Finally fitted the new 11-32 cassette & long cage rear derailleur to my bike, hopefully giving me a fighting chance of making it up some of the fiendishly steep hills around our new home 😬✌️
New chain follows tomorrow after degreasing & waxing 🥸
In other news, the FusionDrive of our 2015 family iMac croaked today when upgrading the OS. Have plenty of backups & am trying recovery now, but a whole new machine may be needed 😕
A 51km ride out through Heidelberg & onto the flat Upper Rhine Valley, across the wide agricultural landscape, including a stretch on the Roman road to the lovely old town of Ladenburg🏺
Could almost have been a Dutch ride 🤪🇳🇱
But still there’s that 100 metre Big Down & Big Up to contend with at either end of the ride 😬✌️
A snippet from yesterday’s final ride in The Netherlands before heading east – cycling in the golden hour near sunset often brings beautiful views across the expansive landscape 🌞🙂
Thankful that this afternoon’s storm was short & sharp, leaving a crisp clear evening for this evening’s final 37km ride ⛈️🌞👍
Thankful also to the good people of The Netherlands, their fantastic cycling infrastructure, & the often beautiful landscape it crosses 🥰
I’ve ridden >97,000km here in the past 12 years, >3,500 hours in the saddle, & it has been vital to my physical & mental health – dank jullie wel 💪🧠🙇♂️
The no-parking areas being imposed on cities by the bike-sharing companies and city councils seem intended to destroy and ridicule the notion that rental e-bikes are a ‘last mile solution.’
I just had to drop a bike 1.8km from my house, after a 7.6km journey home.
Needless to say, countless private cars parked on public pavements in the 1.8km in between.
Another lovely May evening ride, albeit with a brisk northerly wind 💨
Inland to Vogelenzang, including part of the Leidsevaart with its daisies, then back along the coast & past the beaches, then to Noordwijk & its new Ferris wheel, before the riding home through dunes to Wassenaar in the dusk 🎡
Lovely weather for this evening’s 60km ride: some warmth left over from the sunny day, but cool enough to be comfortable, & only a slight breeze 🌞🌬️🙇♂️
Honestly, our two-day stopover in Patmos was a lucky coincidence that came about through a name mix-up 😂 patmos, piraeus... 🧏♀️ I don't know... thanks to my legastenic brain and the stressy situation at the ferry ticket office 🤷♀️
The ferry crossing was already amazing 🤩, but when we arrived in Patmos and were warmly welcomed at the vegan restaurant 'Pernera' with our loaded bicycles, we were very happy about this confusion 🥰 !
Sidenote: The neighboring shop initially wanted to send us away and said we should park our bikes in the parking lot at the harbor... yea of course... not!
In the beautiful 'Pernera', we enjoyed a vegan and gluten-free menu, prepared with love from organic and local ingredients 🫠. And besides the delicious food, our souls were nourished by the inspiring and motivating conversations we had with the people there 🫶
The search for a campground in the picturesque small bays was a bit challenging. Either the beach was too narrow for a tent or private. Fortunately, it was still off-season, and we were able to set up our inner tent in the bay 'Kampos Beach' next to the beach bar, as the beach taverns and sunbed rentals were not yet active.
Sunny & warm during the day for dragonflies, so of course it clouded over & was cold & windy by the time I went out for my 47km evening ride around the Vlietland 🥶💨
Not very photogenic, so here’s a picture taken #OTD six years ago – sunset over the North Sea as seen from the Buitensluis in Katwijk.
Nightingales in the dunes close to the beach at Wassenaar.
This is just a brief placeholder; I'll try to get some better nightingale audio in the next couple of weeks. There are many of them between Katwijk & Wassenaar, & I love hearing them every spring.
From today's rather lovely 77km ride up the Leidsevaart & back through the coastal dunes.