Our First AirBnB, a Bike Ride and a Sore Ass…

Aweh, guys!

So, on our previous post I had zonked out at 7PM and slept through until the morning. However, once I awoke the excitement set in… We were actually in Europe! Our AirBnB was lovely and I was too exhausted to really appreciate it. It entered into the kitchen which was equipped with a dishwasher, in the hallway to the left was the shower and toilet… which had a radiator I might add, then the lounge which had a shelf full of books (mainly in Dutch) and a TV and up the stairs was the bedroom.

Hubby woke up and after a breakfast of rooibos tea and stroopwafels, we decided that since we were in the middle of nowhere, it wouldn’t be wholly unreasonable to rent a bike. We also desperately needed groceries. We scoured Google to find our nearest grocery store and bike rental shop which were located in the neighbouring town of Soest about 3 kilometres away from where we were staying in Pijnenburg.

We took a walk through the woods to get to the main road leading into Soest which was amazing and unlike anything in South Africa. Misty, eerily quiet and full of crunchy leaves. Once we made it to the main road, we spotted people of horseback… imagine just casually riding your horse through Europe.

Horsies!

We made it into town and located the bike rental place. Bless the gentlemen working there but they only spoke Dutch which made things tricky. Luckily we speak Afrikaans, a Dutch dialect, so we managed. The gent helping us brought out a bike for me to try and it was huge! It also had a bar stretching from seat to handlebars and as a short, chubby munchkin with the flexibility range of a broomstick, I knew it wouldn’t work… that’s when he brought out the kid’s bike. I wasn’t even embarrassed. I was just glad to find a bike that I could get onto.

The SS Donald Trump

Unfortunately, when we tried to pay, hubby’s card wouldn’t read. We asked where the nearest ATM was and the gent actually agreed to take us there as it was quite a distance. Once we returned and paid, hubby gave him the last remaining South African cash as a thank you which he proudly pinned to his wall.

Soest is actually a really pretty little town which is wonderful for the initial taste of the Netherlands. Everyone we met were so friendly and helpful and made a great impression on us newbies.

Now we had bikes, and we had to ride them. The last time I was on a bike, I was sixteen and I fell off into a ditch and swore never to ride one again. Here we were thirteen years later, faced with my nemesis. Luckily the infrastructure for bikes is excellent in the Netherlands but I was such a noob. We were firstly on the wrong side of the road (always stick to the right) and there are only certain sections of road where cyclists have right of way. I crossed the road very clumsily in front of a car who rightfully hooted at me. We made it to the Albert Heijn, a supermarket chain similar to Woolworths in SA, where we picked up some stuff to eat as well as cat litter for our babies due the next day.

At this point, I, a very sedentary person of zero fitness, was starting to feel the effects of this sudden burst of physical activity. My ass was dying! My legs were on fire! My wrists felt like they were going to snap… I immediately thought of the most annoying person I knew and named my bike after them as it was such a pain in my rear end. Luckily hubby allowed me lots of breaks, even though he was carrying our groceries and allowed me to walk the dirt road even though I told him to go ahead of me. I had walked 3kms into Soest, cycled 5kms and walked the rest of the way back to Pijnenburg… more like Pijnenmyassenburg.

Help! My ass hurts!