Riding from Hook of Holland to Hollendstedter Hof
(well, proper day 1)
At Hollenstedter Hof Hotel
Last night, on the boat, after my eating dinner courtesy of Morrisons (I just remembered that I had indigestion while eating it - a bit of a warning for this trip) I found it was already 11.45 so had a shower, shook out the duvet and went to bed. I didn't even venture outside my cabin and declined the opportunity to smoke a cigarette out on deck - anyway I have given up.
I had the bridge cam on the tv screen and trucks were still rolling on when I turned off and went to sleep. Usually I sleep lightly on the boat and have dreams about people in my cabin but this time I slept soundly, not even registering when we left Harwich, hardly waking till an announcement in the corridor at 6.30 woke me followed by the cabin announcement that we were due to dock in one hour. I had woken up with a splitting head – perhaps the half bottle of wine was not wise – so it took a while to climb out of bed and get dressed. With a little orange juice left from last night I didn't even chance an overpriced breakfast on the ship. I am (was) avoiding coffee. But after packing up and going to the lounge on deck 9 obediently as instructed the smell of brewing coffee very nearly tempted me.
Getting through passport control (a policeman gathered up the bikers and checked our passports with no one removing helmets) was easy as usual, then it was off in an easterly direction out on the usual route from Hook of Holland that I vaguely remember but never actually get to know. I took a couple of wrong turns on the journey – not bad. I started off in sunshine around 16 or so degrees. There was such heavy traffic, it was hard to do much more than 65 though for some reason it felt much faster. It is always a landmark to get into Germany. Suddenly the traffic changes. There is less of it but what there is goes much faster. I stopped a few times (see below). Once at a sign of the knife and fork but there was only a grim looking restaurant set back from an empty car park so I ate some more pork pie and bakewell tart standing by the bike and headed off again.
The next stop, maybe a couple of hours later was out of desperation. The temperature had dropped to 14 degrees and it was wet. So I came to a shivering stop at another parking spot and put on more clothes and a scarf, drank some water and headed off again. I had also missed a major turning and wanted to see where I was. The third stop was for petrol, off the motorway a mile or so and involving another minor wrong turning but once I got back on the motorway better dressed and fuelled up the rain stopped and the temperature rose the couple of degrees necessary to make things comfortable. My morale rose. So the final stop was to at last buy something to eat. And have a lovely coffee that I was off yesterday but am on again today, sitting on the curb next to my bike in the now warm sunshine.
Gradually the 300 miles showing to my destination on the GPS changed to 199 then 75, then 20 or so until the turn off. The hotel is literally a mile from the motorway exit. I'm surprised you can't hear the traffic from here. My entry and attempt to park neatly were not impressive but I made it to the familiar hotel that I stayed in about 5 years ago also on my way up to Denmark. I'll be dining here tonight then I imagine will sleep well again. Interestingly I do feel fine. I am put in mind of my arrival at another German hotel probably a similar distance if not less, from HvH on the first trip I took on a motorcycle. I remember I was exhausted and fell asleep lying on the bed once I got into the room. That was ten years ago and I think I do feel less wide-eyed about these trips – I mean in a good way. Also I am less daunted by the speedy German motorways. I wonder if that's because I have a better bike that I can confidently drop into the fast lane when I need to. Or perhaps it just has better mirrors.
I have an arrival routine already – first plug everything in that needs charging for tomorrow (so much easier to do this in hotels than when camping), then shower and write. The bike is parked in the courtyard here not far from my front door.
66 miles 1 hour 24 minutes
96 miles 1 hour 30 minutes
3.5 miles 10 minutes
77 miles 1 hour 23 minutes
66 miles 1 hour 13 minutes
Total 308 miles 5 hours 40 minutes riding
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