Traveling by bicycle to Germany

in #travel7 years ago

Since I first moved to the Netherlands, one of the things that caught more attention the most is the number of bicycles in the country and how the Dutch use them for everything. Really, everyday transportation, getting the groceries, carrying the kids to school and even moving (yep, I have seen that). This is possible because the country has very good roads and many many km of bike lanes.

Last summer, I was staying in the Netherlands and my bf and I did not have any plans, but we knew we wanted to do something, like a mini-holiday, but without spending a lot. That is when I had the brilliant idea of biking to Germany! It was something that I had never done before, we would have a good story to tell afterward and it just seemed exciting at the time to put everything on a bike and just cycle. So we decided to do it.

Of course, at the time we did not really think of the obvious aspects of this plan that would make it very difficult. For e.g.: I am not the fittest person in the world. In fact, I can be quite lazy (being from Rio, where you take the car for everything, even for a 5/10 min walk) and I had not biked in more than 2 years. Next to that, I have never been good with distance, so I should have known that it would take much longer to arrive at the German border than we anticipated. Lastly, it was very likely I would get lost at some point during this trip.

But anyway, we booked some cabins (in campings) near the places we wanted to stop, packed of stuff, got ready and one day very early we started biking.

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During the first KM, it was fun and I was curious to see the countryside so I didn't even mind my lets hurting... But when we did around 25km I felt super tired and I needed food so we stop at a 'restpoint'. It was just nice, on a farm, where you could sit, buy some products made there as well as some cake and ice cream.

When we biked around 40km, I was totally dying. I felt like I could not feel my legs anymore, so we decided to stop for lunch in the town we were passing by. After that, we still had about 20km to go, but for the last 10km, my boyfriend was basically pushing me from his bike. After all that effort and pain, we made it to the 60km and were done for the day but we were not at the German border yet. Think about someone being unable to walk properly: that was me! I could barely move my legs or feel them touching the group.

Day Number 2: We had to bike another 30 something Km - it was not going to be a good day for me!

With a lot of pain everywhere, carrying heavy bikes (with all of our stuff) and kind of regretting the whole idea, we set off to the German border! Now, you think that we cycled to Germany so we probably stayed there for a few days in a nice German town, etc. However, before the trip, we decided that it would take too long to do that, but as we still wanted to keep the main idea (biking to Germany) we settle for just biking to the border. And that is what we did.

We biked many kilometers out of our "route" to get to the German border and the only things there were: 1 house (a very German house) and the flags of Germany and the Netherlands.

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If we had more time (and had I had a better preparation for this trip that wasn't waking up one day and biking for about 60km)we would have probably stayed somewhere nice in Germany, but the plan was to go back to the Netherlands to find our next hotel/summer cabin. After that, we cycled for another 2 days (about 20KM a day) until we completed a full circle and arrived back at Heino (village where we started).

Looking back now, I appreciate that experience much more. It took a lot of effort and energy, but it was very liberating. The Dutch countryside is beautiful, and by traveling around it by bike, you get to see your surroundings in a new light. I biked through flower fields, corn plantations, and beautiful windmills.

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Remember in the beginning of the post when I said that they have very good bike roads in the Netherlands? It is true! You can basically travel by bike throughout the entire country! Even when you are in big cities like Den Haag or Amsterdam, you will see some plates with a bike sign and a number next to the traffic lights. This is something else that makes traveling by bike in the Netherlands easier than in many other places: you have directions everywhere, so you know exactly which road you should follow by their number.

If you like nature or not, if you are lazy or fit, one thing is certain: if you have the opportunity to do something like this, you should give it a try!

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Good old Germany... :-)

Yes, Germany is lovely :)

great enjoy a lot want to see more of this in future. Upvoted and resteemed.

Thank you!! I post more about traveling in the next few days :)

hope you had a great time Upvoted and resteemed. thank you for sharing @mannyfig1856

Thank you, it was something I thought I'd never do before but I'm so glad I did it! :D

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You are great @brazilianabroad able to travel far like this with your bike.

Thank you @azis :) I was really pushing my limits during those 4 days haha

Thank you for sharing your experiences with getting up and running. Keep on working at it. Perseverance and hard work are the keys to success. @brazilianabroad

@nakamurasatoshi I will! This was an accomplishment for me and I would like to do more things like this in the future, but next time I will need a better preparation, otherwise, I will not be able to walk after day 1 (like this time) hahaha

I am in Denmark and its practically the exact same! A huge change to what I have back home since I'm from Canada!

@kryptocek I've been to Denmark one and it was just beautiful there! Do you use bikes a lot in Canada? In Brazil, we go everywhere by car! Even if you wanted to travel by bike, I don't think it would be possible.

It truly is especially in Aarhus its incredible! No since I've been 16 we've been driving everywhere! No probably not would be to busy for you guys haha.

Awesome to hear it about my own country XD! Yeah i used to bike insane amounts as well when i was younger even going to school everyday that way.

I'm glad you liked it @josanuavir ! I will probably make more posts about the Netherlands because this is my second home! I hope you like to hear about it from my perspective haha

Great way to travel. Good for the health and make see the country under an other eye. Thanks for sharing this experience and good continuation !

Thank you @permatek ! It is very true, it makes you really take in the environment and everything you see. If I think about it, I wouldn't have noticed/experienced half of what I did if I was traveling through the same route by car, so it is good to do something like this for a change!

You're welcome. Sure ! Travelling in car is totally different, it can good to if you make long distances to see a country, but in really much better like this to really penetrate inside. That's a great experience. Have a good afternoon

Looks amazing! Perfect holiday for me as love cycling. Hope you had a great time : ) Resteemed, Upvoted & Following

Thank you very much @theinspirator! I'm glad you liked my post! Yes, the Netherlands has amazing roads for cycling and it is very safe to travel by bike there, so it is a perfect place for these type of trips! Have you ever been there?

You are welcome @brazilianabroad. I have been to the Netherlands, but not cycling. I lived in Copenhagen Denmark for 15 years and cycled everyday, the city has cycle paths everywhere. Have you ever been to Copenhagen? I still go cycling every other day now, as I live in the Peak District in the UK and is perfect for mountain biking. :)