Beautiful church at Borgloon

Today we set off from Valkenburg, and through Maastricht where we stopped briefly in the main square.

We should have stayed longer as it is a very nice place, and all around us bars and cafés were setting their chairs up in the sunshine. 

However, we were off to see a very unusual church in the Belgian countryside. It took a while but we eventually found it nestling in the landscape just south of Borgloon. 

It is actually a sculpture called 'Reading between the lines' and is a model of the typical local churches that is made of 30 tons of metal. 

In different angles it becomes see through and the effect is amazing . 

From the inside it was even better as we

stood and looked through the metal and could see an almost identical real church in the distance. 

We sat and contemplated the scene while eating peanuts and a sort of wagon wheel biscuit. 

A team of people then appeared and set up a champagne reception in a corner of the field, but unfortunately we had no chance of getting a glass because it was all for a company team building day, and they were still out somewhere in the countryside doing who knows what as we left before they arrived. 

Two days in Valkenburg

Two days ago I walked straight into a square legged chair and ended up with my little right toe sticking out at a strange angle. The only good result of this was that I avoided having to clean my bike, but the rest of it is all bad.

Yesterday we did a lovely cycle ride from Eindhoven to Valkenburg that was just under 90 kilometres. Mostly my poorly toe was fine as it was happy in my shoe, but getting on and off the bike was difficult, although I got better as the day went on. 

Today we went for a little walk and when we got back to the hotel a giant Alsatian dog was lying at the bottom of the stairs. I didn't see him and nearly stood on him, and in my panic to get away I put all of my weight on the broken (possibly) toe and pushed backwards as hard as I could. Ouch, ouch. 

We then had a lazy rest of the day, but visited our favourite cafe twice for fantastic cappuccinos. 

Hopefully, normal behaviour will be resumed tomorrow. 

The Potato Eaters part two

Today we almost had a day off. We stayed near Nuenen and just did a round trip on the Van Gogh Route, although it ended up as over 60 kilometres in total. 

We didn't see anything related to Van Gogh, but the countryside was lovely and the sun even came out. 

Best part of the day came when we found a cafe in a farmyard in the middle of nowhere. There was no other customers and we were surrounded by goats, sheepdogs, chickens and lots of dodgy smells, but we were very happy to end up with two huge glasses of wine. 

Dinner was lots of potatoes in honour of Van Gogh - chips and mayonnaise - fantastic feast. 

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Van Gogh Route

Yesterday we broke all of our speed records and shot from Gouda to Den Bosch. It was about 77 kilometres and we saw the usual lovely countryside and windmills. We also stopped for two ferry rides, numerous cups of coffee and enjoyed a bag of wine gums along the way.

This is a statue of Heironimous Bosch, a famous painter who changed his surname to that of his town. We would have gone to his museum but it was closed on Mondays. 

Today we went from Den Bosch to Eindhoven along the Van Gogh trail. In reality he only lived locally for two years, but that hasn't stopped the tourist industry from taking him to their hearts. 

We went around the museum but it wasn't very exciting, apart from a cow and a very fancy modern bicycle that was painted with Van Gogh's sunflowers. 

Tonight though we went out as it was getting dark to see the Starry Nights section of his trail. It consisted of thousands of stones that lit up and the effect was very nice. Unfortunately, he didn't paint either Starry Nights or Sunflowers while living locally, but a rather dark painting called 'The Potato Eaters'. 

Kinderdjik windmills and Rotterdam

Another lovely day on the road and this time we started the day with a cycle ride to a ferry. It was already in so we got on board and then Daz hopped back off to take a photo.

At that moment the ferry started pulling away and he had to run to get back on. It was only a five minute journey and if he had missed it then he would have had to swim and luckily his bike was already on board. 

On the other side we headed for the windmills and were surprised to find ourselves surrounded by hundreds of other tourists, who must have found a different way to get there as they certainly weren't on our boat. 

There was 19 windmills in less than a couple of miles and they were used to pump water out of the fields as the whole area is below sea level. 

It was all very beautiful and we cycled out beyond the crowds and then followed cycle paths to Rotterdam. 

I wanted to see some amazing houses that defy the laws of gravity. We went inside one of them and the floors are flat, but all of the windows and walls were at crazy angles. However all of the other houses were lived in, so some people must get used to it. 

Final stop of the day was Gouda where we had chips and mayonnaise for tea. 

Delft

We had a lovely day today in Delft. It was supposed to be a flying visit on the way to Rotterdam, but it was so beautiful that we stayed for most of the day.

There was a big petanque competition going on in the market square and we sat on some very uncomfortable chairs drinking coffee and watching the action. 

We also found lots of cheese and Delft pottery souvenirs. 

We spent a couple of hours in the the Vermeer museum and then had the most tasty and healthy lunch in a busy cafe. 

Excellent day.