Sutra 1 - : Heading from Eindhoven to Diest…
Finally the big day had come! The morning found me rushing around the house doing my last preparations and heading down to my local favourite bike shop to make some last shopping needed: spare inner tubes and a brand new chain to lock Jack (my bike) the rare times I would have to leave him unattended during my journey.
After taking some time cause my bike repair guy put his whole effort to do a total check and maintenance for Jack without even charging me, I thanked him kindly, he wished me safe travels and I made my way home once more to load everything and get set… now it was time for goodbyes!
I headed down to the city … to have a Greek coffee at my favourite place in Rotterdam that you should check out for it’s tasty pies and delicacies ;-) check it out: Filo Filo
Spending time saying my goodbyes to people before I would catch the train to Eindhoven where I would start my way. As I was making my way to the station I could really feel the tension inside me building up but at the same time everything just seemed right. Taking the first step to anything is always hard . My train was leaving in just 3 minutes when I reached the platform and then I just realised I wanted a bit more time. The thought that as soon as I would get on that train … I would be alone cycling for 2 months …and the whole thing was ON and not an idea in my head, just freaked me out for a moment. So decided to breathe and process these thoughts while waiting for the next train for half an hour.
ARRIVING IN EINDHOVEN WAS A LIVING HELL! The lift was not working and the electric stairs wouldn’t go down, so I started getting frustrated trying to figure out how to leave the platform trying to carry Jack with all this weight on him … I had no choice. After I had spent 15 minutes organising all this heavy load when I got out of the train, now I had to take everything apart once more to carry jack and the bags from the stairs. Luckily a guy saw my struggle and offered to carry Jack so I could take my bags. Then … another 10 minutes to load everything back. The cycling route signs around the station were a bit messed up and it took me looooong time to figure out how to start making my way out of the city on the right direction according to my map … but finally I left Eindhoven and I was on my way to Valkenswaard following N69 that soon would led to another cycle path alongside Dommel river.
Still If I wanted to make it to Diest I would have to cycle 2 more hours and it was already 18:00 … when … sound of thunders came from above. Oh shit! First day of my trip spending the night with all my stuff getting wet? So I started searching for a secluded place near the foresty area next to the river to call it a day. Didn't take me long to figure out my new tent, while the sound of the thunders was getting louder and it had already started to rain a bit.
I did my best to set it as fast as I could while my mind was already making scenarios that I won’t make it in time and … and … and… BUT! The rain stopped and the storm just passed me by to break out elsewhere … leaving me feeling so lucky!
I could prepare my dinner and set up my shower with a stripe and water bag … perfect!
Yea of course … I was a bit stressed out during the night, keeping stabby
( my knife) always close by … in case of emergency or if any of these dark movie scenarios my mind was caught up with, would suddenly come true, cause the night is dark and full of terrors … haha! I finally fell asleep …