Orchid is there any particular cycling tour that you would say was the nicest or unusually strenuous?

When our boys were 13 and 11 we went on a 500 kilometre tour in Muenster Land, Germany. It was recommended as the 100 castle tour, with camping sites along the way.

Well, it turned out to be the most horrid vacation I’ve ever been on. When we got off the train it was pouring. Our tents and sleeping bags were laden on top of our bikes. Our roundtrip train ticket was in 7 days, and till then it poured half the time. Not only that…the route was flat as pancake, which meant non stop pedalling…no hills to just race down and ride. Not good.

Most of the castles were closed. Camping sites were in planning and didn’t exist. The advertisement for the tour was one big lie. BUT we did it. Don’t ask me how; … between coughing cows at our tent’s entrance and my air mattress floating within our tent, it was a night-mare. My husband and the boys considered it adventurous.

On our return trip, the dark rings under my eyes, white lips, and soggy hair, plucked at my husband’s heart strings, or maybe he just got scared. He suggested I book and plan the next vacation, which I did;… warm climate with lots of deck chairs, without wheels!