Wow, it has been almost a month since our last post..sorry to our loyal followers...we will have every day posted eventually, but for now an overview. After Scotland we made our way southward into England, caught a ferry (overnight) across to northern Holland and proceeded across using a northerly route. On the way we were hosted by some very interesting people. One day we spent cycling across a really long dike. Most of Holland would be underwater if it wasn’t for the dikes. History here is a very thick book. The north of Holland is called Frieland and they speak Friesh, which is alot like old English. In antiquity, the Frielanders moved over to the British islands..thus..the English language has roots with them. Many of them basically refuse to speak Dutch. The people we met at the campsites were delightfully friendly and very facile with English. The campsites here are all privately owned and lots of people who live in urban “flats” maintain a caravan from April to September in these places. There are tons of kids and fun stuff going on in them. People seem to kind of know some of their neighbors. It is an interesting paradigm. Bicycles are everywhere, even the bicycle path concrete is red, and we have our own stoplights with a little bike guy in red or green. The teenagers have figured out how to look cool and text while riding.
We decided to ease off a little more and take time to enjoy our destinations. Charlie is a great camp counselor. He has willingly let some of his hopes for this trip change as the realities of his campers became revealed. God bless him! Summertime in the northern Netherlands and Germany is cool at night and almost hot when the sun is out. They (generally) get lots of rain and everything looks lush and clean - even though they have had a relatively dry season this year. After traversing Holland into Northern Germany, we turned south and followed the course of the river Ems. This river is a major shipping route, with fabulous greenspaces and cycle trails along it. Small active towns have dotted this route. I have to admit the Irish have the Pub concept figgured out, though. We miss our pubs and our full pint sized beer glasses and locals with historian level knowledge of the areas. Another thing I have been educated on is the use of the smartphone. I have always used the PC for travel arrangements. I was completely retarded using the phone for this purpose. It is practically designed for this. Google maps is hooked up with the search engine. Groceries, campsites, parks all with reviews amazing and powerful tool...however the conventions are different, every phone has its own quirks. My travel companions are geniuses with theirs. I appreciate the education I have received. I must admit that I have been resistant to smartphone use in public, because of the negative impact on social discourse. It is a fact of life now, so I'm now down with it. I found a mapping application called Osmand which is a worldwide croudsourced offline thing. It has provided good bicycle routing, especially in Holland. Also, my friends in India turned me onto Whats App, which is a VOIP messaging and picture sharing app. It is great to keep in touch with the family when there is wifi available and the five hour time difference allows. We miss everybody and our pets (editor’s note: miss pets most, sorry everybody). We are currently back in Holland, near the German border. On the map, Germany bulges into Holland. That's where we are. Thanks, everybody for the beer money!
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The day began at the home of our warm-showers host, Gordon. We greatly enjoyed our previous evening over dinner with him. There is always joy in getting to know someone during travels, especially when there is a comfortable, friendly, and warm atmosphere through the visit. I think these feelings or 'vibes' exude out into these social situations and help build a relationship and a trust between the two parties. This combined with peoples inclination to help and meet others leads to awesome situations.
