October 8, 2022
Day 3: To the German border
Apparently Kevin slept really well in the caravan, which is more than could be said for me in the tent. I had sat outside a bit too long and felt cold when I did go inside. Then as I lay there I got nervous because I knew it would be even colder the next couple of nights and I realized it probably wasn’t going to be a good idea to camp with Kevin, so I started looking for hotels on our route at eleven o’clock at night.
Morning came and Dea agreed with me that we should seek hotels for the next couple of nights, for the temperature was forecast to drop considerably to perhaps as low as three degrees Celsius. Too cold for little babies. And yet I hadn’t really found a good hotel solution the night before, so where we would spend the night was a mystery as we got ready for the day.
It had rained a little overnight but the skies soon cleared as we set off around the edge of the town of Weert and then east away from it on a bike path next to a main road. Mostly uneventful, occasionally very beautiful:
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We found a place for our first break next to a canal which crossed our road. We had to watch out here for falling acorns. These have been an added obstacle these past few days, along with horse-chestnuts, that have often made the cycling bumpier than it would be at other times of year, scattered as they are under so many trees. A good reason to keep Kevin safely on his mat/tarp/tent, but easier said than done when we also had to try and sort out accommodation for the night. We called around all manner of hotels, hostels and guest houses but all of them were fully booked. All apart from one that had a lot of bad reviews and that we hoped to avoid. We left our first break still not knowing where we would sleep.
We had a great tailwind for the rest of our ride east to Roermond and we made 18 kilometres in the next hour to reach a playground in the sprawling town.
As Dea took Kevin on the swings I took it upon myself to organize our accommodation which, seeing as nothing else had come up, meant calling the hotel with the bad reviews to reserve a room. 115 euros was I am pretty sure the most I have ever spent on a room for one night, but I guess we all do crazy things for our kids.
The plus side was that it was only seven kilometres away, right on the border with Germany.
The hotel really is right on the border - we are still in the Netherlands but the trees outside our window are in Germany. And after all the negative reviews we were pleasantly surprised by our room. Absolutely nothing wrong with it at all.
And then the noises started...
Today's ride: 38 km (24 miles)
Total: 1,232 km (765 miles)
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