Day 6 - Arcen to Roermond - Floating Across The Netherlands - Tandem Tour - July 2022 - CycleBlaze

July 7, 2022

Day 6 - Arcen to Roermond

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Cold, windy, and rainy today.  Hard to believe it’s July.

We were out at the usual 9AM after breakfast.  Some on the boat opted not to ride or to ride a shorter route, but we were determined to get our money’s worth.  :)

It was colder and rainier and windier than it looks. Trust me.
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Karen PoretYou are in the Netherlands..what else should you expect? :)
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1 week ago

We were motivated to get this one done quickly, so we sped southward with minimal photos.  In Venlo, we were happy to see young people learning to sail Optimist dinghies in a safe enclosure.  What a great idea!

Why don’t we teach this sport to more kids?
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We had 2 ferry crossings today, which made Rich very happy!

Ferry #1 arrives
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Given the weather, a rest stop with chocolate and, if possible, pastry was called for.  The Cafe Centraal in Baarlo stepped up to the job.  I wish we had a place like this at home!

The tandem rests while we warm up
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Happy girl
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From Baarlo, we hustled along to ferry number 2, passing the usual collections of suspiciously large hydrangeas.  What are they putting on those plants?

The appropriately named Casteel had a very strange looking castle…

Architectural malpractice
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Keith AdamsThey just wanted a wider view of the surroundings.

I once saw a clever house on a hilltop with views in all directions. Rather than settling for just one view from any given room the house was built round, on top of a stone pillar that provided entry to the center of the house. The unique aspect was that they somehow acquired and incorporated the turret bearings and motor from an old warship, so that the entire upper part of the house could be rotated to point any room in any direction, at will.
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2 years ago
Rachael AndersonTo Keith AdamsHow do you know all this stuff. You are amazing!
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2 years ago
Keith AdamsTo Rachael AndersonI saw it in a coffee table book on innovative architecture years ago. It was fascinating to see how they addressed issues like plumbing (which of course does not do well in rotation) and electric / phone wiring.
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2 years ago
Oh hydrangeas!!
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And then onto yet another ferry.  :)

He never grew up, evidently
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Rachael AndersonFerries are great as long as you don’t just miss one!
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2 years ago

Our route led us through the improbably dragon-themed town of Beesel.  We were slayed to learn that their annual dragon festival starts tomorrow!  We just missed it!

Luckily there were dragons everywhere to look at.

One among many dragons
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Keith AdamsBeing the Netherlands one expects flowers to be everywhere. Did Beesel extend the theme by perhaps prominently featuring snapdragons?
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2 years ago
Rich FrasierTo Keith AdamsGood question! We should have kept a lookout. I can't say we noticed any, unfortunately.
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2 years ago
The tandem waits while we inspect the dragons
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Another roadside dragon
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Despite its funny name, Beesel seems to have it going on.  On the way out of town, we passed The Garden of Forgotten Vegetables.  We spent a good half hour geeking out on plants, as we have been known to do.  Rich promises that he didn’t steal any seeds…

Almost too much to process!
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And to top it off, there was a beautiful windmill.  Thank you, Beesel!

The Graue Beer
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Now it was time to be done, so we pushed on to Roermond.  Several beautiful houses still caught our photographer’s eye.

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But mostly it was head-down cranking out the KMs.

Gettin’ er done
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We beat the Sarah into Roermond by about 45 minutes.  No lunch today.  We just sat and tried to stay warm until the boat docked, then spent the afternoon on the boat sheltering from the weather.

After dinner, Robin went for a walk while Rich stayed on the boat.  A singalong was organized later.  Somewhat of a challenge, considering the lack of common language and culture.  Kudos to Simon for trying!

Today's ride: 49 km (30 miles)
Total: 297 km (184 miles)

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