In this post I talk about the pedal back from Unisee parkrun in Bremen to Hoek van Holland where we caught the ferry back to the UK. It describes six days of cycling, covering 319 miles.
You can read about the previous week when we pedalled from Den Haag to Bremen in my Pedal to Unisee parkrun blogs Part 1 and Part 2.
Day 1: Bremen to Steinfeld
After I’d walked back from parkrun and had a quick shower, we were on our way. We retraced our tyre tracks from the day before to cycle back through Bremen city centre. When we hit the waterfront we had to get off and push for a while because there was some kind of market/car boot sale going on. It was very hot and crowded!
Once we’d crossed the river we stopped at a bakery for breakfast and not long after setting off again we hit a path closure. We had a quick look at Google Maps and thought if we cut through a business park we could meet the path again further down. Which was true…but we found we were still in the closed section at that point and whilst we could get a few hundred metres down the path, we were then stuck again behind a big metal fence. A local man had tried to do the same as us, and in the end we all concluded we’d have to go back and take a long diversion!
After re-joining the route, we soon found a Lidl just outside Stuhr for a quick snack re-supply. Then we hit the woods and the first hills of our trip.
We found a picnic bench under some trees so we stopped for something to eat. We’d been there about 10 minutes when a big group of older people rocked up, hopped off their e-bikes with multiple bottles of wine and beer, and descended on our spot!
We carried on cycling through pretty woodlands and fields.
It was incredibly hot. We stopped for a rest and a snack stop on a bench 32 miles in, having not seen anywhere to re-supply our water for the last couple of hours. Four miles down the road, I spotted a group of adults having a bit of a party in their garden. We pulled up to their gate and asked if they wouldn’t mind filling up our bottles. They very kindly obliged and insisted on filling them with carbonated water from glass bottles even though I was trying to mime that tap water would be just fine! Very kind of them.
A little while later we finally came across the Joba Beach Club on the edge of Goldenstedt. We were getting a bit desperate for lunch. It was about 4pm and we’d only had sweets and peanuts since breakfast. So we paid €3 each to get in and then bought overpriced chips (and Ian had a burger but there was no veggie option) from some rather unfriendly staff.
Almost immediately after we left we passed another two or three cafes in the town – whoops!
I’d checked Google Maps at the beach club and it said it was about 20 miles to our hotel. 10 miles of riding along our route later and I checked again…it still said 20 miles!!
It seemed to take forever to reach our hotel. I knew it was “near Steinfeld” and when we reached the town we saw a sign for it. From there it was another couple of miles, almost all uphill.
We arrived at the Hotel Bergmark at about 8.30pm, absolutely knackered. After setting off at 11am we’d cycled 71.3 miles in the hot sunshine, encountered our first hills, and nearly died of thirst and starvation (well, maybe not quite…). I was definitely beginning to get an achy bum by this point in the trip.
It was a conference hotel (the only accommodation I could find in the area). The receptionist was incredibly helpful and told us they’d keep the buffet open for us until after we’d had chance to shower. She let us bring our bikes inside and put them in an unused meeting room.
Day 2: Steinfeld to Münster
It was another glorious sunny morning. After finishing yesterday very tired, we decided to change our approach today. Instead of following the GPX route I’d downloaded before we left England, Ian put our destination into Komoot and generated a new route, which cut off about 20 miles.
We set off along quiet country lanes and cycled past fields full of what looked like mud bricks. We couldn’t work out if they were part of the agricultural practices or whether they were going to be removed. A group of German cyclists seemed equally perplexed and one man even ventured into the field to bring one back for his friends to inspect. Answers on a postcard, please!
A pretty hut at the roadside felt like too nice an opportunity to miss, so we stopped off for a quick rest. A man on an e-bike stopped, pulled a drinks holder out of a hole in the ground, loaded it up with about 20 beers out of a box on the back of his bike, and put it back in the ground. A novel system!
We passed through some more pretty villages and crossed the Osnabrück canal.
The fear of not finding anywhere for lunch was still with us from yesterday, and we made another mistake! This time we stopped at the first place we found which was definitely too posh for us! It was Zur alten Eversburg on the northern edge of Osnabrück. It was a very pretty setting but the food took ages to arrive and the waitress asked us to move our water bottles off the table and onto the floor.
