Category: Cycle Tours

Thursday 14 March After another really good night’s sleep I woke up to fresh snowfall. The roads were white, the gardens were white, the rooftops were white. That wasn’t in the forecast!! By the time I’d had breakfast and faffed about the sun was shining and Poppy and I went out for our morning constitutional… Continue reading Kempen 14 March – A railway journey on three wheels

What a beautiful morning! Helped by the fact I had a wonderful night’s sleep. This might be due to one of the features of this Ferienwohnung (holiday accommodation) proudly listed on their website: bedroom with new 7 zone-cold foam mattresses Or it might be just that I was incredibly tired! Anyway, I was woken by… Continue reading Kempen 13 March – a walk, a ride and a sing

Tuesday 12 March 2013. Having spent a week slowly packing and organising everything for my eight day holiday in Kempen in Germany (and traumatising the dog in the process), last night it was time for me to set off for Harwich to take the overnight ferry to the Netherlands. Of course, we had a mega… Continue reading Kempen 12 March – Force 9 To Kempen

Thursday 6 December 2012: A trip to a crater on Mars and a visit to a recumbent tricycle shop! Today was my last full day in Mönchengladbach and I had nothing at all on the schedule. The morning’s weather forecast looked very favourable – a good day for a cycle ride! I had previously noticed… Continue reading Mönchengladbach – a visit to Mars and a recumbent trike shop

Wednesday 5 December 2012: A ride from Mönchengladbach to Kempen, Hüls, Krefeld and then back to Mönchengladbach In yesterday’s blog I wrote about talking with Babs (who lives near Willich) about where would be a good place for me to live during my year in Germany. I had come to Mönchengladbach on this little trip… Continue reading Mönchengladbach – Kempen and Krefeld

Tuesday 4 December 2012: Windberg and Willich A half-circle around Mönchengladbach Today was my second day in Mönchengladbach and had the only fixed event in the whole holiday – a meeting with Babs from the Toytown Forum (for English speakers in Germany). She suggested that we met at 2:15 at the Landescafé Streithof which is… Continue reading Mönchengladbach – Windberg and Willich

I am in Mönchengladbach! Not for the first time, of course – I cycled from Venlo to the railway station in MG a couple of years ago on a cycle tour but you don’t get much of an impression of a town when running late for a train and pedalling as fast as you can!!… Continue reading Mönchengladbach – a snowy welcome

No cycling this morning, instead we took a boat trip from Koblenz to Boppard and back. First of all, though, we had to walk to Deutsches Eck. The long route involves going over the Balduinbrücke (bridge) but there’s a shorter option via  little passenger ferry, which James and I and Poppy took. 1€ each for… Continue reading Koblenz – a boat trip to Boppard

James and I decided to do a train-assisted cycle ride today to have a bit of variety and go a bit further. Having enjoyed our brief look up the Lahn river the other day we decided to take ourselves by train a fair way up the river and ride back. I looked at the map… Continue reading Koblenz – Nassau and the Lahn River

Today was another two-cycle-ride day. The first ride was a short one to the centre of Koblenz to take the dog to the vet for her worm treatment as part of the Pet Passport scheme. It was a nice morning and we got lots of amused looks from people as a dog went past in… Continue reading Koblenz – to Winningen and back by bike

Today I have done two cycle rides. The first, in the morning, was a repeat of yesterday morning’s Mosel trip, but this time with husband, in-laws and dog in tow. We had a very nice time and had lots of comments from people about Poppy in the bike basket. She had a bit of a… Continue reading Koblenz – Lahnstein and Castles

I am currently in Germany with my trike again! In fact, this holiday (with husband, dog and in-laws) isn’t particularly a cycling holiday, more of a holiday that might involve some cycling. And has indeed already involved some cycling. It was an interesting challenge getting four adults, their luggage, one dog, her luggage and one… Continue reading Koblenz – four bridges over the Mosel and Rhein

I am going back to England tomorrow so today was my last full day (and my last chance for a cycle ride) in Nettetal. In the morning I had the delight of an hour and a half’s video conference training thingie for work but was then able to take Poppy out to the supermarket to… Continue reading Nettetal – in Holland in search of poffertjes (Thursday 16 August 2012)

After a morning walk with the dog into Lobberich so I could visit an Apotheke and buy some mosquito bite cream (which they had) and some Brötchen for lunch from the supermarket, I had my lunch and did a bit more work and then it was time to take the trike out for a ride.… Continue reading Nettetal – Waffle in Kaldenkirchen (Wednesday 15 August 2012)

Today I had an appointment with a vet – for Poppy to have her tapeworm treatment that she needs to have as part of her Pet Passport. I had booked the appointment a few weeks ago and nearly had a disaster with timing (I had put the appointment in on my phone as 8:45am, which… Continue reading Nettetal – A very leisurely group ride (Tuesday 14 August 2012)

The cracking weather in Nettetal continues – forecast for the next seven days is sunshine and warmth (between 25 and 29 degrees each day). So ideal weather for a walking and cycling holiday. This morning I decided to keep with my schedule of walking the dog in the morning and then going out for a… Continue reading Nettetal – To Kempen and Viersen (Monday 13 August 2012)

Today was a very enjoyable way to spend a Sunday! I woke up at 8am, read a book for an hour and then got up and took the dog for a five minute walk to give her a toilet opportunity. After breakfast I sat down and did an hour’s work in order to satisfy my… Continue reading Nettetal – A Sunday walk and cycle ride (12 August 2012)

The weather is great here in Nettetal and I fancied going out for a bit of a faster ride (without the dog). After I had my lunch and a cup of tea I gathered together my cycling stuff and Poppy clearly looked like she wanted to come. I had to shut her in the apartment… Continue reading Nettetal – a ride round the quiet lanes (Saturday 11 August)

I’m staying in a little hamlet outside Nettetal-Lobberich which is called Sassenfeld. That’s also the name of the road that runs through it with lots of little side roads which have a dozen or so houses. All around are fields of sweetcorn, cut hay and more. I have a very pleasant two-storey apartment which is… Continue reading Nettetal – a short ride with Poppy in the basket (Saturday 11 August)

Auntie Helen is currently in Nettetal. If you don’t know where that is, look for Venlo in Holland (north-west of Düsseldorf and Mönchengladbach in the west of Germany) and you will find it. Just to the east, over the border from Holland into Germany, is Nettetal. And it’s very nice. ‘Tal’ means valley in Germany… Continue reading Nettetal – ride to Straelen (Friday 10 August)