Dekkers on Trek

After a very delicious lunch at our friend Bettina’s house, her husband Ralf took the chance to bike 1,5 hour with us and brought us immediatly into the right direction towards the river Main. Thank you Bettina and Ralf for your kind hospitality! That’s what friends are for. 😉

On our second day we crossed the Veluwe (a national park) and reached Arnhem where we met a guy who was interested in bringing our story into the local newspaper.

We then crossed the border to Germany where we decided, over dinner, that the first three weeks of our trip (roughly up until Vienna) will be considered a holiday and the rest of the journey as hard work!

On day 3 the weather gods were against us, as we got absolutely soaked three times during the day. However, the day ended on a positive note with great hospitality in Düsseldorf, courtesy of the family Grobler (warm shower, great food, nice beer, fresh laundry, a real bed and lots of chatting).

On day 4, with great weather and a high pace, we managed to reach a camping spot in Koblenz (160km)  where we met a lot of co-bikers. Together with another father/son duo (from Cologne) we enjoyed a couple of beers during dinner.

Day 5 was marked by the crossing of three rivers: the Moselle, the Rhine and the Main. On top of that, a old chap took advantage of our slip stream for about 25km. He told us that he bikes his track (140km) once a week: Respect!

In the late afternoon we tried to check-in, with our tent, at ‘Kloster Erbach’ (a monastery) but the nuns were too celibate to welcome us. As a result, we ended up at a camping spot in Mainz a couple of kilometers further…

Tuesday night until 2.30 we were busy with packing and packing and packing…
Wednesday morning after breakfast we were finally on the road. But first we waved goodbye to our neighbors, our birthday-boy (grand)father (80 years young now) and finally paid a visit to Demaco, where all employees were waiting for saying goodbye to us. This was a huge and awesome surprise!
Then we took off to Lelystad via Enkhuizen and across the dike.
We are off!!

Hello everyone and thank you for visiting our site!

With a little more than one week to go, we are beginning to realize what adventure we have gotten ourselves into. Last weekend, we have been busy setting up the tent, testing our cooking utilities and going through our packing list. Besides, we have successfully tested our GPS device, which is connected to the map on this website and started saying goodbye to family and friends.

We will be travelling on our Santos Travelmasters, which have been prepared for the challenge by ‘de vakantiefietser‘ in Amsterdam.

On the 3rd of August, we will start our journey and you will be able to trace our route and find regular updates, including pictures, on this website.

Cheers,

Ronald & Maurice