Day 23, Arnhem to Utrecht

A good breakfast fuelled us well, as you'd expect of a 4* Best Western hotel. Navigation today was pretty straightforward on two accounts. Firstly, since entering our 6th country yesterday, Netherlands, the Garmin has started displaying detailed maps again (which leads me to think that it was an error on my part transferring maps across from the laptop to the device in the first place). Secondly, the Dutch cycle network is brilliant with every junction of the many long distance cycle paths being numbered, and signed, and displayed on a cyclists' map! The route out of Arnhem passed through pleasant wooded and agricultural areas and the big shock was that it was hilly! Not hilly like Aberdeenshire, but hilly like, say, Hampshire. We actually climbed to the dizzying height of 72m at one point, and beasting it up a 7% was quite a welcome change. We are now in the region where the Rhine splits into several estuarine channels and we have followed the Nederijn, although we haven't had much sight of it. Being a Saturday, the roads and cycle tracks have been full of cycle club chain gangs out for a blast, as well as the everyday folk out on their Dutch style comedy bikes enjoying the good weather. It's been warm and extremely humid all day, with quite a breeze to contend with. A lunch stop at a lively establishment in Amerongen was a relief and had quite a buzz about it as it was clearly a popular spot for every sort of 2-wheel rider. It was crowded! And so we continued into Utrecht with a brief stop to oil chains (I think they are nearly worn out) and later to consume our breakfast cheese rolls! After checking in and changing we walked into the town centre for a meal. Beer here is nearly twice the price it was in Germany, and nowhere near as good. Hope it improves in Amsterdam! Bikes are everywhere, chained to every metre of railing everywhere you look. And the terraced eating places on the edge of the canals are quite unique. It's a very lively (and young) place on a Saturday evening, probably due to its being a university town.
78.0 km; 16.8 kph avg; 4:38 moving time; 252m ascent.