11th Oct - Arnham to Leiden

I was sad/excited/happy/relieved that today was my last full day of cycling before I reach the UK and home. What a way to finish with 25km per hour headwinds, heavy rain, slipping gears and 135km! 42km to the ferry home on Friday....



Up early as I needed to get packed up and get to the bike shop for opening time. I was worried that it would not able to be fixed in order to just get me to Leiden and to the ferry - about 180km. Last night it was pretty much not ridable. I found the bike shop without too much trouble but was extremely embarrassed at having to push my bike up a gradual slope on the way. The gears were just slipping too much. I explained the situation to the guys at the bike shop who just said it would not be possible as my gears were too worn and that I would need a new chain and back wheel cogs and this would cost at at least £80 with labour and parts. Xena (my bike) is currently welded in 3 places, has wire holding on the front pannier rack, a dented saddle, £3 plastic pedals (as the other ones broke), worn break pads, a slick wheel at the back that has no tread and no rubber on parts, a big tractor tyre (off road 2.25 that I used in Mongolia) on the front (as the slick split in two a few days ago), dents and scratches everywhere and handle bar tape trailing behind the handle bars. The only place Xena will be going when I get back to the UK is in pride of place hung up on a wall somewhere in my house (I just need to get a house first - small matter). There is no point in putting on any new gear on to her and I did not want to spend the money for just 1.5 days of cycling!



I have to say that they guy at the bike shop was not overly helpful to begin with. As everyone bikes in the Netherlands he was not bothered about the fact that I had biked so far. I was just another one of the many customers. After a while he suggested that I could put on an old chain if I had one (a new chain would just slip even more). I was very glad that I had kept my old chain that broke in China as a spare and carted it around with me for months. It worked as a great short term fix for my slipping gears. The guy in the shop shortened it so that it would be optimised for working on my large chain ring at the front along with large chain ring at the back (normally a combination that is never used). These had the least wear. They did not slip all the time - only with a large amount of pressure. I was so happy that I would not have to spend a fortune and get back on Xena without changing her gears.



I was in a hurry after I left the shop as I had 135km to do and I did not get on the road until 10.30-11. It was a fowl day. I managed to find the way OK though. The bike paths in the Netherlands are much better sign posted and organised than Germany. There were very strong head winds AGAIN and it rained on and off all afternoon. What a day to finish on.



The stereotype of The Netherlands really is right - loads of bikes, the land is as flat as a pancake and there are windmills everywhere.


There was some great old architecture and canals in the small towns along the way. The whole country is very built up. It felt like one village just merged into another.


I pushed hard but the wind was very strong and my gears where still rubbish so I could not really get a good speed going. It was dark by the time I arrived in Leiden and it took me a while to find Andrew's place as my GPS had stopped working.


It felt very strange to arrive at Andrews house. It was lovely to be greeted by a friend rather than a new person. He is the first friend that I have seen since Beijing. Of course I have met many new people along the way and they have become my friends but it is different visiting someone you already know and has invited you.

This is me after my last full day of cycling during the trip. I think the bright yellow is particularly fetching.... not sure what I will fetch though..


Andrew took me out for a lovely celebratory Chinese meal. It was a feast! Thanks Andrew :-)

10th Oct - Munster to Arnham

4th Oct - Rathenow to Wolfzburg

It was a really hard ride today but the evening totally made up for it. I turned up at a Warm Showers Host to a "Wellcome Emily" sign on the mat and the evening just got even better from there on :-)


I had a relaxed breakfast with Ronny and another shower and packed up and was ready to go just after nine. The only problem was that I had a flat tyre.






I thought that it must have been caused by a sharp object that caused the flat last night that I had not managed to find in the tyre (even though I had spent 10 mins looking for it). I took the wheel off and tried to find it again but there was nothing there and I could not find a hole in the inner tube and so I pumped it up again and then set off hoping that it was a slow enough puncture to get me a reasonable distance before I had to pump it up again. Unfortunately it was only 10km before I had to stop again. I bought some food for lunch at the local supermarket and then set to work with water in my pan and submerging sections of my inner tube bit by bit to try and find the hole. It turned out that it was not in fact a new hole from the same sharp object in the tyre that caused the puncture yesterday but in fact a faulty valve in the new inner tube that I had used. One more new inner tube in the tyre and off I set again.....


I knew that I had a long way to go and it was hard work against the headwinds however, it would have been fine if it was not for the fact that German bike paths are not designed by cyclists. I HATE German Bike Paths!


