Day 5 Holland, 23/09/2010 Erichem – Tiel – Ochten – Dodewaard – Oosterhout – Nijmegen – Groesbeek. 40.74miles/65.18km, ride time 4hr03mins, av 10.1mph

Another damp start greeted us, must be something to do with most of Holland being below sea level!

Drama strikes, I lost my cycle computer. We spend ages looking for it, but it has gone. A loss already and its only day 5!

Slightly later than planned because of all the searching we head for the Dutch/German border. We bypass the Large town of Tiel and follow the northern bank of the river Waal through several villages all the way to Nijmegen. With tired legs we head into the city of Nijmegen with the plan once again to find a useful map. Nijmegen is Holland's oldest city and the whole surrounding area was the scene of fierce fighting towards the end of World War II, as the allies pressed onwards to Germany.

With not much luck from the tourist office, we eventually bought a road map of the upper Rhein from the ANWB (much more useful tourist office and map shop than the VVV).

With thanks to a helpful local who led us out of the city centre and pointed us in the right direction, we carried on through university campus land and by now quite hilly forestry tracks towards Groesbeek.

The detours into city centres have cost us a huge amount of time, we have been finding that 4hrs of riding is taking nearer 7hrs with the stops. The idea of 100kms a day is at the moment looking unlikely. It has to be said that the sticking to cycle paths has occasionally taken us on quite a meandering route.

Deciding that we would stop inside Holland and then cross into Germany tomorrow, we located a camp-site on our map and went to check it out. If you find yourself in Grafwegen, don't bother with the camp-site. A hasty made up price of 20 Euros, by an unfriendly owner was more than we were willing to pay. Unfortunately the alternative was up a very steep hill, which is not what you need with a very tired Debbie at the end of a long day (plus Toad is still refusing to pedal!).

At the other camp-site (on Klein Amerika for those interested.) we were met by a very friendly farmer who had no idea of the price (possibly 8,9 or 10 Euros) and said he would send his wife round later., but pitch where you like in the mean time.

His wife was equally helpful, although we stared to worry that we would be asleep before she came round. 10 Euros later, we settled into the tent for the night.

With hindsight pitching on a slope wasn't the best idea, that and the huge thunderstorms above our heads, didn't make for an exactly restful night.

Good news! My cycle computer turned up, it was in my sleeping bag?!

Day 4 Holland, 22/09/10. Oud-Alblas–Ottoland–Nordeloos–Meerkerk–Leerdam–Geldermalsen–Buren–Erichem 42.99miles/68.79km, 4hr23mins ride time, av 9.7mph

First thing to mention, packing up a damp tent and loading a touring bicycle takes a bit of time. We didn't get away quite as early as we planned but, it isn't like we are in a rush!

Our route continued through farm land, small pretty villages, where everyone seems to live in a huge Dutch barn conversion/new builds. Passing the occasional windmill, we cycled on through the flat landscape.

A quick word on cycling in a flat landscape; you never stop pedalling, it becomes quite relentless!

As we passed the large town of Leerdam the farmland gave way to orchards. We resisted the chance to go scrumping, not wanting to end up on wanted posters with the world's slowest getaway vehicles! Instead we bought some apples from outside a house and continued onwards to a larger camp-site outside Erichem.

The camp-site appeared to be only open to house the large amount of Polish fruit pickers, who apparently flood to this area for the season. The opportunity for free camping in Holland looks unlikely, mainly due to every acre of land being used for farming/orchards and most of it surrounded by drainage dykes.

Day 3 Holland, 21/09/10. Hook of Holland – Rotterdam – Kinderdijk – Oud-Alblas 41.42miles / 67.41km, 4hr28mins ride time, averaging 8.9mph.

We were greeted by a very misty damp morning as we rode down the ferry ramp and into Holland. After a bit of trial and error we found the correct cycle path to Rotterdam and headed on our way.

The whole area was a bit like a ghost town, we can only assume nothing gets going very early in Holland. After about 20kms of drainage dykes, deserted cycle paths and the odd miserable other cyclist (In 3 days only about 1 in 20 acknowledge a greeting!) we had the rude awakening of cycling in Rotterdam.

Rotterdam's cycle lanes are great, but the sheer number of cyclists and mopeds using them, makes navigating two, quite wide, heavy bicycles a bit of a challenge. After some trouble and the assistance of a few helpful people we found the Tourist Information office (VVV in Holland). The plan was to buy some maps of the Rhein route and cycle off on our merry way. Maps however have turned out to be a problem, there are plenty to choose from, but none of them cover much area. Perhaps GPS may have been a wise purchase after all!

Leaving with at least one map, we made it safely out of the city and eventually to the passenger/cycle ferry that would take us to Kinderdijk.

Kinderdijk is a world heritage listed site containing probably the largest collection of preserved windmills in Holland. In 1740, 19 of them were built to drain water from the area and lift it to the river Lek. The cycle path between them is quite beautiful and certainly made a pleasant change from the more urban landscape of Rotterdam.

Passing a 'Mini Camping' (small, usually farm run camp site) we decided to stop for the night in the quiet village of Oud-Alblas. Our tent and bicycles got a few funny looks from the few other caravan owners but we were too tired to care.