Wednesday 28 September 2022

Drive to Europort and Morning Coffee in Hull

 After another good breakfast the car was packed. The back seats were put down so we would have more room for German beer.









We left the Gasthof just after 10:00 and drove into Buren and Google Maps directed us towards a beer cellar Lyn had found. Beers and wine were selected and an empty crate taken to pack them in. We will need another visit to Germany to get our deposit back. The lady on the till was very helpful especially when I tried to return our Dutch beer bottles rather than the German ones. *1. The correct empties were retrieved, and the bill paid.








The car was repacked, and we set off around 11:40 driving to the EuroPort ferry terminal. Kate selected a route via Arnhem and Rotterdam. 

There was a slight delay in some road works, but we arrived in Holland without incident. We stopped in Tiel to visit a Dutch Jumbo supermarket. The one we found on the way into town had restricted parking outside and a car park underneath which would not be ideal with the bikes on the back of the car. We continued to a second Jumbo supermarket on the outskirts of the town. That had free parking but some viscous speed bumps which caught the bottom of the towbar. Food for our evening meal and breakfast was purchased and empty Dutch beer bottles returned. It was now after 4:00pm and we had not had any lunch. The café outside the Jumbo did not look inviting so we decided to drive towards the port to see what we could find. A McDonalds was spotted just before we re-joined the motorway. A last resort.  An expensive Fillet-O-Fish and fries were purchased. A medium fries costing 3 euros.






















We continued to the port, arriving just before 18:00 to join a very slow-moving queue of cars. When we finally got the desk they wanted us to check in in the terminal but that changed when we explained Lyn could not walk very far. We drove onto the boat and were helped with our luggage to the cabin when they saw how much we had to carry. The largest items being the Brexton set and cool box.

We had booked a four berth cabin to get a little more room. The upper beds were stored in the ceiling and the blog and diary was updated and tea eaten.
















We wandered up to the Sun Lounge before retiring to bed. We awoke by the usual early morning call to tell passengers breakfast was now being served. We had ours in the cabin about an hour later. We docked before 8:00 am but were the last level to be called down to the car. When we finally go off the ferry we joined a long queue of car waiting to clear UK customs. We were one of the last cars though. We departed the port and stopped in Hull for a bacon sandwich and a coffee at “Next Door by Nibble”. An excellent find and popular with locals and dog walkers.
















We had our coffee and roll watched over by the "security guard" from the building site next door.








We then continued to drive back and completing a round trip of 1626 miles.


*1 - The lady on the till was helpful but it was only when we got back to England and checked the receipt, we found we had been charged for 2 crates of 6 bottles of wine instead of 2 bottles. Something we are in the process of trying to rectify.







Day 15 - A ride to Mohnesee

 We went down for breakfast at 8:00am. The breakfast was not included in the room rate, we knew that when we booked the accommodation but had decided to have it.  

The previous evening we had to choose what we wanted to eat and our host seemed surprised we did select any meat. The breakfast turned out to be excellent value for £6 per person. The fruit included fresh plums from their garden. We were also presented with a large selection of cheese including fresh mozzarella, a couple of hard cheeses and a cream cheese and a large basket of warm bread rolls. That would have been more than enough but we had also asked for scrambled eggs and a large plate of which duly appeared.


 We were fueled for the day. The ride we had selected was a selection of the Old railway radweg along the Mohne valley cycle path. The start of which was a Round 5 miles from the accommodation but it did involve a long climb up the hill from the Gasthof. At breakfast our host lent us a book of rides describing a ride along the valley and Robert was able to improve the planned route by taking a track through the woods rather than going on the minor road he had planned to take. Just before setting off our host lent us a detailed map of the area which we took as a backup to the Garmin.  We climbed on the road out of the village then we turned onto a gravel track.

















It climbed gently through the woods. Reaching the top gave good views of the surrounding area .


We had joined a minor road and had a fast descent to the route.  There were a couple of minor bumps but the path was mainly a gradual descent to Lake  Mohnesee. 


















We started in open countryside but the route did go through a couple of towns. It was well signed and the route easy to follow and Garmin not required for navigation. It was around 20 miles of cycling before we reached the lake.

















We kept on the radweg and decided to continue to the first crossing point which turned out to be temporarily closed to cycles so we continued to round to the next cross in point. 

































An Italian restaurant with good views of the lake provided a tasty snack for lunch before we continued, crossed to the opposite bank and started to return.

















When we got back to the first bridge the road was closed but we continued up it for a short distance following another cyclist before he stopped and we could see the road works were still in progress with a lorry tipping stone.

















We returned and followed the cyclist across the first bridge ignoring the no cycling sign.

We then retraced our steps, stopping to take some photos and try out the exercise equipment.
























And looking at "hanging stone "weather station.








































The route had several bike cycle repair stations which fortunately we did not need to use.



















Part of and old engine near a small museum located in a couple of railway carriages which was closed on the day we past.





















When we were a couple of miles from Ruthen we decided to follow a marked trail to Buren.






















It should have been a straightforward diversion. We climbed the hill to Ruthen and followed the signs in the main square. We then dropped down the hill following the bike path signs and we found ourselves heading towards the route we had followed in the morning in the opposite direction to the one we wanted to take.























The hill was reclimbed and the Garmin successfully navigated to Hemmern and back onto the route we wanted to take. It was then a long decent before riding up the valley to the Gasthof. A round trip of 53 miles.






We eat the Gasthov, vegetable pancake for a starter and pork schnitzel for a main. We shared one with mushrooms and one with a red pepper sauce. Both were excellent. They were eaten with  spätzle noddles and a side salad. A dark Duple beer was sampled before glass of Warsteiner.