Hilly NL - Day 6 - A lot of castles round around the hotel

Bicycle: 32 km

Riding time: 2:08 h

Total ascent:  147 m
Avg speed: 15.1 km/h
Route: Around the hotel in North of Maastricht

Weather: Sun and clouds, no rain, but strong wind,  17 C

Finally it seems that the bike has been repaired successfully. At least I could ride 33 km without any incident. Okay, 33 km aren't that much, but then I was back before lunch, and then too lazy to get out of the hotel room again. It didn't help that each time I looked on buienradar, it seemed that in the next hour it would go to rain. And actually the only time it did NOT forecast rain, it was actually raining outside. Anyway, I at least did some riding today. 

I took it slowly, stopping at each castle along the way and taking a picture.

Well, okay, the first picture wasn't a castle strictly speaking, but it looked great with the gray sky behind it. 

The first castle... 

... inaccessible like all the following ones, but still in use. 

Castle number 2 (Hartelstein) looked more like a defensive manor, and seems to house a housing project as well as a second hand shop. 

Before coming to castle #3, I passed through the Maas landscape, which at least in this region here claims to be a nearly natural river... not like in the rest of the Netherlands, where most rivers are highly regulated. The horses (and also some angus cattle) are officially "employed" in this landscape to keep the vegetation low and avoid the growth of a small forest along the river. 

Castle #3 was inaccessible at the moment and also unoccupied, but clearly there were some reconstruction works ongoing in order to reopen it to the public. Not sure what are the precise plans for the castle though. Looks big compared to poor, young brompton. 

In front of that castle was also this not-at-all-explained "sculpture". One would think that the explanatory sign above it gave some hints why a toilet bowl would be standing around in the middle of a village... but no. It was tempting to use it... but I figured that this wasn't the scope either. 

Continuing, I came to castle number 4, which I had seen already yesterday, but for good measure I took a new picture.

Shortly after followed by castle number 5 ...

Today I managed to progress beyond this castle and back to my hotel without incidents, but not without passing an other 2 castles. Castle #6, which is a few hundred meter away from our hotel ...

... and apparently used by a long list of companies for their offices, and a bit further down the road castle number 7 which is currently being restructured, but already quite close to finalization. Probably for something like a company or meeting rooms. 

And then finally back to the hotel, castle number 8 of the day:

Hilly NL - Day 3, 4 & 5 Rides to bicycle repair

Bicycle: 33 km

Car: 34 km 

Taxi: 5 km

Walking: 5 km

Riding time: 2:02 h

Walking time: 1:08 h
Total ascent:  165 m
Avg speed: 17.1 km/h; 14.5 km/h; 15.1 km/h
Route: Mainly to and from bicycle repair shop

Weather: Generally sunny, in the later days quite windy but less hot, 19 - 28 C 

These last 3 days, instead of riding, I have mainly been going to the bicycle repair shop. It started alright on Thursday (Day 3) morning, when I got up really early (6:00 am) to have a ride in the morning before breakfast as weather forecast for the day was hot. Too hot for me to comfortably cycle. 

I decided for a route of about 40 km around the hotel so that I would be back by around 9:15 in time for a shower before breakfast. As typical for this region, I came by some castles... 

... and then mainly cycled in between the Maas river and a parallel (but higher) running canal. At some point my planned route had me cross the canal, where there wasn't any bridge at all, but luckily going straight on the side of the canal where I was, was an option, so I continued on. 

The landscape overall was flat (although one could see some hills farther away) and not specially thrilling but okay for an early morning ride. 

Shortly after crossing the canal and starting my way back to the hotel, the bicycle became hard to steer... so I checked... and the front wheel was going flat. I tried pumping it up, but as soon as I removed the pump it went flat again within less than a minute. So nothing to be done. At this moment it was 8:30, so safe enough to call my husband to come and pick me up. (Alternatively I could have caught a bus and then a second bus... but well, husband wasn't too far away and it was time to get up anyway).

While waiting for him, I checked out brompton sellers at Maastricht and found two shops, one of them right in front of the train station. So it seemed that the solution to the problem was relatively easy. Boy was I wrong!

After breakfast we went by car to Maastricht, I handed over the poor (young) brompton to the bicycle repair man and we went off to some sightseeing and shopping in Maastricht. (While on this trip my bicycle broke, it was also the trip where on the first hike the hiking shoes of my husband broke... so definitely a trip with a lot of broken essentials). Anyway, we did our day in Maastricht and as the bike shop hadn't called (as promised) we went back again to the hotel and lounged in the large, park like garden all afternoon in the shadow of a huge oak. 

On Friday (Day 4) morning, we had decided to do a day without hiking and cycling, visiting a castle, having ice cream in yet another castle and then driving back to Maastricht to pick up the bicycle which by now should have been repaired... although the bike shop never called. And there it was, with a new, fully inflated tire waiting for me. So all seemed good and the poor brompton went into the trunk and we back to the hotel. 

As it was still early and I hadn't moved a lot during the day, I decided for a round of about 30 km around the hotel... but only after a km or so I noticed that steering was still very hard, and I made an enormous effort to even cycle. I found a quiet spot on a road and examined what was wrong with the bike. It definitely wasn't a flat. It was the breaks on the front wheel which now touched the wheel continuously... and obviously made cycling hard work. 

So back it was to the bicycle repair shop. I still had hopes that this would be an easy fix, and luckily this bicycle repair shop only closes at 19:00 so I had enough time to fight my way back into the city against the wind and with the breaks half on. 

