PIEPERPAD – the end of the road

At least they have beer here.

So that was it, the Pieperpad. The finish in the village of Hengstdijk is a bit anticlimactic. No Big Potato, just a church, a cafe and two camping areas. Also a couple of cold beers waiting. The ride is officially over, but since the nearest train station is 30km away, over the Belgian border in Sint-Niklaas, there’s still some work to be done.

But it’s been a great trip. We can’t claim to have ridden the full 1000km, though we made a very good fist of it.

We sometimes took a shortcut, and due to last week’s rain there’s a stage between Dordrecht and Vlissingen we still have to go back and ride. We’ll do that as soon as we can get a couple of dry days with the wind at our backs.

Thanks to Ilona Stoker at Greenpeace and Jasper Vink at Bionext for suggesting the ride and helping us organise it all.

Thanks also to those who offered us hospitality and interesting conversations along the way. We enjoyed your company and your enthusiasm for the work you do, and we learned a lot.

Thanks:

Cor Bergsma at B&B Unia Zathe, Ee

De Zwarte Haan and B&B Jacobs Hoeve, St Jacobiparochie

Asse Auge at Gerbrande State and
Mv Wiersma at B&B ‘t Kastielsje, Sexbierum

Sjoerd and Akke, Ijsboerderij de Buterkamp

The op de Hoek family, B&B Stjelp Plaets, Lemmer

B&B Maria Johanna Hoeve, Noordeloos

Wilma Abspoel at Wereldwinkel de Punt, Arkel

B&B Berkenhof, Dordrecht

Mv en Mr van der Slikke, B&B Nummer Zevene, Biervliet

De Oude Boerderij, Hengstdijk

and also Niek Vos, the Teimens family and Vrienden op de Fiets (Friends on the Bike).

We hope to see you again when our backsides have had some time to forget the pain.