Day 3, 20th May 2011, Lottun to Elsloo

I can’t work out whether we are lucky, or if we have a level of subliminal planning that creates luck.

We decided last night that Maastricht would be an intermediate destination.  To head in that direction, we needed to follow the Dutch cycle route LF3A.

So this morning we started out and found LF3A within a few hundred meters of our B&B, so we were underway quickly.  The weather was ideal, not too hot, but a lovely clear day.  The path meandered along the dykes that contain the Nederrijn River before coming to low hills that mark the barrier between the Rhine delta and the Maas River valley.

The path through the hills is delightful.  It utilises a number of narrow gravel forest trails, passing through some really beautiful country, and is the best riding we have experienced so far in Holland, enhanced by the rolling nature of the countryside.  These paths would not be accessible by any other means.

Around 1.00pm, we came out of one of these trails and onto a country road where, in the distance, I could see the umbrella of what could turn out to be a coffee shop.  It was more than a coffee shop, being a restaurant with a pleasant alfresco area at the front, more or less in the middle of nowhere.  Roz noticed a blackboard advertising asparagus, which is in season at the moment.  I ordered my usual cappuccino and apple cake, while Roz negotiated an order of asparagus, which she imagined might be an aperitif of a few stalks.  She was served a full meal of surpassing excellence, which included in addition to a mass of asparagus, a very nice grilled piece of salmon and some beautiful new potatoes.  Not exactly what she expected, but I helped her clean up the plate.

We rode on through the Maas valley towards the town of Velno, a very peasant ride through some attractive villages, and around 5.15 arrived at the town of Lottum, where Roz spotted the information centre about to close.  We were still some 15km, or perhaps an hour from the larger centre of Velno. We asked about accommodation, and very quickly found the last room in a particularly nice B&B, at the very reasonable price of 65E.  We had ridden 106km, of which an unusual distance of around 40km was on gravel paths.

We then wandered the few hundred meters to the village, had a cheap, cheerful and surprisingly good dinner sitting outside on a beautiful warm evening.

This has happened over and over again on our travels, things work out better than you could ever have expected, and so much better than if we had planned.

This will be posted a day late, as the internet at our B&B was down, just for today.

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