Hoorn countryside

Blue skies again so we jump in our mercedes coupé and go for a drive, with our lovely gps lady to help.
Marken was once an island but is now connected to the mainland by a causeway. It's quiet this morning but we wander round it's cobbled streets and admire the old wooden buildings. In many spots they're squashed together on man-made mounds to escape the rising water, and were originally built on stilts, but the underfloor area is now built in. Like everywhere, the houses back up to canals; kids are taught to swim early.
Zaanse Schans is a village of relocated historic buildings and windmills. It's close to Amsterdam, full of tour buses, and starting to rain so we dash in and out.
There's green grass and water everywhere and lots of beautiful old villages.
Footage of America is on TV and I can't help thinking about the magnitude of the dyke system here. They are constantly being built up against the threat of rising water.

Hoorn - Volendam.

The sun is shining when we wake on this first day post daylight saving so we rug up like the Michelin Man and head off into a blustery southerly (much better than an arctic northerly). It's a 60km round trip, and feels good to be back on the bike. We follow the dyke path and it's a very weird feeling to see the sea 1m below us on the left and the land 2m below on the right. Volendam is an old fishing village now geared towards tourism, we join hundreds of people wandering the picturesque harbour and it's many shops. We play dressups, sample cheese from nearby Edam and admire the views. We get lost on the way home (so what's new?) but follow a few of the many well marked paths north along canals and roads. It rains a bit but the water hasn't a hope of penetrating our many layers.

Hoorn - Zuiderzee museum

Friday's weather looks good so we shake off our lethargy and head north a little way in the car. Our destination is the open air museum at Enkhuisen, which shows life as it was around the Zuiderzee. It's fascinating to walk around the recreated villages and see just how tough life was before the dams were built and the floods tamed. It's school hols so there are lots of extra activities for the kids.
PS for those that are wondering, like me, North (where we are) and South Holland are 2 of the 11 states of the Netherlands.

Amsterdam

It's Kay's birthday so it's off early by train to the city. It's foggy so very atmospheric walking along the many canals. We make a few purchases at a flea market, eat bagels and cream cheese, walk through a flower market then join a foodie tour. Frites, lots of cheeses, herrings (hmm), apple pancake, coffee, and flavoured liqueur - chocolate, ginger, lemon. aniseed are just 4 we try of the 85 available. The centre of town is closed to cars but there are bikes and trams going in all directions to watch out for.
Amsterdam is the trading centre for all Europeans produce so there's a huge variety of very cheap flowers, fruit and veg, coffee beans etc. Marihuana seeds can be legally sold and smoked openly - its a distinctive smell as we walk around for hours. Unfortunately tourists are no longer included in this liberality so Kay can't revisit her hippie days.....

Hoorn

It's morning rush hour and it's raining. Its cosy on the couch watching a constant stream of people on big upright bikes going to school and work. None have helmets, all have jackets and some hold an umbrella or hands.
Ian braves the wrong side of the road with 'our' car and Kay yelps quietly. It's very scary this first time. We find a great secondhand shop and spend about $80 on 2 warm jackets, 2 pairs pants, 1 skirt, 1 jumper, 6 tops, 2 scarves and a bag to supplement our minimalist cycling wardrobe. Wow, Kay will be back for another look next week.
Next day to the market, the supermarket, the phone shop and the wool shop and we're feeling very settled.

Cologne to Hoorn

Rested and well fed, we continue north on Tuesday. It rains. We train it to düsseldorf where it's freezing. Kay spits the dummy but good humour is restored with nutella and banana on rice cakes and a warm cafe. (Ian has curry and rice, grrrr). We couchsurf with a wonderful lady and her 2 year old daughter, who does family day care - in English - so she can work from home.
We wake to more rain and make decisions to forget the rest of Germany as the forecast is horrible for a few days. Emails, internet and phone calls sort it out and we catch a train or 3 to Netherlands.
We warmshower Wednesday night with a French lady and enjoy franglais aperitif, food and conversation. Magnifique.
3 more trains and a little cycling and we are at our destination of Hoorn. We have swapped our house with
Carla and Hans and it's an amazing feeling to meet them just before they leave for the airport and know that they will soon be in torquay. We cook dinner, drink Australian and South African wine and love being in our beautiful new 3 storey Dutch home.
Consider joining home link if you plan to travel, it's amazing (and let us know so we can refer you and get discounted membership!)

Manheim/Kerpen

Ingrid and Ruediger look after us very well. We go on excursions to Cologne, the beautiful Mosel River area (the vineyards are on such steep slopes that they have elevators to transport people and grapes up and down), and Trier, the oldest German city at 2000+ years.
We also take ourselves to the Lindt chocolate museum, watch runners, skaters and recumbent cyclists in a triathalon, and find warm ski gloves at a flea market. And learn to navigate another excellent train system.

