The Monday cycle ride was a 53 km excursion into nearby Germany.
I had no pre-planned route which may go some way to explaining why the track of my ride looks as if an insect has crawled all over the map.
Although I’m becoming very familiar with many roads and country lanes within a 50-60 km radius of Heerlen, there are still many more to explore.
After about 22 km I came into the large market square of Brand, a suburb of the nearby city of Aachen.
I settled outside a nice cafe on the edge of the square and made two large glasses of fresh mint tea last over an hour while I watched the world go by, in the warm sunshine.
Setting off for the ride home I really didn’t want to simply retrace my outbound route, so I just followed the front wheel to see where it took me.
This haphazard approach to route planning added at least 10 km to my return journey but I was still home just before the forecast rain arrived.