For us, it translated into someone trusting us completely and granting us to be apart of their home. We were able to leave our bikes for a day in his garage; this was very generous with the effect of granting us with wings for a 24 hour period - by way of tracks. We decided to get to our noonish train by foot in order to give us a feel of Glasgow. On the way to our train's station, Queens St, we stopped for tea, explored outdoor stores, and walked the streets. We made it to the station with plenty of time to spare. The upper tracks of the station were closed, so the lower tracks were incredibly busy. This bustle caused us to think our train would arrive at 12:19...unfortunately that is when it left...bye bye train. We all three were confused and missed it so we will blame them. Luckily, our tickets were valid for the day so we would be able to catch the evening train. Though we were all pretty aggravated from our mistake, it worked out for the best. The result was getting to go North West through the Scottish Highlands during a setting sun; beautiful. The views from the car windows were stunning. Got to see Ben Nevis during our approach to Fort William - none of us knew what we were looking at at that time. We arrived to a quiet, twilight Fort William and walked the streets on our way to the hostel. The town was very enjoyable in this setting. Soon settled in, we researched our activities for the next day learning a little more about Ben Nevis and reading of a steam train (The Jacobite) that would depart at 10:30. A plan for the morning was made! A Joint Effort -Skye and Charlie The Heads of Ayr is on the west coast of Scotland. It is a tourist spot. Lots of golf courses, amusement parks, etc. Still in pretty good shape, but the tourist industry suffered after 2006. We have heard time and again how harsh this was for them. We cruised leisurely through this cute beach town..Charlie and Skye stopped at a playground and frolicked like children. Leaving town, we mostly stuck to Scotland’s excellent trail system. It is based largely on a system of old narrow gauge railroads which became obsolete, so the tracks were replaced with smooth pavement...at least on the west of Scotland. Also we rode a lot on trails next to canals, which were not as good as the rail trails, probably because the underlying foundation was less heavy duty. We expected steep hill climbs in Scotland, but both of these types of trails meant that the grades were almost completely flat! Go figure. The way to Lochwinnock, however, was coastal roads and had steep climbs. When we arrived in town the local places were booked, so we went to the local pub..The Four Churches. ..they had live music, Irish versions of Bruce Springsteen ballads largely...and they helped hook us up to a farmhouse b&b. It was a mile out of town...straight up...there, once we recovered, we were delighted with a very happy welcoming host, twenty beautiful pregnant cows in the backyard, and an invitation to use their sitting room to watch a soccer match and eat our dinner of Skye wraps. The consequence of the climb was an astonishing view across the valley with the lake at the bottom. Completely pleasant. The gardener gave us a primer on “midges”..their version of the annoying biting fly. He gave us a bottle of “jungle juice”, with enough deet to kill small children or your dog.
Our hosts name was Mary. .she was jolly! After leaving her we rode down to town again and visited a bird and nature sanctuary. There was a wetland associated with the big lake . We did a nature hike and saw birds. Then on to Glasgow and another warm showers host. His name was Gordon and he lived on an upscale urban neighborhood. To get there we braved a mile long tunnel under a deep river...way down then way back up. I walked. Charlie’s aggressive style is in full flower on the urban environment...I am mostly terrified. He hits the cars (on purpose?) They don't hit him. We joined with a friendly cyclist, who helped us navigate to a grocery. We then went to Gordon’s, cooked a pasta meal for all of us. Had rousing conversations, and went to bed. I am an aggressive conversationalist, like Charlie is an aggressive cyclist. Poor Skye. We suffered more “punctures” on Charlie’s Continental Comfort tires. They are now patched, and will be replaced.. The punctures were caused by small red flintlike stones. Skye fixed the last one. Mark Belfast > Ballantrae, Scotland
- Ate breakfast - Went into Belfast - Mark went on the search for a new watch battery - Found lucozade (thanks for the new addiction - Lydia and Pete) - Got on the Ferry - Four levels (We stayed in the bar area for the ride - it had the view out the front) - WE MADE IT TO SCOTLAND! - Off the ship and a ride to the B&B - Then to a local pub for dinner, and the football/soccer game Ballantrae to Ayr - Rained a lot today - Stopped at a tea shop to find a campsite - Spent about two hours there - Rode to "Heads of Ayr" caravan park to set up - On the way there it started pouring, and it was quite cold -THE BEST PART OF THE RIDE: Electric Brae - A hill that appeared to be going up in elevation, but we were picking up speed without peddling. - Meaning for the name -----> - Brae: another name for hill - Electric: a new technology seem to be "associated with strange forces" - Spent time in the laundry room drying off - Set up tents - Went to the pub on site for football match - BED Day at Heads of Ayr - Woke up and the rain was still coming down - Decided to spend another night at this campsite - Lazed around in the tent all day - Mark made a pasta lunch/dinner - Watched game at the pub |