Easy Travel & Tours

06/08/2024

On day 3 of the beautiful Diversity Trail we explored the Walker Bay coastline. The trail started at Bella Vista and lead through the rich coastal fynbos on Grootbos Private Nature Reserve. From there we head into the Walker Bay Nature Reserve, and walked through a remote dune field, onto the Plaat beach. We enjoyed lunch on the beach after which we strolled along the beach to the archaeological site at Klipgat Cave – the home of Middle Stone Age and Late Stone Age people. Inside the cave, our guide will interpret the fascinating insights into early human occupation along this coastline. In Whale season there is good possibility to spot the Southern Right Whales. We were transported back to Bellavista Country Place. This evening we enjoyed a wine tasting with Giant Periwinkle wines (a boutique wine farm and committed member of the Walker Bay Fynbos Conservancy) and dinner at the fire place. Another delightful.
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Diversity Trail

03/08/2024

Day 2 of the Diversity Trail, and we walked along the beautiful forest and fynbos trails on Grootbos Nature Reserve. We enjoyed a lovely lunch at the Grootbos Environmental Center. After lunch, the trail led us into the incredible and ageless afromontane Witvoetskloof forest. We walked through the forest to the waterfall where I was really keen to swim but no one else was keen to join and I did not want to waste everyones time. Afterward, I regretted not swimming. We walked back along a flower picking track to our pick-up point where we got into a 4x4 vehicle for our transfer back to Bellavista Country Place. The evening we enjoyed around the fireplace, enjoying a delicious dinner.

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Annie Delport Private Nature Reserve Kitchen Trail

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01/08/2024

The lovely trail experience started at the Stanford Kitchen Restaurant where we enjoyed a light lunch and met our excellent guide Christoff. After lunch we went on a walk through the historical village. Then we went on a leisurely cruise down to the beautiful Stanford River on board the Lady Stanford and enjoyed the lovely scenery and rich bird life with our knowledgeable guide. The day concluded with a short drive to Bellavista Country Place where we had time to check in and refresh. The evening we had a very informative fynbos gin tasting and delicious dinner with magnificent views of the sun setting over Walker Bay.

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01/08/2024

The lovely Diversity Trail started at the Stanford Kitchen Restaurant where we enjoyed a light lunch and met our excellent guide Christoff. After lunch we went on a walk through the historical village. Then we went on a leisurely cruise down to the beautiful Stanford River on board the Lady Stanford and enjoyed the lovely scenery and rich bird life with our knowledgeable guide. The day concluded with a short drive to Bellavista Country Place where we had time to check in and refresh. The evening we had a very informative fynbos gin tasting and delicious dinner with magnificent views of the sun setting over Walker Bay.

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Easy Travel & Tours Stanford Kitchen

27/07/2024

Time to fly home ✈️🇿🇦 It was an amazing 1600km cycling tour through the Netherlands 🇳🇱 Germany 🇩🇪 Belgium 🇧🇪 Luxembourg 🇱🇺 🚴🏻‍♀️🚴🏻 Hope to be back in 2025 !

Emirates Airlines was fantastic!
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Zweirad-Gehle Polarsteps

20/07/2024

19/07/2024

We cycled 60 km from Kockengen via Weesp and the de Pijp in Oud Zuid to Aalsmeer in the Netherlands🇳🇱. Lovely route. Another wonderful cycling day! (Day 24) 🚴🏻‍♀️🚴🏻

En-route,we stopped for coffee ☕️ with friends & family. It was delightful to meet them.

This was a cold and rainy day it felt like Cape Town in winter.🌧☔️.

Weesp is on the Amsterdam-Rijn canal and the river De Vecht. Its history dates back to the Middle Ages, to the year 1355, when it was granted city rights. From the 12th till the late 15th century ‘De Vecht’ river was a popular trade route for ships going land inwards. Due to a civil war in the late 15th century, the period of prosperity came to an end. After a period of economic decline, the history of Weesp is characterized by breweries in the 17th century, porcelain in the 18th century, and a chocolate factory in the 19th century. In p have monumental buildings, canals and, small shops like Amsterdam, but its undiscovered by the big crowd. Amsterdam is just 15km away.

