Uncategorized | TZontour

Bit of a calamitous/ shit start to today.

1. Woke up early, feeling anxious. No reason really, just feeling uneasy.

2. Leg where the wasp stung me hurts. Skin taught and a bit awaken round the bite mark. May have to find an apothecary and get some antihistamine cream.

3. And this is entirely my fault, my packing up regime wen to complete shite. In the past I could de-camp in 30 mins or so, yesterday and today took over an hour. Today in particular as a result of tent chaos.

I bought a new tent for this trip, excusing it as a requirement if I was to light weight bike pack. Sticking with the tried and tested MSR brand I bought an access 1. It’s great, and mega light. But the poles, all held together with shock cord are a nightmare to pack down. As a result and after hours of much annoyance back in Sheffield I decided to cut said cord (elastic) on a section the crosses the tent and is independent, although hinges on the main construction. 1 was very pleased with myself as this solution allowed for the poles to fit under my top tube (cross bar) on the Titanium bike. Of course in the end I abandoned that option and so had no need to make the alteration. Anyway it works fine. I probs, until this morning when, as I was taking the tent down one of this sections, propelled by the elastic remaining flew off in 3 parts. I found 2, but could I find the third….nope. Convinced it had landed in this:

I spent a good hour hunting for it, in the stream, in the bushes, in the hedge. Anxiety increasing by the minute. Eventually I resigned myself to hotels for the next 3 nights (every cloud), and packed the remaining gear up, slowly. And guess what, there it was, all alone, lying under my bike 10 feet away.

Anyway disaster averted. But running mega late I decided to revert to a tried and tested motif – that of the banhof- the train. Rode the 8 miles into Hamm (a beautiful looking large town – they all are) along the Hamm Kanal, was bliss, so different to canal paths we are used to.

And concocted the rest of todays itinerary. First stop, train to Duisburg.

Best thing today. Station drunk, lying on a bench on my platform, looked up as I pushed my bike past him and just said “Jan Ullrich”. Was awesome.

Post motif…

A highlight. One I had to ride across. An old friend.

The glorious, massively important to this part of Germany and indeed most of the West of Germany – The Rhine.

Made it to the campsite. The owner however hadn’t. They have a ring doorbell on the gate, stood for an hour, sweating cobs (that is apparently rolls in Yorkshire), no answer. Perfect, an excuse to pedal another 10 miles, into the Netherlands and get a hotel.

Set off, bloke flags me down in his car, “I saw you on my ring”. Yeah mate, you didn’t F’cking answer though did you?! Anyway, I came back and checked in.

So far 4 campsites, 2 real good (the last 2), 2 shite. This is part of the latter. I genuinely am trying to be more positive, but this place is mental. Like a post dystopian nightmare.

It appears the closer (5 miles) I get to Holland, the less Dutch are in the campsite. This one – all German. No speak English, but a wee bit once I explain I am Scottish – standard.

But this place. Folk have small houses here. They are trimming their hedges, sorting out their crazy paving. Is mental. The site has zero facilities and even less connectivity.

So into the local town (8 mile round trip) To get dinner. Yes. Kebab. And it was good. As was the town, Grefrath.

I ate in. A new low/high, depends how you see it. Was hotter than the sun. The shop that is, sadly.

I pedal back to the campsite. It’s only reedeming feature is “the pub”. You can’t buy any supplies, the showers are awful, the place, just weird (folk get their Amazon delivered here – perhaps that’s normal), but you can buy beer.

I’ll level you with this photo and also this image. 4 of the folk in the picture arrived in a train. A train where one lady drove her mobility scooter, and 3 blokes in wheelchairs held onto her and then each other. Wtaf.