Bonn to Cologne

40, 1200
Today is lovely. The sun is out, the path is smooth and flat and the ride along the river is short.
We arrive in Cologne for lunch then navigate the trains to our home for the next week 25km west. Ingrid and Ruediger stayed with us though a home swap website earlier this year, so now they return the favour.

Weißenthurm to Bonn

60, 1160
It's very cold and foggy this morning. The barges and villages slowly emerge from the river mist, but the trees glow yellow and red with autumn colours. We thaw out over our mid-morning cappuccino and it turns into a beautiful day.
This part of the Rhine is very popular - there's a string of caravan parks, lots of what we assume are summer houses, and a constant stream of cyclists in both directions.
Tonight we are staying with Warm Showers people, the bike riding equivalent of couch-surfing. They are from The Netherlands so Ian gets out the maps for the next bit while Kay has an early night.

Bacharach to Weißenthurm

45, total 1100
More of the same today but it's cold so we take a riverboat for 25km in the middle of the day. It's very relaxing floating by all the castles. The Rhine is very much a working river, with the barges carrying all sorts of imports and exports. The barge captain has his quarters at the stern, with his car perched on the back.
We've discovered that America's favourite travel writer is Rick Steves, so check out his books if you are planning a trip OS. We wondered why so many yanks were staying at last nights tiny village but yes, it was recommended and no they didn't know each other!

Heidelberg to Bacharach

55km, total 1055 (we did a few km round Heidelberg to bump up the total)
Martin and Julie wave us off from the Bahnhof as we take a train shortcut to the Rhine at Mainz.
It doesn't take long to find our new route signs and head north. Wow it's beautiful. The hills are terraced with vineyards, boats of all sizes move up and down the river and there are amazing buildings and ruins on both sides. "The Upper Middle Rhine Valley is one of the most magnificent and oldest cultural landscapes in Europe"
and is UNESCO listed.
We have a tailwind and a flat path and a very delicious dinner - an altogether awesome day.

Heidelberg, by train

We spend a way-too-short weekend with a special "global mobile family". We met them last year when they stayed with us on their cycling journey around the world: mum, dad and 4 great little boys. They choose to be car free so we make quite a sight when we all head out sightseeing!

Passau to Donaueschingen

Our 3rd book is finished, we do about half of the 600km distance, with a train detour at the start to our Schliersee holiday. The German Danube Bike Trail (Donauradweg) is hillier than earlier sections and less populated by cyclists, maybe because it's a bit late in the season. The headwinds are more prevalent but we push on and make it. The German language is slightly more familiar and the people we meet just as friendly.

Tuttlingen to Donaueschinen

45km, total 980
A beautiful last day's ride along the Danube. There are open green fields, the last of the maize crops and autumn colours all around us. We cross the narrowing river several times and ride under railway and freeway bridges.
Our destination is marked by a statue showing a mother and child looking at the confluence of the Brigach and Breg, forming the Danube.
There's a spring in town which is supposedly the real source but it's closed for renovation.....
We celebrate with hot chocolate and icecream!

Riedlingen to Tuttlingen

45, 935
We plan this afternoon to take a train, to avoid the worst of the windy/windy, hilly, gravelly, rainy route, but don't count on track works.... So we cycle, train, cycle, train and cover the 80 km. Hey, its not cheating, we set the rules! It's stunningly beautiful despite the frequent showers and there are a surprising number of people out walking and cycling. We have a big surprise this afternoon. Krisztina, our absentee couchsurf host from Komarom in Hungary is visiting German friends only 1/2 hour drive away, from her workplace in Switzerland. We meet for coffee and chat with her limited but very good English and our less-than-good German. Its an amazing thing. A private penzion again tonight, where the owner's 13 yo daughter happily accepts an English lesson!
We have use of a kitchen so manage a very fine meal of fresh Swiss cheese from Krisztina, salad, GF bread (yum!!) chicken and chips, wine and cherry/almond icecream. Sometimes it's nice to eat in.

Rißtissen to Riedlingen

45, total 890
We sleep in this morning. Ian does some bike maintenance and Kay attempts to explain Mabo and the stolen generation to Johanna for her Australia project. Paul Kelly and Midnight Oil songs help.
We've learnt that the ever present corn crops are used for power generation. The German govt subsidises it as they don't want nuclear stations. The solar panels also give a very good return. Forgot to ask how many forests get chopped down for firewood but my guess is they are sustainable. Today is a public holiday, German Unity Day, so the roads are quiet.

Ulm to Risstissen

25, total 845
We have a 10.30am date at tonight's couchsurfing host Jakob's daughter's school, so we head off early into the fog and only get a little bit lost. The year 9 kids are studying Australia so it's a good opportunity for them to get some info. Lots of good questions are asked and answered as best we can. Jakob is restoring an old building so we go there in the afternoon. It's Grand Designs with a living space built within the structure and beautifully done too. Ian does reno stuff while Kay sits in the sun, then goes for a walk around a nearby convent garden that Andy's building belongs too.