If you’d ask us what makes bicycle touring so great, our answer would be: freedom. Since we live in an overcrowded country, which can be oppressive, we constantly search for remote areas while bicycle touring. To really experience that happy shiver down our spines as we feel totally free surrounded by vast landscapes. Not another soul in sight. Does Italy have the answer to our desire?
“I’m sorry, but the City Night Line doesn’t stop in Utrecht Central Station tonight. You need to get to Arnhem quickly!”
“Say what?!?”
It sounded so much more convenient: an overnight train to Vienna, Austria and no hassle with packing our bicycles safely for a flight. But our short bicycle adventure near the Alps starts with quite some stress…
“So, what’s in the Achterhoek?”
“I don’t know, I’ve never been there. Maybe we should check it out.”
“Sure, why not?”
A two hour drive later we find ourselves in Aalten, a village in the East of the Netherlands. We park the van and ride to a local farmers campsite, where we put up the tent and have ourselves a snack.
It has been a little more than six months since we rode into our hometown, so what have we been up to? Well, in a nutshell: meeting friends and family, finding jobs, looking for a home and giving interviews to local newspapers and bicycle touring magazines.