Maastricht, The Netherlands

Despite my best intentions to enact sweet, calculating revenge on my cuckoo German dormmate, I never got the chance. He was up and out on his daily mission to steal other people’s beds by an eye-watering 06:30am. I waited until I was certain he had disappeared, then readied myself for an early start on the journey to Maastricht.

It was an easy thirty-five klicks west to the Dutch border town. The only evidence that I was leaving Germany was  this unassuming sign, followed a bit further down the road with a sharp increase in the number of double vowels in the words adorning the others.

I had been led to believe that Holland was a flat nation ideal for bicycles, but the hill I had to scale to reach Maastricht scotched that notion. Pushing Ron up to the crest, I freewheeled down the other side and into the suburbs of the town.

My unpleasant dorm experience from last night had me hankering for my own room, so rather than plump for a hostel I cycled down the river instead, looking out for the so-called  Botel, a floating hotel. As expected, the  cabin was small and a bit tatty, but it was cheap, a unique place to stay, and most importantly, 100% free of late-night German wake-up calls.

Maastricht was a real jewel of a city. With its  pretty, well-tended, flat-fronted brick buildings with rows of rectangular windows lining the cobbled streets, it was an attractive European weekend getaway. It reminded me of Geneva in a way, but with a more genuine, lived-in feel and a graceful, calm ambience about it, although on reflection perhaps that just as much to do with its mild-mannered Dutch inhabitants as the city itself.

I spent a few hours on launderette detail, walking the shopping streets in between spins, and nipped into one of the many cafes to indulge in a coffee and a tostie before braving the supermarket to shop for my self-catered meal that evening. Such is my non-stop rock’n'roll lifestyle on the road…

Forty days of being constantly on the move had begun to take its toll, and I was looking forward to nearing the end to this leg of my journey and recharging my batteries at home, which was a matter of days away. But before that I needed to call on a travelling companion and good friend of mine for a little reunion.