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Having had to cancel our own touring plans last week because of the weather I had mixed feelings looking at your pics on IG but as we are solely on bikes that was probably for the best, if the "flooded" pic is anything to go by...
The next 3 days should be dry though, tempted to DSB out of town and have O on his own bike this time, with the Towhee just in case.
Lolo-
We waited and waited for the weather to clear up. Wednesday was good enough to go to Jesperhus themepark and then continue out into Thy National Park. The weather has been great and the rain we had Sunday evening would not have been problematic somewhere else. The problem was just that heavy vehicles have compacted and convexed (can you say that?) the site not allowing the water to escape. Train + towhee sounds great
Hulsroy
I am typing this sitting in a tent. It's pissing down and lightning lights up the tent every ten minutes.
My wife and kids tried to sleep in the back of our 2010 Renault Megane. The noise from the rain against the tent and the violent sounds of thunder got a bit too intense for the kids. Fast forward an hour and my daughter is now next to me in the tent sleeping. Apparently a Megane is two people only if you want to be comfortable.
The tent has become an island in a pool of muddy water. I don't think it's raining enough that it will reach the zipper but I check every other hour just to be sure.
I have been needing a shit since dinner but can't be arsed to venture out into the rain. What an end to an otherwise amazing bike trip.
We are at Svinkløv campsite and this is the third and final night here. After two nights of wild camping by Lodbjerg Lighthouse we chose a more conventional campsite to be able to shower and give the kids some time to play with other kids. There's a couple of really brilliant playgrounds here.
This is our first trip together as a family of four. And we were very nervous of being too ambitious on behalf of our kids. My daughter and I did a three day tour two years ago and that was great, so we had a good idea of which challenges we would face.
We chose to go to Thy National Park because it's obviously gorgeous, because there are some relevant exhibitions for work, but also because it’s relatively flat. If you want a five year old to ride +20km a day you want as little elevation as possible. Downhill is obviously fine but you will be dragging their arses uphill…
We wanted to make sure that they both get into cycle touring. Therefore we chose to bring the car and drive to campsites and do one day rides from the campsite and back. Around 20km out and 25km back. Going out our daughter would cycle on her own, and on the return leg she would sit on a saddle I fixed to my top tube using a modified truss light fixture and seat post saddle clamp. This is a very cozy way to cycle together, but a bit tough on me as the riding position changes to make space for her body. Also she likes to “help” steering the bike… which can be challenging when you are knackered after a long day in the saddle.
I wanted to write a bit more about the experience but I am soooo tired and I think the pictures say a lot about our trip. It wasn't fancy or anywhere special, but all four of us agree it was an amazing vacation and quite the adventure. Can't wait to see where we are ten years from now.
More photos in the following posts