On our arrival at our cycle-end destination of Maastricht, it felt very weird to split off to our separate accommodations: Christine and Phil to their botel (canal boat on the Maas River) and Bruce and me to our Airbnb in a very cool converted bus depot for the next two weeks.

We all took a tour of the Waldeck CaseMates (a network of underground passageways or mine galleries) and aboveground bastions and fortifications built and expanded on from the 1500s onwards. They were used as defence structures numerous times over hundreds of years, including providing sanctuary for civilians during bombing raids in the Second World War. The famous frenchman D'Artagnan (the only real-life person of the famous 'Three Musketeers' by Alexandre Dumas) died here, shot through the neck as he tried to storm the bastion and take the city during one of its many sieges over the centuries.

We had a fantastic time with our good friends Christine and Phil over the two week period, with heaps of laughs and lots of wonderful memories to savour. Bruce and I are very grateful for all their valuable input in choosing such an interesting and picturesque route through the Netherlands countryside, and a lot of laughs and fun was had by us all time.

All too soon, it was time say farewell and we sadly saw them off on the next phase of their exciting adventure. After taking a train to the north of Germany, they embarked on a further cycling trip up the west coast of Denmark, then a few days in Copenhagen, before flying home (with their bikes) to New Zealand at the end of May.