Our European Cycling Adventure 2019

By Deborah - Scotland has 262 peaks that are over 3000 feet - they are called Munro’s. For the crazy few, there’s a challenge of ‘bagging Munro’s’... just for the weekend we went mental and did 6 in one day (well for the record, climbed 8 peaks, but only 6 qualified 😫) We were in exceptional company - Steve’s done more than 150 and Andrea can’t remember how many 🤣 ... but great company carries you through 🙏 - We hiked the Three Brothers and The Five Sisters tracks near Loch Shiel back to back. 11 hours of up and down tramping. Now, two days later we can barely move 🤣.  Hanging out with deer on a Sunday morning is better than church. We visited Reraig Forest near Lochcarron with Colin (Andreas’s Uncle) who takes people to see the deer up close and personal in the Scottish highlands.  Ascending the first peak to be told this was not yet a ‘Munro’. To be a Munro there has to be a height difference of at least 150 metres altitude between each peak. The next highest peak was just under

By Johan - After celebrating the finish of our bike tour with Andrea and Steve in Aberdeen we swapped our bikes for a Vauxhall Corsa to travel around Scotland. It turned out to be a good call given the weather and hills this beautiful country has to offer. The highland and coastal scenery is simply awesome; absolutely beautiful on a good day and mystical when the stormy or misty weather moves in. The weather literally changes hourly, you never know what you are going to get. Even the weather forecast seems to be an absolute guess on most days; “Variable” would be the safest bet for sure.  Our first stop was Aviemore, the gateway to Craingorms National Park. The road from Aberdeen takes you right over the Highlands into this beatiful park. We noticed a sign “Working sheep Dogs” and checked out the daily 4pm working dog show, put on by a local farmer (Leault farm) who also happens to be a multi national champion dog trainer. Very impressive to see Neil Ross in action with his pack of up

By Johan - It’s always a treat to visit the Netherlands to catch up with family and friends. We are fortunate that we are able to “pop-in” from time to time to keep in touch because although the Internet is great to find out what’s happening, there is nothing quite like a hug, a toast and an evening of face to face banter with the people that are so dear to us. We absolutely loved it and we thank everybody for their amazing hospitality and “gezelligheid” once again.  No surprises here; the biking in the Netherlands is always great; it’s flat and there are cycleways everywhere.  We followed various canals and rivers from the German border near Kerkrade to get to Someren, my old home town.  We were impressed with the European cycleways all the way from Slovenia to Germany and between, however the Dutch put it up another notch. You literally can go just about anywhere using cycleways only. Despite the fact it’s densely populated, there are numerous beautiful scenic cycleways to enjoy.  As