De Pijp is a charming, bohemian nneighborhoodin Amsterdam, right outside the canal rings and nneighboringthe famous Museumplein area; it’s a part of the bigger borough called Oud-Zuid It has a residential feel to it, but it’s also lively, given the multitude of markets, shops ,and restaurants

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🏕Campsite: nNocamping tonight. We spoiled ourselves with a bit of luxury in a lovely abnb in Aalsmeer. Beautiful place with a lovely setting with a Weber braai on the deck. Inside fire place. Walking distance to supermarkets & restaurants but still in a quiet, relaxed area. Will definitely want to stay here again.
Accommodation:
https://www.westeindercabin.com/

Westeinderplas
Zweirad-Gehle Polarsteps

16/07/2024

We cycled 88 km from Rosmalen via Culemborg to Kockengen in the Netherlands🇳🇱). Lovely route. Another Wonderful cycling day! (Day 23) 🚴🏻‍♀️🚴🏻

Culemborg is the birth place of Jan van Riebeeck, who is regarded as Culemborg’s most famous son

In 1652, van Riebeeck and 82 men and 8 women arrived on 3 ships in Table Bay (Cape Town) 🇿🇦 They had to establish a replenishment station for the Dutch East India Company. The ships traveling from the Dutch Republic to Batavia could then stock up on water, fresh fruit and vegetables in Table Bay. They were the first European colony on South African soil .

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🏕Campsite:
https://www.campingvdpanne.nl/

Campsite on a farm. Very Friendly & Helpful. Wifi free, works on the whole campsite. Willing to put freezer block in freezer. Nothing for small tents. There are no tables and chairs to use. No charging points are available for small tents. Can charged at plugs in the bathroom. Bathroom facilities are old but clean. No restaurant. Lovely deck on water with bench. This was great
anniedelporttours
Zweirad-Gehle

13/07/2024

We cycled 80 km from Klein Borkel via Eindhoven to Rosmalen in the Netherlands🇳🇱). Another wonderful cycling day! (Day 22) 🚴🏻‍♀️🚴🏻

Eindhoven is a city of technology, design, and knowledge. Here, engineers and creatives work closely together on groundbreaking projects. These crossovers give Eindhoven its exciting energy and make it an international top city for innovation.

Eindhoven is considered the design capital of the Netherlands. Its biggest event is the annual Dutch Design Week, where hundreds of talented and established designers showcase their latest creations and new futuristic designs The Dutch Design Week (DDW) is arguable the largest design event in Northern Europe.

The Design Academy Eindhoven and the Technical University attract hundreds of new students from the Netherlands and abroad to study in Eindhoven.

More than 125 years ago, Philips brought light 💡to Eindhoven. Industrial heritage sites, such as old Philips factories and power stations throughout Eindhoven, have been transformed into trendy shops, exceptional restaurants, luxury lofts, and creative workplaces

Even in the field of cycling, Eindhoven is innovative. The luminous Van Gogh Roosegaarde Cycle Path is inspired by Van Gogh's 'Starry Night' and designed by designer Daan Roosegaarde. Hovenring is probably the world's first ever floating bicycle path?

Stratumcstreet, in the heart of the city, is officially the longest pub street in Benelux. 🍻

Fantastic!🚴🏻🚴🏻‍♀️

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🏕Campsite:
https://degroenedonk.nl/
We planned to camp here 👆🏻⛺️
However, a friend invited us to stay with her. So, we did not camp here as planned. It was a blessing since there was a heavy thunder storm ⛈️ 🌬 and it was pouring with rain🌧☔️
We had a lovely time with our friend. The complex had a bouls evening & and invited us to join. It was loads of fun & we learned some Dutch while playing 🎉🎈

10/07/2024

We cycled 67 km from Maasmechelen in Belgium🇧🇪 to Klein Borkel (in the Netherlands🇳🇱) another Wonderful cycling day! (Day 21) 🚴🏻‍♀️🚴🏻

We are amased by the Netherlands 🇳🇱 friendly people, lovely nature, good food, great hiking and cycling opportunities etc.

The Netherland may be small, but it has so much nature! 🐇🐦‍⬛There are 21 National parks and more than 160 Nature Reserves. In the parks you will find all the typical Dutch landscapes, such as dunes, woods, moorlands, bogs, valleys and swamps. Every park has its own local flora and fauna. It is a dream for cyclist, hikers, birdwatchers and nature lovers.

The knooppunt fietsnetwerk 🚲 is fantastic. The cycle junction (knooppunte) network is a system of regional cycle routes, composed of numbers from 0 to 99. You will encounter signs with the knooppunt numbers on along the regional cycle routes in the Netherlands & Belgium. At most of the knooppunte there is a map from where one can orientate onsself again.

The system makes it easy to map out your own cycle route, simply by connecting the junctions. Whether you are a seasoned cyclist or just want to relax in the fresh air for a day, the network offers an ideal way to enjoy nature and discover new areas. Fantastic!🚴🏻🚴🏻‍♀️

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Camped at:
https://zwaluwnest.eu/

🏕Great Campsite on a farm. Very Friendly & Helpful. Wifi free, works on most of the campsite. They gave us tables and chairs to use. Willing to put freezer block in freezer. Charging point availablefor small tents Can also charged at plugs in bathroom. Bathroom facilities very clean. No restaurant. Location great cycle or ho on hikes in adjacent nature areas Would love to stay here again.


