REES, Germany to TOLKAMER, Holland : 33 kms

Monday 9th July, 2018.

We didn't venture out until after 8a.m. today, it was overcast and a little cool so we thought the rain coats might be required, but by the time we'd had breakfast at the bakery/cafe, the sun was beginning to make an appearance and the day was warming up.

Rees has a dedicated sculpture park and has several other sculptures located throughout the town, they are very lifelike and we found them quite amusing so we photographed some of them before we left the town.

Once again, the cycle path led us away from the Rhine and into the countryside, through the corn, wheat and potato fields and through a couple of small villages, which we didn't mind at all, the sun was shining, there was a gentle breeze blowing and the path was smooth.

We had a couple of wrong turns along the way which were frustrating, the map book we have is very helpful but the directions are in Dutch which can make things a little difficult.  Still, we managed to find our way to Emmerich on the Rhine,

While enjoying coffee and f.a.cream cakes served by a Croatian waiter in Emmerich, I noticed a young woman walking up and down the foreshore, bouncing a basketball.  When we left the cafe, had ridden only a couple of hundred metres and stopped to photograph a sculpture, she came towards us, still bouncing the ball.  Mike spoke to her, thinking she was Australian as she was wearing Aust. flag shorts but she said no, she was Czechoslovakian and she had 'lost' her boat, and all her possessions which were on board, which is why she had been wandering up and down the riverfront, looking for said boat. We asked her the boat's name, she said "Arlene" which we had seen and photographed as it was a Ship/Bike boat and told her that it was still there.  She rushed off, hoping that she hadn't lost her job and we were left wondering how she could not have seen it tied up at the dock, it was not a small vessel.  On reaching Dordrecht 6 days later, we again saw "Arlene" tied up at the docks there but no sign of Christina.

where we had a coffee and cake break and then to the Germany/Holland border.

Border between Germany and Holland
One bike in each country.

Shortly after, with black clouds threatening, we arrived in Tolkamer, Holland.  Fortunately, we outran the rain and reached our accommodation, a former customs house on the Rhine and now a boutique hotel,

with no more than a drop of two having fallen.

On the riverbank opposite the hotel is a row of cafes and bars and the one we chose was Carlo's,

a man of our vintage who had worked on the river for more than 30 years and now runs the bar.

It is his 'hobby', he told us and it makes him some money.  He loves to talk to people and is very personable, so much so that it seems that his customers are his friends.  Other customers were a Belgian barge owner, his wife and son who travel up and down the river from Holland to Cologne.....we enjoyed chatting to them, such lovely, interesting people.

Our room overlooks the Rhine so we can indulge in a favourite pastime of watching the river traffic, i.e. until it's too dark to see and then we'll indulge in another favourite pastime, sleeping!