Surely the route by bike should be shorter than the one by car rather than 110km by car and 145km by bike? Surely bike paths should go somewhere rather just stopping in the middle of a forest? Surely the surface of the bike path should be smoother than a road because you have to work harder on a bike? Surely you should not have to stop every minute or two to lift your bike and luggage up a curb? Surely it should be faster to cycle in Germany on bike paths than on dirt tracks in mountainous Mongolia? Surely there should be signs for a bike path when a road suddenly has a no bikes allowed sign? Surely the limited number bike path signs should say where they lead?

Not in "Bike Friendly Germany" apparently... Bike paths in Germany are designed for locals that already know how to get around town without signs, that ride sit up and beg bikes with baskets on the front (or children riding bikes), are not in a hurry, only travel distances of less than 5km.



This photo was taken when the bike path lead me into a forest, turned into a sandy track and then just stopped. It was 10km to get back to another turning. The problem is that bikes are not allowed on many of the German highways - fine by me, if they just provided an alternative that did not take 30 mins to do by bike (over 5km on and off curbs and crossing roads in towns) when the distance on the highway was only 0.5km (and would have taken about 1 minute)!

Unfortunately, my batteries on my phone are only lasting for about 30 mins each now and so I can only use them in emergencies for GPS... It meant that every time I had to past through a town it took ages (even with just using my compass to keep to a general direction). The bike paths were fine when they followed a major road for a while but each time they arrived at a town it was a nightmare. Bikes are not allowed on by-pass roads and so you have to take the route through the town. There are arrows for bike paths at some junctions but rarely place names and when there are they then just disappear and you arrive at a junction and have no idea which way to go. I found that asking people did not really help much - particularly women! Unfortunately, from my experience it does appear that most women do actually conform to the gender stereotype of having no idea where they are or how to give directions!

As soon as it got dark I slowed down even more as my head light was not bright enough to light up the bike paths through the forests without it being dangerous to go really fast.



I really pushed to get there for about 6 but the head wind was just so strong and I got lost so many times that I did not arrive at Fritz's house until about 8. I had not had a great day on the bike but I received the most friendly welcome I could have asked for and my mood completely changed.

He had prepared a huge meal of pasta, king prawns and mushrooms followed by apple pie. Great conversation, a couple of bottles of very nice red wine and some blues music and I was a very happy bunny. I even had a cat to cuddle up with on my bed.

They have got just the sort of house that I would like in the future. Music speakers in all the rooms, loads of books everywhere, classic cars and motor bikes in the garage (along with touring bikes of course), a classic tandem on display in the conservatory, plants everywhere, a huge kitchen for actually cooking rather than to prepare a sandwich and one wall for a huge map of the world with pins indicting the areas that they are interested in visiting on their round the world bike ride.

Fritz and his wife Karin (who unfortunately was away on business that night) are very keen cyclists and recently spent 7 month biking across America. They are planning their next trip from Germany to Japan.

Their trip around the US was more hardcore than mine in someway as they had a rule to do the whole thing by bike and they moved on most days. I had more time off the bike, trekking and also exploring historical sites and cities. I also had some weeks where I did not move on each day. When there were issues with my Visa expiring I did have to get a train or a lift to make sure I excited the country on time and also when I was traveling with some other friends that did not want to bike I did have some time off the saddle and accompany them.


I love staying with people from Warm Showers as they really get it! When I was traveling in the US and Canada about 10 years or so ago, I also found the people really friendly and generous, as did Fritz and Karin.

I had no idea what time it was when we both decided we really should stop planning future bike trips and go to sleep instead - it turned out it was 3am!

I did not really enjoy biking today. It was frustrating. I hate turning up late to CS or Warm Showers hosts. I knew that Fritz had changed his plans so that he could host me and the last thing I wanted to do was turn up at 8pm in the dark! I wanted to get there at 6 and have a relaxed evening - after all I should only have needed to bike 100km to get to his house. In fact most of the biking in Europe has actually been quite dull and frustrating (bad headwinds/rain/bike paths) after the other countries I have been too. What has really made the Europe part of this trip is the people though. The architecture is too similar to the UK to be really fascinating and the roads flat and scenery OK but not awe inspiring. However, it has been great to meet such interesting people that speak fluent English and also interesting to learn from them about the histories of their countries and cultural differences.

3rd Oct - Berlin to Rathenow

Woke up with the sunrise at about 7 and pottered for a while and then had a lovely relaxed breakfast with the family. I have enjoyed staying this them very much, the only problem was that it made me feel very broody and think a lot about the future and what I will do with the rest of my life now that this trip is nearly over....

