26/09/2012 - Oslo to Israel. Day 19

Distance cycled: 103km from Leeuwarden to some park near a town some 40km from amsterdam.
Average speed: 17.7 km/h
Moving time: 5h50m
Total distance: 1879km
Border X'ings: 4
Money spent: €10 for breakfast

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The headwind today was just atrocious and it persisted all day.
Leaving Sannes and Hinkes place after making breakfast at 11 i took the google map route that snaked southwest around farmers fields, canals, over bridges and finally hitting a main road. I made the choice yesterday evening to cycle the 30km dike, the alternative was take a ferry that would have set me back €16. Because I am a tight ass I took the dike route, thinking of it now it would have been better to have taken the ferry, the 30km was boring as fuck, and along with the headwind only averaging 15km/h it sucked balls! You can do the math - 2 hours of sheer bordom.
Filling up on water in a farm loaded with volunteers for the disabled I got caught up in a conversation about my travels and was offered tea and nibbles, they described my adventures as "inspiring".
Finding a place to camp shortly later was far more difficult here in holland than anywhere else I have cycled, there were no forests and even when I found a patch of trees they were surrounded by a fence. I cycled further than I wanted to but finally found a park to pitch my tent in.
I'm looking forward to sleeping tonight! I'm going to be out for at least 12 hours.

the complete and utter boringness of cycling the 35km Ayslidijk (i know i spelt that wrong)

25/09/2012 - Oslo to Israel. Day 18

Distance cycled: 60 km from Groningen to Leeuwarden
Average speed: 21.1km/h
Moving time: 2h50m
Total distance: 1777km
Border X'ings: 4
Money spent: €5 for some cigarettes.

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Getting from Groningen to Leeuwarden was relatively straight forward, it was on only 60km but with a slight hiccup because a bridge I was suppose to cross was under repair and as such I had to take a 5km detour to find another bridge.
I cycled all the way there without getting off my bike, in hindsight I should have had a break or two, it would have been better for my legs and for me - I had a bit of a hangover from drinking with Lars last night.
Arriving at Hinke and Sanne's place I felt like I just had been beaten up and The 15 minute power-nap I took really didn't help.
I wish I was in more of a less-exhausted mood because not only did I want to celebrate my 7 years of traveling I also wanted to have some fun with these girls.
Hinke and sanne took me out to a friends bar where every Tuesday they would have dinner, it was my choice to what we ate but I wasn't cooking so I wanted some traditional Dutch food and that's what we got. It was sausages with meatballs and a mash potato mixed with dried farmers cabbage - it was pretty damn good.
The girls and I really didn't do much, just chilled and chatted before going to bed.

Sanne, Hinke and myself in Leeuwarden.

24/09/2012 – Groningen.

 
It was an early morning wake up at Eelke's place because he had to go to work, I certainly needed to rest more but i didn't want to outstay my welcome and mess up other peoples opportunities of using warm-showers in Groningen if they were to stay with Eelke.
So I got up and packed my stuff. I knew I was meeting with two friends that I met on my central American trip today but it wasn't till later in the afternoon; this sucked for me because nothing is open on a Monday morning in holland and coming from Germany yesterday where everything is closed it really sucked.
I simply cycled the streets till 2 pm chilling at a coffee shop where I was able to meet with Floor at her place.
At this point I was exhausted and needed sleep, there was only so much catching up I could do with Floor before I couldn't keep my eyes open and even after a beer that would wake me up I crashed hard on her bed while she went to see her mom.
After a few hours kip I got up to meet with Lars (met in El tunco, El Salvador) at his place for beer and dinner.
I was going to cook but left over Chinese was just simpler.
I had a fantastic time catching up with Lars, we drank beer into the early hours of the morning where at midnight cheers or "Proost" for my 7 year anniversary to traveling.
yay! Go me!
It perhaps wasn't a good idea to cycle back to Floors place as fast and as drunk as I did but I made it back safely and without injury.

Just a few pics I took around Groningen – really nothing spectacular.

