It’s our last day cycling the EuroVelo 15! Yay but also boo. It’s been quite the experience.
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It was already a steamy day in Duisburg.
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I loved all these little fields we rode past. Tucked in amongst houses. I wondered if they were private or part of a larger farm?
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Quick playground and potty stop.
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Lunch stop shenanigans.
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Neat town art.
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We had quite a bit of riding to do today but Ty tried to find a playground to stop at about 2/3 of the way through. The first one was a bust. He rode past another and I was starting to get peeved. I needed a bum break! But we were led to where we needed to be. We ended up at the most amazing playground. It was all hand built structures and play areas built by kids. The man was literally opening up the as we were looking in the gate. Since it’s a bit rougher they have an adult supervising when it’s open. The kids were practicing starting fires when we were there. Sounds crazy but it was really awesome that kids have a place like this to explore these skills safely.
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We stayed longer than planned talking with a woman who was onsite for the kids. Once we did leave it was an uphill slog. Nothing as bad as Hawaii for elevation gain but enough on a tired body that it felt exhausting. It was also on this weird, kind of narrow road.
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Looks scenic and relaxing without cars trying to pass you on what’s essentially one lane. 🙄
After riding 60 miles, we made it to Nijmegen, Netherlands!!!
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From here the plan was to ride a train into the Amsterdam airport, Schiphol. The only snag we hit with this was apparently bikes aren’t really allowed on trains after 4pm due to rush hour traffic, and it was now 4:30. 😬
The first conductor kicked us off the train. Telling us to wait till 6:30 before we could ride with our bikes. Thankfully trains to Schiphol ran every 45 minutes. So we just planned on trying to get on the next one. Happy to say our plan worked! We set our bikes up in the bike compartment, jammed the giant chariot into a nearby area and grabbed the 4 nearby seats.
We got through about 4 stops before the conductor came by, saw our bikes and told us he’d have to kick us off in two stops. It was simply going to be too busy, with too many passengers to allow us to bring the bikes. He was very kind about it but we were so tired.
The train stopped and he told us we needed to get off. Since we were going to the airport he assumed we had a flight to catch tomorrow. We didn’t exactly correct him, hoping this might help our case. We got the chariot and one bike off the train before he stopped us. We were in total limbo, kids and bags off the train, Ty and I on the train with the conductor in the doorway, telling us to wait three minutes to see. It was less busy than he had thought it would be. At the very last minute he told us to load everything back up!
We were so happy!!!! This saved us arriving in Schiphol after it was dark. It was forecasted to rain tonight as well. It was such a kindness, we truly appreciated him taking a moment to see the big picture for us.
We arrived in Schiphol and ate dinner in the airport. Put the bikes back together again outside the taxi and bus area before loading up for the last ride of the day. https://hamptonsonholiday.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/img_4324.mov
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We made it to our giant hotel, and we are all so happy!! The kids are asleep in their bunk beds. The weather is thunder and lightning again outside. I’m so thankful we’re not out riding now and so proud of all we accomplished.
Excited to explore a bit of Amsterdam tomorrow and hoping the weather clears up by morning.