We pressed on through Osnabrück and out the other side where we hit a couple of big hills. In between the hills, Ian stopped for a loo stop. I took the opportunity to get a snack out of one of his panniers and discovered that one our little sachets of UHT milk had leaked all over. Luckily it was contained within a dry bag so hadn’t contaminated any of his clothes, but we had to do a bit of a clean-up operation before we could get on our way again.
The final hill meant cycling on a main road, something we’d not had to do until now. This was a consequence of our decision to deviate from the recognised cycle route today. On our way into town we had to dodge a stag do congregating on the path.
When we got to Münster, we cycled through a lovely park and had a look at the Cathedral before finding our hotel.
With our revised route, we’d cycled almost 58 hilly miles today.
After checking in at the Hotel Martinihof we had a wander around the town and found a nice cosy pub, the Köpi Stuben, for dinner.
Day 3: Münster to Vreden
We took the Komoot approach again today. Before we could set off, we had to deal with another leakage in Ian’s bag – this time the chain lube we’d bought a few days earlier.
We cycled through the Promenade – a car-free green belt around Münster city centre – and stopped to admire the rather unusual statues!
As we left town we were met with an almighty headwind that was to be our constant companion all day. It made for very slow going.
About 8 miles in we were treated to a short rain shower and opted to shelter under the verandah of someone’s outbuildings. Thankfully they either didn’t notice or didn’t mind.
We stopped at a supermarket with a café in Darfeld (after about 18 miles) for a sandwich and to stock up on supplies.
Then we pushed onto Legden where we stopped at bakery. I popped into a pharmacy to get some cream to soothe all our bites. We seemed to get bitten a lot while cycling, probably as we were still out at dusk a lot of the time.
Later on, when we were cycling along under some trees, Ian got pooped on by a bird.
Apart from a steep, gravelly hill, most of today’s cycle paths were nice smooth tarmac.
By the time we arrived at the Hotel Meyerink in Vreden we definitely felt like we’d cycled more than 41 miles. The headwind had been relentless!
The hotel had a garage around the back where we could lock our bikes up, although I don’t think the garage door actually got closed all night.
We had plenty of time to have a wander around the sights of Vreden, where it felt the weird statue trend continued.
They were setting up for some kind of event/festival in the main square. We found a really nice pizzeria for dinner and followed this up with an ice cream on the walk home.
Day 4: Vreden to Arnhem
Today we left Germany and re-entered the Netherlands! I was very excited at the prospect of seeing wild flamingos on the border.
The flamingos were at Zwillbrocker Venn which was only a few miles into our day. It’s home to the northernmost colony in the world.
Just after we crossed the border, we followed a lovely narrow path called “Otterpad”. I was hoping to add to our wildlife experiences and see some otters but it wasn’t to be.
We saw a sign for a café but it turned out to be an outbuilding in someone’s garden with drink making facilities, snacks and an honesty box.
It was very hot and sunny as we carried on. We came across a captive herd of red deer and there was a baby one that came right up to the fence to say hello.
Soon after this we watched two buzzards we think were trying to catch a hare.
We stopped at a café in Zelhem for lunch. I had a very unhealthy but delicious portion of posh cheesy chips.
About 4 miles on we stopped to have a look at the memorial to the Werkkamp de Wittebrink. This was first set up in 1937 as a camp for unemployed people from the west of the Netherlands. In WW2 it became a Jewish forced labour camp. After the liberation it became a German prisoner of war camp. The buildings were demolished after 1956 and the memorial was erected in 2014.
We stopped for an ice cream in the pretty town of Doesburg before beginning our approach to Arnhem. Going down a hill into the city, one of Ian’s spokes snapped.
We’d arrived a bit earlier than we’d told our B&B host we would, so we cycled down towards the city centre. We visited two bike shops which couldn’t help with the spoke issue then headed down the river to take a look at the John Frost Bridge.
The bridge is named after Major-General John Dutton Frost, who commanded the British forces that reached and defended a bridge on this site in September 1944 as part of Operation Market Garden. Unexpected German resistance (which we’d find out more about tomorrow) meant that only a small force of 740 men were able to reach the bridge. The German forces eventually overwhelmed Frost’s men, although they succeeded in holding the bridge for four days, twice as long as expected.
