We biked a total of 90km today! First we cycled from Tiel to Eindhoven. On the outskirts of Eindhoven we had apple pancakes for lunch. They were very nice, very filling and proved to have a laxative effect later in the day. No more apple pancakes for the rest of the trip I think. We popped in to see a 2nd cousin of George's in Eindhoven, with whom we made contact because of the van Meeuwen family tree stuff that George has been working on. A really lovely lady who thinks George looks just like her brothers at the same age. We spent about 2 hours chatting then cycled for another 2 and half hours to get to Lommel, just over the border into Belgium.
It's really weird, borders in Europe are essentially a line on a map, there are no border controls anymore and you hardly notice it when you cross the border. In some places there weren't even any signs to indicate you were crossing from one country into another. Yet there are distinct differences in the houses, the language changes suddenly (not gradually) and within about 200m you really notice that you are in a different country.
Cycle paths and road signs are a lot less frequent and useful than in Nederland. Cycle paths are often just a dotted line on the side of the road with people passing you at 70-90km/hr. Some of the cycle paths we took ended abruptly, or had changed in to free-ways (no bicyles allowed). You also get the feeling that people in cars don't take quite as much notice of bicycles than in NL. You certainly can't assume that they are going to stop and let you cross, even if you supposedly have right of way. There also are some very nice bicycle only cycleways through the forest and along the cannals, unfortunately most of those weren't going in the direction we wanted to go. Thingy (the GPS) had it's work cut out today.
Before we got to Lommel we tried to see if we could stay at a camping ground (Parel zanden). It cost 93 Euros to stay in a caravan for the night, breakfast not included. So we cycled on to Lommel some 7km further on. Only two hotels in town, the first one was full, and we were the fourth enquiry... not looking good. The second hotel was hard to find because it only had Hotel written on the opposite side of the building from which we approached. Plus we were rather distracted by the fairground that was being set up. Nobody at reception, but after a few calls somebody turned up to give us a room for the night. Interesting room with the bathroom separated from the rest of the room by a partially see-through glass panel. Occupants of the shower had only limited privacy.
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