23/09/2012 – Oslo to Israel. Day 17

Distance cycled: 186km from Bremen, Germany to Groningen, Netherlands.
Average speed: 22.5km/h
Moving time: 8h15m
Total distance: 1705km
Border X'ing: 4
Money spent: €1 for a coffee

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Today really was a great day for cycling weather wise, I needed it too as I had and wanted to cycle 170km from Bremen to Groningen in the Netherlands, actually it turned out to be 186km because the route I uploaded to my GPS was good and all but it doesn't have turn-by-turn directions so accidentally at one point after a break overshot a turn by 7km.
I only took a couple of breaks today because I didn't want to get caught in the dark somewhere in the north of holland so I pushed on hard.
Entering holland the scenery and buildings changed from that of Germany, small quaint houses and many bridges and crossings over canals and rivers - this is where my gps came in handy because if I didnt have the route plotted I would have been completely lost, piling up unnecessary kilometers.
At a service station Where I had a coffee I met a very pretty girl interested in my travels, it was a good conversation but short because I had to continue.
I cycled through two village fates that I would have liked to stop and check out -taking photos, but like everything today I had to rush.
The weather tomorrow was going to turn for the worst so covering this distance was better for me.
Arriving in Groningen at night I wanted to stay with Floor who I met in taganga, Columbia but she was looking after her sick mother so I couldn't. Instead I stayed with guy on the warm-showers list. This is the first time I used this website on this trip so when arriving in the city, I Went to the mcdonalds and hopped on the Internet, found someone in the area who had contact information and called them.
Eelke and his girlfriend were kind enough to let a complete stranger into their home but this is the great thing about warm-showers.org and why I would always use this over couch-surfing. Not only does warm-showers list the phone number to be able to contact someone directly but automatically you have something in common with your hosts; as they have been on bicycle tour before.
Eelke and his girlfriend fed me food and beer and we watched mission impossible - the new one and after some small talk I needed to sleep after straining my muscles throughout the day.

Leaving Stephanie and Kai’s place

Making my way into Holland..

Enter Holland – well this was the only indication that i was entering another country.

Afternoon snack on a bridge

22/09/2012 – Bremen

I was going to leave today from Kai and Stephanie's place but the weather was temperamental and I didn't want to get caught in the rain so I decided to stay another night and cycle the 170 km in one day from Bremen to Groningen in the Netherlands.
It was a relaxed day with a little shopping where I bought some new sunglasses, chilling, great food and a movie with pizza at the end of the night.
I'm very grateful of Kai and Stephanie's hospitality, they were awesome and I had a fantastic weekend with them

An Apartment building near Kai and Steph’s place – looks great

Stephanie and Kai.

Around Bremen with Kai and Stephanie.

Free beer in the street… why not turned out to be non-alcoholic beer

Hamburg is suppose to be the gate to Germany but Bremen is the Key.

Lunch

Panoramic of the center of Bremen.

21/09/2012 - Oslo to Israel. Day 16

Distance cycled: 66.2km from 15km north east of Zeven N53 24.546 E009 31.350to Bremen
Average speed: 20.1km/h
Moving time: 3h17m
Total distance: 1519km
Border X'ings: 4

Money spent: 31€ for repairing my bicycle at a bike shop.

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Getting up this morning hoping the temporary fix on my rear inner tube would hold was under a lot of personal doubt, I surprised myself having this fix hold together for 10km Until I got another flat where it was at a different place on the inner tube.
When repairing my bike in a small town a woman from across the street asked if I needed any help. Monica who i later met was the kindest woman who invited me into her home to wash the grease off my hands, this progressed to a cup of coffee, then relaxing my injured knee, used her computer to get in contact with Stephanie and Kai (in Bremen), and later invitation to a roasted duck lunch with her husband and father. All three of them were lovely people and for them to let me into their home off the road and not even asking for help really puts a smile on my face. Monica if you read this Thankyou ever so much.
Where I got the flat in front of Monica's place I had only cycled 10km from where I camped the previous night, having this late lunch and not leaving Monica's place till 4 wasn't ideal but I knew I could make it to Bremen before it got too dark, especially with the miracle muscle ache cream Monica gave me that worked wonders on my bung knee.
Before getting into Bremen I had to sort out my bicycle, thankfully there was one down the road about 6km, I wasn't sure if the repair job on my wheel would hold up so I took it easy and managed to get there without any issues. Here I got my bike wheel properly fixed but paid quite a lot for it, oh well it needed to be done, the woman in the store who incidentally was friends with Monica was happy to help me out and I like dealing with people who smile.
Making it to Bremen as it was getting dark was fine albeit a little cold, there was a bicycle path, a converted railroad track that took me right into the center of the city where Stephanie and Kai lived. I arrived at theirs at 8 where I cooked up a delicious pasta meal and where we chatted for the evening about my bike trip and their van. Stephanie and Kai I met in Sweden when cycling the west coast, they invited me for pasta in their van that they were travelling in and we stayed in touch.
It was great to see them again too we had a few beers and went for a quick drink in a small bar before walking around the area.

repairing my bike again….

