Episode 9 – Cycling from Belgium to Croatia

We start the day the classy way: being slowly steamed alive in our tent before the alarm even gets a chance to pretend it’s useful. Breakfast is muesli, yoghurt, and a jar of homemade strawberry jam from Nodzjihan, our host from the night before. She wanted to send us off with enough jars to open a small shop, but we chose the lightweight option: one jar and a lot of gratitude.

Just past Essingen, we roll onto a gravel track so white it looks freshly powdered. Beautiful, peaceful, cinematic. For about three minutes. Then the gradient ramps up to 14% and the gravel turns into loose, slippery stones. My wheel spins like it’s auditioning for a comedy sketch, my legs start filing formal complaints, and I eventually surrender. The bike goes down in the pale pebbles, and I’m only saved from a full-body collapse by unclipping just in time. Wim lasts a few stubborn metres longer, then turns back to help me haul my heavily armoured bicycle uphill. Romance is not always candles and roses. Sometimes it’s pushing a tank.

The hunt for a bivvy spot follows, with a few “almost” locations that come with bonus cooling towers and power lines. We keep moving. And then, tucked away among a maze of old gravel lakes, we find it: a sheltered, hidden slice of calm at the Wagersee. Quiet water, soft light, and the kind of place that practically demands repeated swims.
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