50km Bike Ride and a Car Show

A couple Saturdays ago we woke up with an urge to go biking as a family. So we grabbed a map that one of Jason's coworkers gave us, packed a lunch, and hopped on our bikes. The planned route was about 30km; a nice easy distance when you're riding with two little ones along as well. The first part of the route was very familiar as it headed out of the city to one of our favorite sunny day spots - an organic farm that makes fresh ice cream. There was no stopping there today though (despite some pretty tempting requests from a certain little three-year-old) and we cycled onward into some beautiful unknown territory. 

With Atticus as our enthusiastic guide (he checked in about every 15 minutes to let us know that we were going the right way) we cycled onward.

The country roads we explored were filled with refurbished barns topped with thatched roofs...

Gorgeous canals and an interesting lock system....
(Germany really is a beautiful country and this area doesn't even have mountains - once you get into mountainous regions this country is completely breathtaking!)

And intricately detailed homes dating quite a few years back.
(I love the history of the buildings and architecture.)

At around the half way mark, there was a beautiful little green area on the river, with a large brick structure that was surrounded by refurbished art. It was a very unique spot. It even had a piece that looked like a giant R2D2 (we didn't stop long enough for me to grab pictures of the sculptures).

We considered stopping, but with all the good picnic locations already taken we decide to keep our eyes open for a picnic spot a little further down the road.

We finally settled on a bench that overlooked the river right along a large draw bridge. The kids loved watching all the boats sail by and we enjoyed giving our legs a stretch and a rest.

On the other side of the road it looked like there was a city in the distance, but no, it's just industrial areas. It completely slipped my mind to take a photo of the very picturesque riverside.

Once we got going again we realized that the total bike route was going to be more than the 30km we had anticipated but we were enjoying the ride so we weren't too concerned. We passed 35km as we came to the end of the map route which was at this lovely little church with a small home and a cafe.

At this point, cyclists on this planned route typically hop onto a river cruise that takes them back to the city. Not an option for us with the bakfiets (nor something we really cared to do as we still had energy left to use) so we did our best to navigate our way along the riverside.

Thank goodness for phones equipped with GPS or we would have easily gotten lost. We ended up having to travel a great distance from the riverside that we had planned on following all the way back to the city on account of running in to a restricted area. The route took us through a small marshland area. While the paths were a little rough for the bakfiets, the marshland was nice are to cycle through with streams, canals and a small lake to attract our gaze.

After some travel we finally crossed onto a road that we knew and were able to navigate from there. Having run out of drinking water while we were cycling through the marshland we were all really antsy to cool off with some water and a certain little boy was very politely inquiring after some ice cream. We decided to detour at a nearby mall only to discover that there was a large car show going on.

So we grabbed some ice cream and set about exploring the different cars that were on display. There were some gorgeous well-restored vintage cars...

Some very unique imports...

with incredible detailing...

cars set up with hydraulics, some cars that looked like someone had accidentally parked their car in the car show (as they looked like any 'ol car you would see driving down the street), and even some movie recreations...

complete with a flux capacitor.

Of course all these cars were being showcased to the soundtrack of Elvis love ballads sung by an oldies band a little rough around the edges and surrounded by the smell of american hotdogs (served in itty, bitty German bread rolls). It certainly made for an interesting mix.

It was a great, relaxing way to finish off the bike ride. And we were pleasantly surprised when we looked at how many kilometres we had clocked to see it was over 50km (a distance that certainly pushed our previous cycle distances as a family). We enjoyed the riding, the kids enjoyed the views and we all arrived home happy, tired and ready for showers. We are planning to get in one or two more longer bike rides in as a family before the warm summer weather slips through our fingers. Now that we've done a 50km trek, the other routes we have been looking at (30-40km) don't seem so bad. It's all a matter of perspective and now that we know the kids enjoyed the distance (we were a little unsure of how much they would enjoy sitting in the bike for so long, but they did really well) we are anticipating the next trek!