Monica and family with an incredible roast duck lunch.

20/09/2012 - Oslo to Israel. Day 15

Distance cycled: 63.5 km from Tom's place in hamburg N53 32.889 E009 57.531 to 15km north east of Zeven N53 24.546 E009 31.350
Average speed: 16.5km/h
Moving time: 3h51m
Total distance: 1453km
Border X'ings: 4
Money spent: €5 on food.

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This morning I found out that I can upload a route plotted by google maps onto my GPS device, this was great as it gave me the shortest route for walking or cycling, this means I wont have to worry about asking for directions.... Or so I thought.
Google maps for walking isn't perfect so when I set off from Toms place at midday I was happy to follow the route shown on my GPS; all was well until I realized that i was taken onto a huge bridge heading south out of hamburg where pedestrians and cyclists were not permitted. I had to find alternative means to get out of the city towards Bremen, this took cycling an extra 15km in circles in an industrial area until I found a boat crossing the river, it was unbeivably frustrating but finally I made it out of the city and back on route.
Hoping all was going to be good and well I was hit by 30km/h headwinds, ontop of that my left knee was beginning to jar up and stretching it didn't seem to help.
Thinking nothing else could go wrong today 60km in I got a flat tire, this was a good opportunity to replace the wheel with the spare I had been carrying around for the last couple of days; the change over went well but when I went to camp just down the road in a forest when I had set up my tent and was eating some food the tire all of a sudden deflated completely, arggggg!!!
I removed the wheel again and found that somehow I made a huge hole in the tube, I patched it up in the hopes it's going to hold but somehow I doubt it. We will see tomorrow morning if my patchwork holds up.
Also I hope my left knee is better tomorrow too.
What a shit day!

Cycling under the river in Hamburg

After my GPS route was acting up i needed to get onto a ferry to get me on the other side of the river.

17/09/2012 - 19/09/2012 Berlin!

As my left knee was playing up I thought having some time off from cycling would be a good thing, and what better place to go than Berlin. On this cycle trip hamburg was the closest point I would be to Berlin so this and also wanting to see some friends there this would be the perfect opportunity to go.
I took a last minute train ticket booked online to get to Berlin, €25 for an hour and three quarters of travel time to get there, it would have cost me the same amount to cycle but taking 3 days.
It was a last minute decision to go to Berlin and as such the people I wanted to see we're busy with their studies and/or work. Regardless there was one person I wanted to see inparticular and that was Kathrin who I met in Laos after I injured myself by attempting a double backflip from a roap swing. We had some fun together and so seeing her again was great.
Despite that she had to work and study she still found the time to pick me up from the train station and spend the two evenings I had in Berlin with me.
Unfortunately Kathrin couldn't host me at her place so I had to check into a hostel, the last time I had to pay for accommodation since I was in munich over a month ago, it was all good though being able to meet other backpackers and share advice and stories.
Kathrin and I spent both evenings we were together on rooftops of buildings, two of which were ontop of abandoned buildings where we had a great view of the city and the third was ontop of the hostel she worked at in the downtown area where she promptly kicked some backpackers downstairs because there was a curfew at 10 and so we had the beanbags and area to ourselves.
It would have been nice to go out about the town and party but honestly loud dance music and dancing compared to climbing around abandoned buildings, walking about the city during sunset and chilling in hostels with such an affectionate and cool chick, this is and was an easy choice for me. I hope we meet again soon Kathrin.
I also got to briefly see Hany, an isrealie girl who I met in south America, it was only for a drink beside a fountain surrounded by bums but nonetheless still good to see her.
I got a history lesson too with a guided walking tour around the city I joined in on organized from the hostel, not nearly indepth as the one in Munich but still very interesting; getting to see the remains of the Berlin wall, the death place of hitler (actually a bunker beneath a car park), along with many other historical buildings.
It would have been heaps better if I stayed for longer but I can't let the cold weather catch up to me while is cycle.

Hamburg, Just some pics around the city

Walking about the streets of Berlin

Some shots of the abandoned buildings Kathrin and I went to




Walking tour around Berlin