Brilliant sunset lights
German fields, scattered through Dutch
Windmill blades' turnings.
Our last day in Germany!
We made a push from Oldenburg to a tiny town just across the border in Holland called Nieuweschans. It was... an interesting day, I guess. After pushing ourselves way too hard yesterday to get that last damn 20km to Oldenburg from Hude, we were less-than-pleased to wake up early this morning and start riding. But I guess we did it, so there is that...
Logically, the path from Oldenburg to Holland is a straight west (and slightly south-west, actually, since our next goal is Amsterdam) line across the final few kilometres of Deutschland. However, everyone we spoke to in Oldenburg encouraged us to head northward towards a town called Bad Zwischenahn. Granted, the bike path up to it was nice. Well, it was scenic, anyway, despite the fact that the road itself was quite gravelly and awful. Whatever. We take the road up there.
From Bad Zwischenan, we hoped for a road that might arc to the south (especially since by this point we were dangerously near to heading off the maps we purchased yesterday, but more on those maps later), but... there was none. We asked directions again, all the while attempting to explain that we were headed to Amsterdam after this and could we please get a route that leads to the south? but people pointed us towards a town called Apen, which was actually out of range of our maps, and which was excessively confusing to find signage for. For instance, at one intersection in B.Z., we were pointed in a full circle around two blocks before finding a sign that pointed us out of the loop towards Apen. At a crosswalk, there were signs on either side of the road pointing "to Apen" that actually pointed at each other and had wildly different distance measurements marked. Helpful, Germany, thanks.
We made it to Apen where, predictably, there were no roads south again, so we headed further north and off our maps towards another unnavegable town called Leer. I spare the details of the horrific bike roads there, except to say that there were several bits which led through fields which were full of sheep and also sheep-leavings. Unpleasant.
After a decidedly awful circuitous route through Leer (not improved by our stop in a smoke-filled casino for internet, since those are apparently the only places one can find it here), we freed ourselves and headed, at last, towards the Netherlands. We didn't cross the border anywhere near our goal, but it was lovely, anyway. Just across, the sky was a rainbow of sunset silhouetting wind turbines that heralded a tailwind for us. ...quite a contrast to the dark German sky and violent winds we had been battling all day.
We rolled into our little town of Nieuweschans and pulled out our Netherlands map, which showed, thank god, a campsite nearby. We set up our stuff and headed into town to find some food. Unsurprisingly, all the grocery stores were closed by this time (it was slightly after 20h), so we settled into the one café in town. It's a small town.
The owner of the café didn't speak English, only German and Dutch. There were no menus; he just asked what we wanted. The walls were crowded with decorations branded with Amstel logos. A few locals were sitting at the bar and the 6 or so tables, and they were clearly welcome: two had brought their dogs, and one had brought her children. A number of them spoke English, so we chatted with them from across the room.
After we wolfed down large portions of toast, eggs, and bacon, we were pleasantly surprised by beers at the expense of a couple sitting at the bar. We moved over to chat with them, and learned a number of things about the town. They lived nearby, they said, and they wouldn't mind if we wanted to come over in the morning and have them cook us some real Dutch breakfast.
The conversation wore on, and Evan and I talked more about our trip and the tent that we've been staying in. Oh, they said, you are welcome to set up your tent in our backyard, if you want, so that you don't have to pay the camping fees.
Well, that's lovely. We headed over to their house for some post-drinks drinks, and we talked with their son, who had learned a very peculiar brand of British English. He was more than happy to offer us his bed for the night, so that we wouldn't have to sleep on the ground, and he would take the couch.
What a deal! The son even walked us over to the campsite and helped load our bikes and carry stuff back to the house. It was... a surprising show of hospitality that I might not have expected to find many places. The man of the family, Wubbe, had very strong feelings about our nationality. He was not far removed from the last Great War, and it was interesting how much his gratefulness to the Canadian and American soldiers guided his actions. They were a charming family, though, and we are grateful to have the chance to learn things from random hosts! Would that this streak of kindness continues. :)