We cycled back up to our accommodation – Arnhem is definitely the hilliest Dutch city we encountered. On the way, Ian left me behind at a junction and I had no idea where I was going!
We’d cycled just under 52 miles, and it had certainly been easier than yesterday’s 41!
We stayed at the Antonius Bed and Breakfast, where we could store our bikes in the garage. Our host, Roland, recommended an Italian restaurant just down the street. It was really nice, and I had pizza for the second night in a row. The free limoncello was a nice bonus!
Day 5: Arnhem to Utrecht
We awoke to find an amazing breakfast had been delivered for us in the room adjoining our bedroom. There was so much food and we made up some sandwiches for our lunch.
When we were ready to leave we chatted for a while to Jayson, one of the hosts. I asked about why we’d seen so many bags hanging on flagpoles outside houses. Jayson said the students had just got their exam results. If they’d passed they’d hang their schoolbag outside to show it was no longer needed.
Our first stop was yet another bike shop but we still didn’t have any luck on the spoke front.
After about 9 miles, we stopped to have a look at the “Windows on the Past” landmark at Ginkelse Heide (Ginkel Heath). This was the site of the Market Garden landings in September 1944. Scottish forces had landed nearby the day before and were charged with defending the heath for the 4th Parachute Bridgade landings. German units attacked their positions around the heath which eventually proved too big for them to defend. The 2,000 paratroopers had expected a quiet landing but were met with a fierce attack. Despite this, 90% of them managed to land.
About 13 miles later, we stopped for our picnic in the grounds of Grebbelinie Bezoekercentrum (the Grebbe Line visitor centre). The Grebbe Line was a line of defence, first established in 1745, to protect the Netherlands from invading armies.
It was another incredibly hot day and we sat in the shade of a big tree to eat our sandwiches.
We carried on to Utrecht, stopping once more for a drink and cake. We arrived at the Hotel Mitland, on the edge of town, at around 4.30pm. This was our second shortest day of cycling on the trip.
The hotel had a secure lock-up where we could store our bikes. Ian had a nap and I went for a wander around the surrounding area before we had dinner in the hotel.
Day 6: Utrecht to Hoek van Holland
This was our final day of cycling and probably the hottest day of the trip.
We followed a large portion of our Pedal to Unisee parkrun Day 1 route in reverse today. Before leaving Utrecht, we cycled into the centre to take a look at the cathedral square and the university.
We got a bit lost/confused leaving the city, but we soon got ourselves right.
We cycled along the canal, through Woerden where we stopped for a cold drink, and onto Bodegraven where we had lunch in a café.
It was incredibly hot (I may have mentioned that…) so we had a few extra rest/shade stops to help ourselves cool down.
Our final proper stop of the day was in Delft. We had a drink and visited the market – a good spot to buy presents as we wouldn’t have to carry them far! Delft is a good option for somewhere to stay if you’re doing Zuiderpark parkrun, as you can get the tram into Den Haag.
Our navigation failed us soon after we left Delft. After following a sign for Hoek van Holland at some roadworks, we ended up completely in the wrong place and had to retrace our steps!
We finally reached Hoek van Holland after almost 58 miles.
We were too early to board the ferry so we nipped into town to have some dinner. Boarding at this side was a lot quicker than it had been in the UK and we were on the ferry by 7.30pm. We had a shower then headed to the bar to celebrate our trip!
Final thoughts
By the time we boarded the ferry, we’d:
- Been on the road for two weeks
- Cycled 780 miles (including three days of over 70 miles and one day of over 80)
- Completed my parkrun alphabet
I was immensely proud of what we’d achieved. Prior to this we’d only cycle toured in the UK and we’d only done two 5-day trips where we’d carried all our luggage. Cycling for 14 days in Europe and covering the distances we’d covered was a massive achievement for us.
We’d stayed in fairly nice hotels, so certainly hadn’t been roughing it, but the cycling had been enough of a challenge. The logistics of route planning and accommodation booking took more time than I’d anticipated but I quite enjoyed the process.
The cycle infrastructure in Holland and Germany was such a joy. I really hope the UK starts to follow their example soon!
We’ll definitely be back again, hopefully next year!
If you have any questions at all, please feel free to get in touch.
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