reached the end of the route North of Enschede.

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I was keen to push on into Germany. I couldn’t find any campsites so found a discounted B&B and headed for that.

The undramatic crossing into Germany:

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Where did my cycle lane go?

The B&B in Ammeloe is modern and well-appointed. Bed looks comfy! View from my window is sweet corn to the horizon and it is called the star room because it has a view of the sky, which is nice. In the garden are some chickens which I am assured will provide me with a fresh egg in the morning.

At least now in Germany I have a fighting chance of the language basics from my GCSE of over 20 years ago, although almost everyone I talked to in The Netherlands spoke good English. I got some help from Google translate app by looking up ‘I’d like another drink please’ and the lady serving in the pub here in Ammeloe understood completely.

Lochem to Ammeloe via Enschede, 86 km. Total so far = 419 km.

3 thoughts on “Day 5 : Into Germany”

  1. I’ve done that in Holland – bought what I thought was chocolate milk, turned out to be chocolate pudding. It was DELICIOUS, though did get odd looks swigging it from the carton.

    Reply
  2. When backpacking in South America I bought what I thought was a carton of orange juice to have with some vodka at the hostel. Turned out it was Soy milk.

    I can confirm vodka and soy milk does not work.

    Keep up the good work James. Enjoying your updates!

    Reply

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