Our chosen site near Dusseldorf, a city much mentioned by my late mother's family, was intended merely as a stopover site, breaking our journey towards Amsterdam, however, so impressed were we that a 24 hour extension was decided upon.
The site was about 7 miles away from the city centre and afforded us with a view of the constant river traffic. Nearby we discovered a car ferry which was ideal for our cycling purposes. On the opposite bank we could see the ruins of an old castle/palace at Kaiserswerth, and on first sight there didn't appear to be much else, but on closer inspection we found a most exquisite old town that had clearly escaped the attentions of WW2.
On Sunday we again crossed the Rhine and cycled into Dusseldorf along the river side cycle track. Upon arrival in the city, I was thankful that I was wearing my Garstang Cycling Club colours which are black, red and yellow, thereby allowing me to merge un-noticed into the thousands of Germany fans who were preparing for the match (no further comment on that matter). See photo above
Our last day was taken up with cycling during the day and in the evening we were visited by an English couple, John and Pat Parkinson, who wanted to pick our brains regarding sites in Germany. Amazingly it turned out that they were both Prestonians and live in Whittingham Lane, Broughton. Even more amazingly, we discovered that John was a retired adult education teacher and had for many years worked with my cousin, Rosemary! (Come on Anne Spencer - beat that!)
Today (Tuesday)we have travelled to our final site near to the old fishing port of Hoorn, which is close to Amsterdam. We have a super pitch alongside a little canal and have already taken a couple of short cycle rides to inspect the area. Before departure from our last site, a Dutch couple asked me where we were heading for and I attempted to pronounce the name of Hoorn, but they couldn't understand me, however, after a few moments, the confusion was sorted out when our friends told me that my pronunciation was incorrect, and in the words of our friends, my attempt referred to "a public woman" rather than a quaint little seaside town. Good job I wasn't asking for directions - may have got more than I was expecting!
As our regular Blogards will know, we sail home on Thursday night and I can promise a final blog upon our arrival home, but what I can say at this stage is that it has been a most wonderful time and I would recommend it to anyone.
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