Cycle Day 23 From Duisberg to a field in Belgium

The morning is damp but brightens up quickly. Today, we aim to get to Duisberg at the end of the Ruhr cycle route and then catch a train to Aachen near the German/Belgian border and cross into Belgium.

More enjoyable cycling along the Ruhr mostly through pleasant meadows alongside the river. When we reach Mulheim we enter a rather lovely park and spend half an hour or so being distracted by an ingenious water playground where you can manipulate a series of sluices, corkscrew pumps and waterwheels to your heart's content.

The picture shows a pair of pumps which launch bolts of water from side to side in a variety of patterns.

We reach Duisberg at 3pm and catch a train to Aachen. At this stage we have little idea what awaits us in Belgium. We have no Belgian maps and normally wait until we get to a new country before trying to get hold of a new set of maps. In Aachen, we spot a sign to a Belgian town and follow it. We do have a page from a European Motorist's atlas, but the town is not named. We cycle uphill for an hour through thick forest until we reach a hotel on a main road and another cycle sign to another Belgian town which is 2km nearer. We decide to follow this until we reach a junction in the forest and no signs. We ask a jogger for directions. He tells us to head left until we reach a crossroads. If we turn right here we will get to the point where Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium meet. This sounds interesting and he appears to know what he's talking about.

We reach the crossroads and turn right along a forest track. We note that running along on our left hand side are a series of border posts. The path begins to get narrower and rougher and we struggle over fallen trees, down scree slopes and through rusting metal gates.

Here is Cathy crossing into Belgium!!!!!

Eventually after an hour and a half, at 9.30pm, we reach the border post where the three countries meet. It is all rather touristy but have got here allows us to visit the Netherlands for a short while.

Both Cathy and Isla's rear wheels are in Germany. Cathy's front wheel wheel is in the Netherlands and Isla's front wheel is in Belgium. The photo is taken by Andy who has his left foot in the Netherlands and his right in Belgium. Such silly games cheer us up.

We are now in Belgium and cycle downhill in the approaching darkness and pass through a series of small villages with no campsites or hotels in sight. Eventually we see a sign to an Auberge but it turns out to be only a restaurant. The chef directs us to a hotel 9km away. It's not after 10.30pm and dark. With no clear directions or map we won't get there before midnight. We therefore decide to sneek behind a mound of earth and camp in a green patch of ground beside some maize. We have little to eat or drink but some muesli, some nuts and half a litre of water. We settle down to sleep a peaceful sleep.

Cycled 52.35 km

Busking earnings 0

No punctures