Zweirad-Gehle Polarsteps

09/07/2024

We cycled 60 km from Vaals via vibrant city of Maastricht (in the Netherlands🇳🇱) to Klein Borkel in Belgium🇧🇪. Wonderful cycling day! (Day 20) 🚴🏻‍♀️🚴🏻

Maastricht might be the oldest city in the Netherlands, some claim that Nijmegen holds the title. Either way, it has been inhabited continuously since Roman times, evolving from a Roman settlement to a religious centre, a garrison city and an early industrial city.

Maastricht was almost in abelgium, the Belgians declared independence in 1830. When the border had to be drawn in 1839, General Dibbets, at the very last minute, stopped Maastricht from becoming Belgian territory and made sure it was part of the Netherlands.

Maastricht was the first Dutch city to be liberated by Allied forces after WWII ended, and also the site of signing of the Maastricht Treaty in 1992, which led to the creation of the European Union and the euro.

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Camped at:
https://www.campingsalamander.be/

🏕Average Campsite. Good location to visit Hoge Kempen National Park. Friendly & Helpful staff. Wifi free but only works whole campsite. No tables and benches available for the small tents. We lend from other campers. Willing to put freezer block in freezer No charging points, charged at plugs in recreation room or at reception. Bathroom facilities not young anymore & clean. Restaurant good. Will not necessarily stay here again. We did enjoy our stay. Many permanent/long term campers, all very friendly and helpfull.


Zweirad-Gehle Polarsteps

08/07/2024

We cycled 60 km from Monschau via Aachen in Germany 🇩🇪 to Vaals in the Netherlands 🚴🏻‍♀️🚴🏻 and cycling through Belgium (Day19) Part of the route is called the Three Landen route. With good reason, one is really criss-crossing between 3 Countries 🇩🇪 , 🇳🇱, 🇧🇪

Interesting since one often only realize that you now in another country when your phone indicates "no network". Then you have to switch" the network operator" to the country you in. When doing so, you find out in which country you actually are.

And of course the menus in restaurants also suddenly change between 🌭 Bratwurst, Stoofvlees, Bitterballen and 🍟 Pommes frites, frietjes, friets etc. And of course the beers 🍻 Bitburg, Davel, Heineken and more!

Food for sale in Grocery Store also indicates to an extent in which country you are.

Frites which the Belgians are believed to have invented back in 1781. Frites are thicker than French fries and very crisp because you fry them twice. You can pick up a cornet de frites (fries in a cone-shaped card container) from a mobile food stall known as a frietkot (or fry shack).

And to top it all, it is a beautiful route. 🚴🏻‍♀️🚴🏻 Large part was on the lovely Venbahn route.

The Vennbahn Cycle Route is a cross-border long- distance cycle route between Germany , Belgium and Luxembourg , which runs along the route of the Vennbahn , which was built during the Prussian era and closed and dismantled in 2002, over a distance of around 125 km.

The route was created as the longest cross-border, connected cycle, and hiking route in Europe on disused railway lines. The total costs were estimated at 13.6 million euros in 2012. The main financial contributors were the EU, Germany, Belgium. It is part of the RAVeL network (French: Réseau Autonome de Voies Lentes)

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Camped at:
Kampeerterrein Hoeve de Gastmolen in Vaals
https://g.co/kgs/2oX3S9u

🏕Great Campsite. Good location. Friendly & Helpful staff. Wifi free but only works in reception area. works. Two table and benches available for the small tents. Freezer available to use. Recreation room. No charging points, charged at plugs i

07/07/2024

We cycled 65 km from to Monschau through the Nordeilfel of Germany 🇩🇪🚴🏻‍♀️🚴🏻 (Day18)

Beautiful route. 🚴🏻‍♀️🚴🏻 We saw Water buffalo on the way.

My bicycle 🚲 broke down. We were blessed that this happened 500m from a bicycle shop in the small village of Sourdough in Belgium 🇧🇪 . Even more blessed that the store, Burkardt, had all the spare parts in stock.

We visited the picture perfect historical city of Monschau. Beautiful!