Unfortunately it was not a quick fix, and I needed to leave the poor brompton in the shop again. For yet another night. And had to call again my husband to come and pick me up. I think he is simply relieved to hear when I call that it is the bicycle that has a problem and not me. 

As they promised that the bicycle would be repaired first thing today (Day 5) in the morning, we went right after breakfast to pick it up again, and yes, there it was, with a front wheel full of air and rolling. I even did a test ride of about 1.5 km through the center of Maastricht to try it out, and all seemed well. So husband set off by car for his hike to the highest point in the Netherlands, and I started the ride that I wanted to do yesterday. 

I had the entire day ahead of me, so decided to take it slow, do the same round I had planned yesterday afternoon and stop at each castle on the way and take a picture. I managed two...

... before the flat stroke again. Not even 8 km had it lasted (while the previous front tyre lasted for over 6,000 km!)

Luckily I was very close to a bus stop, the bus was there waiting and going straight to Maastricht station. So there I went again, to my not-preferred bicycle repair shop in Limburg. They took in the bicycle again to repair it once more. While I took a taxi back to the hotel, where I rejoined my husband who gave up on his hiking plans when hearing about my bromptons disadventure. 

At this point, I was very much tempted to take a train back to Leiden and get my Specialized Roubaix... but it would have meant an entire day in the train, the hassle of reserving a spot for the bike on the train (due to Corona) and the hassle again on Tuesday to either try to fit the bike in the car, or to ride back alone by train again. Luckily my husband convinced me to do an alternative plan. Hiking!!! An activity I quite dislike, mainly because I find it strenuous and boring. But I got to select the hiking route and choose a short one, about 5 km, with fields and forest, no hills and a restaurant at the end. Which was actually quite nice. 

En route we came by a castle with hotel and restaurant...

... later on through meadows with horses that choose to stay right in front of the exit gate (but didn't actually try to escape, just stood there, annoying the hikers) ...

... and finally along a small stream back to the restaurant where we had parked and then had a late lunch.

Before the hike the bicycle repair shop actually called that the bike was fixed again (they changed again the inner tube and this time even fitted it with a normal brompton valve on not a Dutch valve, which they previously claimed was completely unavailable in the Netherlands). I now really wonder what kind of inner tube they had used in the first repair attempt. Probably not a brompton inner tube but something else, which actually did not fit. 

For today I was fed up with cycling... tomorrow more... hopefully. And hopefully to new destinations! 

Hilly NLs - Day 2 - Wahlwiller to Weert

Bicycle: 36 km

Car: 32 km

Riding time: 2:09 h
Total ascent: 239 m
Avg speed: 16.9 km/h
Route: Wahlwiller - Weert
Weather: Sunny and warm, but not so hot as feared, 23 C

Today weather forecast was saying that it would get quite hot from lunch time onwards, so we decided yesterday to get up early, have breakfast before 8:00 and get going on our hiking (husband) and cycling (me) adventure of the day before it would get too hot, at least for me, to move. Actually now sitting in the large park of the hotel (admittedly in the shade of some big oaks), it isn't actually that hot. Nice and summerly, but not scorching.

In order not to do just a round ride from the hotel, I went with my husband by car in his starting point for the hike, Wahlwiller and then cycled back from there. 

I had found yesterday on Route.nl a round ride of about 50 km from there... which I shortened into about 36 km... as I obviously wanted to come back to the hotel. 

It started with a small castle a few kilometers after the start. 

Apparently Limburg is very well known for its abundance of castles. And it is known for its beer. I first came through the factory of Brand ...

... and shortly after through Gulpen. Definitely want to go back to Gulpen to try their Urhop that I normally buy directly from the producer. But today that place was way too early on my route... not yet for a stop. I rode on, with a bit of up and down through the undulating landscape. 

One steep hill was too steep for me and my brompton at about 10%... but luckily it was also very short so I pushed my bike up and then had a view over the hills and valleys around. 

I know, in any other country, these views wouldn't be breathtaking, and I have definitely already climbed higher hills. But well, still amazed at these non-flat landscapes in the Netherlands.

A little bit further along on the wayside I spotted a supermarket, did some small shopping and then had a brussel waffle with raspberries in the shadow of a very nice tree, before heading back to the hotel. 

Hilly NLs - Day 1 - around hotel

Bicycle: 17 km

Riding time: 1:04 h
Total ascent: 130 m
Avg speed: 15.7 km/h
Route: Around the hotel, North-East of Maastricht
Weather: Sunny and quite warm, 20 C

This year for vacation due to Covid-19 we decided to stay in the Netherlands. Not really a place we would normally consider for vacation, but actually there are nice things to discover here as well. 

As my husband wants to go hiking and wanted to escape from the flatlands we came by car to Maastricht in South Limburg, the only region of the Netherlands with some hills. Surprisingly they only start around Maastricht, so it is really only the last kilometers of the Netherlands that are hilly.

After hours in the car and a late lunch at the hotel before dinner I went for a quick ride of reconnaissance close to the hotel. Quickly planned on komoot. 

In 17 km around the hotel I did more than double the ascending than I did last Saturday on a 77 km ride from Leiden to Uithoorn. And yes, there was one slightly tiring climb... but I didn't need to push the bike. But with the ascending also comes the descending and I had a very long and straight descend from Berg en Terblijt down to Geullem. Which a lot of cyclists on racing bikes climbed up showing a lot of fatigue. But I had clearly climbed up that hill on the other side on ways with a bit less of a gradient. 

This was the view from the hill before I sailed down. 

Further along the route was a nice and cold valley with catacombs build into the rock, a small river and a lot of open air restaurants along. But I went on, back to the hotel.