Day 50 – Haddorf (Germany) to Emst (Holland) Yipeeee

Day 50 – Haddorf (Germany) to Emst (Holland) Yipeeee

KM – 120

Avg – to be updated

Saddle Time – to be updated (about 6 hours)

Bout’ time the Bolt photo came out WOOHooooo

I normally type quick thoughts or events in my iphone to remember to blog later with and I wrote one today….’Don’t wake up in my tent anymore’ – HAH! I actually sleep right through every night now so I am getting used to my little home. Although my hammy is hurting and I nursed it 120km today which sounds like a lot to do with an injury but really, I am soft pedalling it and am glad it’s all downhill to where I am today. If I was in a hilly country/region I would have to rest it for a few days or more so I am happy I made it to my cousins place in The Netherlands and am going to do a few family things which will be great and sleep in HOUSES yay. I….I am looking forward to catching up with both sides of my family and also meet my sister who coincidentally travelled with her family from Australia to NL as well so it will be a BIGGER family reunion. So cool.

It’s great that my cousin has let me stay at his place and has been so awesome in helping me with everything and more and just being there at every turn – it helps so much. I can feel my body needs to rest for a bit and it’s perfect timing really. I lived in Holland for one year about 12 years ago and it really does feel like a second home to me. When I crossed the border from Germany to NL it felt like a close to home feeling and I can finally have proper conversation (in my broken dutch) but a conversation nonetheless. I can order and understand almost everything and it’s great.

Today was on and off rain and heavy winds and I pedalled slow but constant stopping in frequently for a coffee or a rest under a tree. What was weird was that the very first corner in NL I saw a small little farm that had wallabies in it – that was a real weird sight given that I just got into NL and it was the first thing I see from Australia hehehe.  Hitting the border of NL for me was kind of a milestone as it signifies a kind of half way mark and that is amazing – I am here from Australia, on my bicycle and pedalled through all these countries from Italy – such a great feeling. I was a bit overwhelmed actually when I pedalled through those 12 golden stars on the sign of NL – I had a smile you couldn’t wipe off my face for about an hour and I was pedalling with new excitement as I drew closer to ‘home’. I had all sorts of things going on in my mind –  feelings of excitement, happy and humbled to be here, missing my wife, friends and family, proud of myself, sore. Sometimes you just do what you need to on this holiday and you don’t think how hard or easy it is at times and sometimes the right thing, song, person, hill comes along and it reminds you of the enormity of it all – I had one of those moments today.

I tell you what though, when I was last in NL I really didn’t cycle much at all but navigation through the streets here is a breeze and has the number 1 in the world of bicycle roads and it’s almost like a whole network of roads, intersections, street lights just for bicycles. It’s amazing really – it takes a lot of navigation and guess work out of the equation. It is really nice to cycle here and there is nothing like it. Germany comes close but NL have it all under wraps here – I can’t wait to get on the bike and cycle through it properly. I’ll do so to visit a few people as well so that’s going to be great.  My blogs may be a bit boring for a couple days as i’ll just be doing home things like washing my clothes for the second time in 50 days ha ha ha. Tinkering with my bike and buying a few necessary things before visiting some family.

At about 10 k’s to go before I hit my cous place I heard a distinct revving of an R1 and I knew it was him. My cous (The Fez man) hopped on his bike to meet me (or just annoy me hehe) and we rode together to his place for the last 10 – that was cool.

So i’m sitting in a house now and really enjoying not having to do anything and just totally relax and reset.

Until tomorrow where you can see photos of ummm my clean clothes and Thor all sparkling.

Seeya then peeps.

The next few blogs will be boring (well more boring anyway he he) as I’ll just be plodding around house doing chores

Today’s Route

First sign in NL

**kisses sign**

WOOT WOOT

Wallaby at first turn in NL