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RETURN TO OZ
We had two minor hassles at Schiphol:
one was the inconvenience of having to push the bike box in front of us in the ticketing queue, just to have it weighed, then having to take it round to the "odd sized luggage" desk. If they had scales at the "odd sized luggage" desk, you could take your bike there first, have the weight printed on a slip of paper, then take the information to the ticketing desk. Does KLM have a suggestion box ;-)
The second hiccup was caused by the X-ray machine finding unfamiliar metal objects in Denis' carry-on pannier. He suggested it could be the pump, or the thermos, but the attendant kept digging. She ended up pulling everything out, and right down the bottom were ... 2 Dutch bicycle locks we had bought in Weesp - dangerous weapons indeed!
The flight home was quite fast compared with the flight over - only 20 1/2 hours! It's still a very long way, especially when you can't get to sleep. We reached Sydney on Monday 5 May at 15.00 Australian Eastern Standard time (8 hours ahead of Amsterdam time), then landed at Canberra airport at 18.05 after a 40 minute flight in the small commuter 'plane.
It's funny, the only time I felt homesick was when I saw the typical pink and green Australian sunset on the flight between Sydney and Canberra!
Our two daughters and my sister were there to meet us. It was good to be back, safe and sound, but it meant the adventure was over ... 'til next time. I could really get used to this travel business!!
Some broad statistics
Cycle journey kilometres (approx.) Zürich 20 Bern 10 Interlaken 20 Luzern 10 Disentis-Chur 71 Chur-Liechtenstein 50 Liechtenstein-Bregenz 70 Bregenz-Konstanz 85 Konstanz-Schaffhausen 65 Basel-Colmar 95 Colmar-Strasbourg 102 Strasbourg-Karlsruhe 119 Worms-Mainz 80 Mainz-Wiesbaden 25 Wiesbaden-Bingen 50 Bingen-Bacharach 30 Bacharach-Koblenz 75 Trier-Bernkastel 85 Bernkastel-Cochem 90 Cochem-Koblenz 50 Arnhem 30 Arnhem-Epe 50 Epe-Lelystad 65 Lelystad 20 Lelystad-Muiderberg 55 Muiderberg-Zwanenburg 75 Zwanenburg-Schiphol 16 Total (approx.) 1403 It must have been more than that!
Train journeys km Zürich-Interlaken 175 Brienz-Luzern 50 Luzern-Disentis 110 Schaffhausen-Basel 95 Karlsruhe-Heidelberg 80 Heidelberg-Worms 50 Koblenz-Trier 120 Koblenz-Arnhem 280 Arnhem-Delft-Arnhem 260 Total (approx.) 1220 Ride elevations (metres a.s.l.)
- Start 1130 (Disentis)
- Finish -5 (Schiphol)
Stiffest climbs:
- 140 m in 3.7 k (Valendas 800m a.s.l. to mountain top 940m a.s.l.)
- Rhine River at Bacharach to Burg Stahleck (youth hostel)
- Rhine River at Koblenz to Festung Ehrenbreitstein (youth hostel) 19% incline indicated
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