Our last full day of the adventure was in Ypres – July 9th. We had planned it that way to coincide with stage 5 of the Tour de France.

We had checked Ypres a few days earlier and worked out our plan of action.

Cycle in > park the bikes in the secure area > watch all the preliminaries and the caravan > find a good spot for the start of the race and then head to the fan park to watch it on the big screen.

The weather however had other ideas. The forecast was for rain and more rain so we reverted to plan B. Drive in and play it by ear. The rain came – it was very heavy and the race departed in a real downpour.

We did all we planned however although very wet. We even managed Belgian waffles before heading back to Poperinge.

Back at the hotel we began to pack up and discovered that Danny’s car had a flat battery. Volvo Assistance to the rescue again. A man with a big battery turned up to start but not before a fair bit of stress and more hanging around in the rain.

We departed early on Thursday morning – relieved that both cars started – and headed for Calais. We are still in the German hire car so going through border control was interesting with British passports. All went smoothly and even the drive to Kew around the M25 was not too bad.

We arrived at the Travelodge around 1.30 and the next phase – a military style precision attack – began.

So, our final destination before we head back to the UK after over 8 months of travelling is Hotel de la Paix in Poperinge near Ypres in Belgium.  We have a two bedroom suite with a little roof terrace and the little hotel adjoins the restaurant and bar of the same name on the main square.  The restaurant has a lovely outside quiet terraced area overlooking the garden at the back where we’ve had a lot of meals and drinks.

Here’s what we’ve been up to:

Saturday – Derek and I drove into Ypres for coffee and a look around the market, Tourist Info and The Menin Gate.  Bought pork and potatoes for roof terrace lunch – Danny and Brittany arrived and polished off the leftovers.  Had a lovely long meal in the evening sitting outside under a huge umbrella when it rained later on.

Sunday – The Lycra clad three went off for a bike ride and got soaked in the morning.  Once dry, they went to Tyne Cot cemetery though Barb stayed put to watch Federer v Djokovic.  Chinese restaurant for supper.

Monday – We all cycled into Ypres via Brandhoek cemetery.  Tried the traditional Flemish stew for lunch and watched visiting choirs and bands in the sunshine. Cycled home – Barb got tired, hit kerb and fell off.  Undeterred, we went back into Ypres in the evening to watch the ceremony at the Menin gate – lots of tissues. Late supper at our favourite table of croque-madames and soup.  The beer drinkers have tried nearly all the beers on the hotel’s extensive list.  We saw hops growing locally and Poperinge has a hop museum – we now know that it is an important centre for beer.  A big festival here today – parade, crowds, fireworks . . .

Tuesday – The Lycra clad three were off again on a ride so Barb went to visit Talbot House – a museum/guest house, chapel and garden that was a centre for recreation and reflection during WWI.  You get tea and cake just like the soldiers did.  After another terrace lunch from the lovely Spar supermarket next door, we drove to Boeschepe just across the border in France to watch the Tour de France riders flash by on stage 4.  We had a great view!

It sounds glamorous but of course it wasn’t – we spent pretty much the whole day from 7am on the motorway – 550 miles!! We were originally going to take two days to drive from Berlin to Ypres but decided we’d do it all in one go – our longest drive of the whole trip. We had one major hold up, quite a few roadworks and more lorries than I have ever seen.

Anyway, we arrived around 6pm at Hotel de la Paix in Poperinge – it’s a pretty little town but unfortunately the fairground is in town for a week – right in the middle – ugly to look at and no doubt noisy. Derek has been to the area several times before for cycling and WW1 tours. Danny and Britt arrive tomorrow. It was really hot when we arrived followed by a thunderstorm and rain – am writing this sitting on the hotel terrace under the awning drinking peppermint tea.

In between making calls to Volvo Assist and researching car rental, we’ve done some enjoyable stuff in these last two days in Germany. Derek has started both days with a 25 mile bike ride. Yesterday afternoon we took the bikes into Berlin on the train and explored the Tiergarten – we had the usual park bench picnic lunch and also found the Sony Centre on the way back.

Berlin has all the usual big city issues and more than the usual number of building projects but there’s certainly plenty to see and its history is remarkable. As usual, people have been friendly and helpful and happy to speak a bit of English.

We spent our final day based at the hotel, packing up – we had lunch in the garden followed by a walk around the lake and a final bratwurst for tea. It’s been really warm and sunny today so the Germans like to get naked. We’d seen quite a few people stripping off for a swim in the lake but today there were bare bums and wobbly bits everywhere.

An early start tomorrow – we have to drive 550 miles!

1. Always buy a baguette.

2. If you spot a loo – use it.

3. Never miss an opportunity to buy a cooked chicken.

First let me say we are having a lovely time in Berlin. We have a nice hotel out near Potsdam and we have been exploring on foot and on the bikes now for a couple of days. We have 2 more before we leave Friday morning.

Our next stop is Poperinge near Ypres. We are there for 5 nights with Danny and Britt cycling and being part of the TDF.

So – the bad news- the Volvo is in a bad way poor old girl! The dealership in Hamburg have diagnosed further problems and do not know when or if they can repair her.

We have decided to abandon her – well not entirely. Volvo Assistance are going to repatriate her to Warwick Tollbar and we will then decide on what to do.

They have also arranged for us to keep the hire car until we get to Poperinge and we can drop it off nearby at Lille Station.

So. We have a couple more days here. Drive the hire car to our final destination in Belgium and then try to find our way back to the UK.

We are desperately sad that the XC90 hasn’t made it all the way round. After 8 months on the road she has finally shown her age. She has done 130,000 miles so we’ll have to see.

