Day 2: Ijmuiden - Kassel

My arrival into Ijmuiden this morning already feels like a lifetime ago, and I can’t believe how quickly early evening has snuck up on me.

It has been a fantastic day though. From the comical discovery that the reason my ferry tickets were comparatively cheap was due to my cabin seemingly being positioned above the engine room, to working out the autobahns - witnessing some ridiculous driving and actually getting to check out Hercules Monument, something I thought I’d have to do tomorrow morning.

The highlight of the day has to be meeting Jurgen, a German teacher who was on the ferry with me. We got chatting in the cargo bay as we unsecured our bikes, his 1150cc BMW, and my 1300cc VTX. It turns out he was headed towards Dortmund on his way home after a 10 day trip around Scotland (apparently there’s been a Harley convention over the bank holiday). A couple of minutes later and we had maps out, comparing routes and we were soon set to tackle the ride together. We departed Ijmuiden after disembarking the ferry and getting through passport control - heading towards the outskirts of Amsterdam. Despite a wrong turn taking us through Utrecht, we were soon back on course and leaving Holland behind – entering Germany.

Jurgen and I rode through to Reckling Hausen where he lives, stopping off a couple of times to refuel, grab a coffee and chat about bikes, home, work and the like. Speaking great English was a massive help, and it was a real pleasure to have someone to ride with – especially at the start of the trip as I got used to riding on the other side of the road!

Still hasn’t quite sunk in yet that I’m actually sat in the middle of Germany. Still feels like I could turn around and be back home in a couple of hours. Guess that’s just me not used to getting away, but it’s still a very strange thought.

So, after saying our goodbyes, Jurgen and I headed off in different directions, him through the streets of Reckling Hausen, and I back onto the A2 through towards Kamen and the A44 which would lead me to my destination for the night.

I arrived into Kassel at around 5pm and an hour later had found myself a B&B and begun settling down to write this update. The German couple who run the place don’t speak any real English, which has been a bit of an issue. Whereas I was quite pleased with myself along the journey ordering schwartz cafe, nein milche, eine zucker bitte (GCSE German finally paying off!), this was much, much more of a challenge. 

Getting a room was no problem (and for €30, breakfast included), but after the fiasco with the SatNav I was determined to make sure my bike would be secure overnight. Despite the language barrier, I managed to get them to agree to letting me store Betty in their garage alongside their car. After much to-ing and fro-ing, with the bike – and not much room to manoeuvre, the husband moved his car to the secluded, but open-air car park, leaving Betty with the entire garage to herself... I’m not overly sure how happy they are about this, so I won’t be imposing on them for anything else whilst I’m here.

As mentioned, I did make time to visit Hercules Monument (mainly because it was so well signposted) and despite major renovation work going on, the views were absolutely fantastic.

I’ve realised that other than three cups of coffee and a small pre-packed fruit salad I brought with me, I’ve not eaten today, so my plan now is to wander into Kassel a bit further and find somewhere to sit down and have some food.

Planning an early night tonight after todays ridiculously long drive. Tomorrows jaunt over to Leipzig shouldn’t be anywhere near as taxing, so I should have plenty of time to do some proper exploring.

All in all, a lot of riding and a thoroughly enjoyable day, though I am utterly, utterly exhausted.