The house boat is very cosy and I really respect their goal of sustainable living. Not only is the boat all made of sustainable products but they also live that way every day even when it is more hard work. They could very easily throw the water that is left after a shower into the river as it will make very little impact in comparison to the other boats that directly pump their sewage into the water, but they choose not to. Good for them.

Henning helped tune Xena (my bike) even more (we spent a ahour or so doing it last night as well) and we gave her a clean with the power hose and an oil. She was very happy about it and has not run so smoothly in months :) Thanks Henning. I did not have the confidence to play round with the gears so much on my own.

I set off about 10.30 and found it very easy to get through Berlin as I took the same route as yesterday. The streets were very crowded as it is a public holiday in Germany today. The road that I was going to take West out of the center was closed to cars and instead there was a big street party and loads of stalls. I had a little look and then rode through the park instead.

It took a while to cross Berlin but it was a good way to see the City and it was all good quality on bike paths. I then took a longer route through the countryside to avoid cycling on the busy roads.

I was making great time until I got a puncture. I think it is only my 4th of the whole trip. I had a problem with the values of my inner tubes snapping off in India but they were not real punctures so don't count.

It was a really easy 97km today. Sunny day, bike paths or small country roads, flat, very little wind and lovely countryside. Germany really is very similar to the UK and so in some ways slightly boring to cycle through after seeing such different countries and cultures over the last year. It is easy travelling here. Many people speak English, there is familliar food everywhere, many people couch surf and I don´t feel unsafe camping in forests at night.

One think Germany seems to be done far better than the UK is sustainable development. There are fields and fields of Wind Turrbines and great cycle paths. I have never seen Wind Turrbines so close up before and I did not realise that the have little doors on the side of them to get access. They are really quite wide at the bottom. I have now decided that I have a new goal in life... to live in a Wind Turbine! It would be great. I wonder if Ikea does a range of circular furniture?

I arrived at my Couch Surfers flat at 6. A really nice flat over looking the river. Good to have a shower and a nice place to stay rather than a forest tonight.

Photos and more details to follow.....

2nd Oct - Hot relaxed day in Berlin

Up about 9 as I did not sleep well though the night. Had a lovely relaxed breakfast with Henning, Rika and their daughter Fryer. They then headed off and I left for a bike tour of Berlin.

It was a beautiful sunny day and extremely hot for this time of year. Yesterday there were record temperatures in England.

Details to follow

1st Oct - Polish-German Border to Berlin

Beautiful sunny day! Cycled mostly on bike paths to Berlin - 95km.

Arrived at house boat in the center of Berlin to stay with a lovely German couple with their baby daughter Fryer. The house boat was built by Henning in a sustainable way. An awesome house.

Out to a birthday party in central Berlin.

More details to follow..........

30th Sept - Polish Forest to German Forest

Another day of not talking to anyone that speaks English (and only people in shops) and sleeping in a forest but tonight I am sleeping in a different country than yesterday. I arrived in Germany!
Woke up naturally with the light just past 7 and packed up and was on the road for 8.30.


Another lovely sunny day and flat good roads passing through forests. The first half of the day was on a busy main road but then I turned off towards the German Border and the road had very little traffic and just biked through forest after forest. It was a lovely ride. I really felt like I could stretch my legs for once as the road was good quality and there was very little wind! I was rocketing along at and average of 27km which is not too bad with 45kg of bike and stuff.


In the middle of the day I stopped off at a restaurant and spent some time on the internet again for a couple of hours. I did not manage to catch up much on my blog as I was sending out couch requests etc. It is getting very tedious to spend so long doing such things but I would like company as I pass through Europe. Staying in expensive hotels is boring. I like meeting new people and so it is worth spending the time.


It was hot today! This sign shows 27.9C! I loved it...


There were loads of people selling mushrooms from the side of the road through the forests. They pick them in the woods and then sell them. It is the same in Siberia and the Baltics.


I got to the German Border at about 6 and crossed over to find a place to sleep for the night. I could have stayed on the Polish side but I had set myself a goal of getting to Germany today. It feels much closer to home!

I had to bike a reasonable distance until I found a suitable place towards the edge of a park along the side of a river. A good place but I got bitten alive by mosquitoes.


Forests really are very noisy places. Leaves fall and animals potter about and if you are paranoid you can get very worried that someone is coming.... I am glad that I have not been watching any horrors or thrillers recently. I do manage to get to sleep reasonably easily. The places I choose to sleep are very much set back from the road and once it is dark no one can see me. I was using my laptop when I heard some people chatting and walking along a path which was only 50m from my tent. I was worried about the light and so stopped and gave up and instead just sat and looked at the stars and thought about life the universe and everything and once again had an early night. There's not much else you can do with out light in a dark forest at night!