Volvo Assistance have been brilliant and so far picked up all the costs. We can’t thank them enough.

This afternoon we to took the bikes on the train (S-Bahn) to Potsdam and cycled to Sanssouci. The first bit from the station to the park is a bit fraught but once in the park it was lovely. We have been so lucky with the weather again.

Back at the hotel we chilled for a bit and then headed to the lake for our regular supper of sausage and salad. (Barb has soup).

More trips on the train tomorrow – we plan to explore the Tiergarten and visit Checkpoint Charlie.

Started the day with a 25 mile bike ride through the nearby woods on traffic free roads. A few hills to make it interesting and lots of other riders out there. Nice and warm, no wind so a really good outing.

A quick turnaround back at the hotel and we set off for Central Berlin on the S-Bahn. We seem to have this under control now although the train we were expecting to catch suddenly disappeared and we had a bit of a wait for the next one. This was a bit crowded and as bikes are allowed on the trains here it proved an interesting journey.

We arrived at Potsdamerplatz and set off on foot to visit The Brandenburg Gate, The Reichstag and The Holocaust Memorial. A stroll along Unter den Linden took us to the Book Burning Memorial (via Dunkin Donuts) and Museum Island.

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More walking and we headed into the ‘Downtown’ area and wandered the streets and courtyards of Hackescher Markt.

The centre of Berlin – supposedly a paradise for cyclists, was full of heavy traffic and pedestrians. Add to this the unbelievable amount of construction going on and you would rightly guess that we don’t plan to take the bikes in to this part of the city.

Food today was very casual, curry wurst early on, a cheeky donut and finally bagels and cream cheese at Barcomi’s. This was a real find – recommended in the guide book and spotted by Barb they do fabulous cakes and fresh baked bagels with delicious coffee. We may go back to this one!

The train back was uneventful. We buy fruit and a few basics and recover back at the hotel. After watching Andy Murray reach the quarter finals we decide on a final bit of exercise for the day and take the bikes around the lake – Schlachtensee.

Just so you don’t think this is all fun – we have also been updating websites, writing blogs for clients and building a couple of new sites.

Ah well – time for the Germany/Algeria game.

Rain was forecast today so we decided not to cycle – in fact the weather stayed dry despite black clouds. Caught the 10.15 SBahn train to Potsdam, popped into Tourist Information at the station, bought a map and two tickets for the open top bus tour, grabbed a coffee and muffin and we were off! Saw all the main sights – Luisenplatz, Glienicker Brucke (the spy swap bridge), loads of grand buildings, KGB headquarters and Sanssouci Schloss and its gardens. We had a nice stroll around the old Dutch quarter and went into the Jan Bouman Haus where we made the mistake of starting a conversation with the receptionist who spoke no English – lots of arm waving and going blue in the face ensued!

We made a few adventurous moves with food choices today. We had the hotel’s buffet breakfast – Derek mistook smoked liver sausage for smoked cheese. He had so much trouble unwrapping it that he decided to eat it anyway – a mistake he says he won’t repeat. For lunch we went to a Vietnamese cafe in Potsdam with great success – coconutty curry, noodly veggie soup and spring rolly things with satay. It was fab.

The suburb of Berlin where we are staying for a week is an area of lakes and woodland.  We had a quiet day today unpacking and exploring the local area by bike.  Close by we found a Saturday market with good cakes, a supermarket and the U Bahn and S Bahn stations for getting trains to Berlin and Pots
dam.  We are hoping to take our bikes on the train.  We then cycled around the lake called Schlachtensee, stopping for picnic lunch halfway round and at the cafe for a drink at the end.  

So many to choose from!

Back to the hotel for a rest – the lovely receptionist gives us a kettle to make tea and we do some more research about sightseeing – both Berlin and Potsdam are very big cities with lots to see, spread out over big areas!  Back down to the lake cafe for supper – Derek fancies more bratwurst and I have the goulash soup which is excellent! Some of our schooldays German is coming back to us – some of the compound words are funny – I bought rubber gloves today (handschuhe)!

The plan was to leave Ammersbek on Friday morning and head to Berlin but the problem with the car meant we had an appointment with Volvo in  Ahrensberg. We arrived early – before 9  –  and they investigated the problem. After about 2 hours the service agent sat down with us –

“not good news – you must go home”

Undeterred we probed for more information. “The tow bar had failed”! no that can’t be right.

“The turbot had failed”. Sounds a bit fishy!

Eventually we got it – The turbo had failed  – no this is not good news. Not only expensive to fix they were too busy to do it.

Back to Volvo Assistance –  they came to the same conclusion we had. Leave the car with the dealer and hire a car to get you to Berlin. Amazingly – they would pay!

By late morning they had found a rental company just around the corner – hired us a Ford Galaxy so we could carry the bikes and arranged for the dealer to fix the car if they had time.
We transferred everything we needed for a week in Berlin and set off around 1.30. Not quite the the day we had planned but it’s all part of the adventure.  We’ll have to see if they have fixed the car by next Friday when we have to return the rental car.

The journey in a left hand drive, manual was tough and seemed to take ages. However we arrived safe and sound before 6, checked in and set off for a stroll. The hotel is lovely – a bit like a larger Eastnor House – and set in a beautiful leafy road called Bogotastrasse. The whole area is covered with lakes including Wannsee ( history buffs will know that name) and the closest to us is Schlachtensee. We discover a biergarten/restaurant about 10 minutes from the hotel and right on the lake. We feast on pretzel, bockwurst, sauerkraut and kartoffelsalat – and of course a massive beer.

Afterwards we walk a circuit of the small nearby lake and get back to our room around 9.30. Not quite the day we had planned but we’re still having fun.