It rained last night. Hard. Not continuously, but in long spurts of heavy downpour. It did not rain for the last few hours before daylight, still I expected the tent to be heavy with condensation on the inside, what with all that moisture hanging about. It was not. Dry. The dynamics of moisture escapes me. It was nice to get up without rain falling from the sky and to pack the tent with the inside dry. The outside was still very wet from rain.
A fog all the way to the ground surrounded us as we pack our panniers, ate breakfast and cycled out of the campground. We were about 2 miles off route. We cycled south through residential and farm land to reach Eurovelo 15 on the banks of the Rhine.
It is Monday morning and the commute is in full operation. Many, many cyclists pass us on the cycle routes along every road. There is more car traffic this morning as well.
Once on the route we again stay mostly on the dike that protects the communities from the Rhine when it comes rampaging during high water. About 10:00 am we hit the 1000 mile point as tracked by the odometer on my bike. I set it at zero at Oberalppass and it has been recording every inch we cover, whether on the route or off to the grocery store.
The last five miles into Wijk bij Duurstede is through gorgeous farm lands. From our vantage point on the dike we can oversee the field of corn, pasture land and hay. This farms have expensive looking houses and outbuilding. These farmers do well.
Wijk bij Duurstede boasts the only windmill with a drive thru tunnel for a base. Of course, we rode thru it. The town is absolutely beautiful. As picturesque and quaint as if on a movie set. Treed central square. Narrow streets with row houses. Shops. And more cyclists and pedestrians than one would expect from such a small town. No doubt, we are in the Netherlands.
We arrive at our hotel at the same time as the owner, about 11:30 am. This boisterous lady checks us in and shows us to our room. We took an hour to get organized, then spent an hour riding our bikes through town and gathering groceries.
Our goal today was to get as close to a zero day as possible. We were both feeling fatigued and needed to just lie around and let our bodies catch up. We succeeded pretty well, except for a trip out for a beer and soda two blocks away at about 3:00 pm. Crackling thunder and pelting rain sent us scurrying for our hotel room and forced us back to our sedentary ways. We used the time to make arrangements for our Paris stay, map out the rest of our route to the North Sea (only three days left!) and research how to get our bikes to Paris on the French trains that do not allow bikes. We are back to the bikes in boxes fiasco.
The weather forecast is improving. Less rain, and when it does come it is mostly in the evenings. Hopefully, we can end the trip with a dry tent.
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