Water buffalos 🐃 are helping the Deutsche Bahn🇩🇪🚆to transform former military sites into a swamp which ensure the survival of other animals.🐸
https://nachhaltigkeit.deutschebahn.com/en/measures/water-buffalo

In other areas the water buffalo 's🐃🍶 milk are used to make delicious buffolo mozzarella 🧀 😋
https://brf.be/regional/1758709/

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Camped at:
https://zum-jone-bur.de/

Good Campsite. Good location. Friendly & Helpful staff. Wifi frre but only works in reception area. works. One table and bench available for the small tents. No Fridge or freezer facilities. No charging points, charged at plugs in bathroom. Bathroom facilities good & clean. Willing to put my freezer block in freezer. Reasonable rates. Will stay here again.


Zweirad-Gehle Polarsteps

05/07/2024

We cycled 64 km from Kyllburg to Kronenburger See in the Vulkaneilfel of Germany 🇩🇪🚴🏻‍♀️🚴🏻 (Day17) Wonderful route. The route was challenging lots of uos and downs but amazingly beautiful We slept well😴🚴🏻‍♀️🚴🏻

Naturpark Vulkaneilfel in Germany, lies within the German-Luxembourg Nature Park which is a cross-border nature park, which was established on 17 April 1964 by state treaty between the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. It thus became the first cross-border nature park in Western Europe.

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Camped at:
https://www.campingpark-kronenburger-see.de/

The only campsite in the area that we could find. Efficient Campsite Friendly & Helpful staff. No Wifi, works, no charging points, no tables and chairs available for the small tents. No Fridge orfacilities freezer facilities. Bathroom facilities good & clean. Reasonable rates. Will stay here again.

05/07/2024

We cycled 65 km from Konz to Kyllburg in the South Eifel of Germany 🇩🇪🚴🏻‍♀️🚴🏻 (Day16) Wonderful route. Some stretches magically beautiful. We also cycled throug Bitburg known for good Bitburg beer 🍻 The route was challenging towards the end, with many "uphills". We slept well😴🚴🏻‍♀️🚴🏻

Naturpark Südeifel in Germany, lies within the German-Luxembourg Nature Park which is a cross-border nature park, which was established on 17 April 1964 by state treaty between the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. It thus became the first cross-border nature park in Western Europe.

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Camped at:
https://campkyllburg.de/
Great Campsite on the Kyllriver. Friendly & Helpful staff. Wifi, works well on whole campsite. Tables and chairs available for the small tents as well as charging points. Fridge with small freezer section available for small tents. Facilities good & clean. Very reasonable rates. Will definitely stay here again.


Zweirad-Gehle

03/07/2024

We cycled 48km from Trittenheim to via Trier to Konz🚴🏻‍♀️🚴🏻 (Day15) Another great day!🍇🍇🥂🍷 We were lucky, we had enough time to enjoy ☕️ & breakfast and pack up our camp before the rain started. It was a fairly cold rainy day 🌧 but we still enjoyed it a lot. We spend some time in Trier, lovely city. We bought a new gasbottel at Globetrotters
Amazing store! I got carried a way a little... In short, I had some retail therapy. Will show you..

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Camped at
https://campingplatz-konz.de/
Great Campsite at the junction of e the Mosel and Saar Rivers. Friendly & Helpful staff. Wifi, works well on whole campsite. Tables and chairs available for the small tents as well as charging points. Willing to put freezer block in freezer. Facilities bit older but clean. Very reasonable rates Will stay here again.


Zweirad-Gehle

01/07/2024

We cycled 48km Kröv (Mosel) to Trittenheim 🚴🏻‍♀️🚴🏻 Day 14. Another great day. The wonderful vineyards, beautiful river , landscapes is just amazing

The gradient of the vineyards is just incredibly steep. I am amazed!🍇🍇🥂🍷

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Camped at https://www.camping-trittenheim.de/
Great Campsite. Helpful staff. Very clean. Wifi, works well on hole campsite. Lend us a small table and chairs. Willing to put freezer block in freezer. The owner kend us good quality glasses to enjoy our wine. 🍾🍷Will stay here again


Zweirad-Gehle

30/06/2024

We cycled 30 km Zell(Mosel) to Kröv(Mosel) 🚴🏻‍♀️🚴🏻 Picture perfect! (Day 13) Zell & Kröv are beautiful & quaint little towns. The setting of the camping spot in Zell was amazing!

We discoverered that grocery stores on the Mosel are closed on a Sunday. 🥨🍒🍆 So we had to make alternative plans by the😋🍻

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Zweirad-Gehle

29/06/2024

Bonn to Koblenz. Cycling along the Rhine River 🚴🏻‍♀️🚴🏻⚘️ Love it! Enjoying every moment! (Day 11)

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Zweirad-Gehle

28/06/2024

Cycling 67 km from Cologne to Bonn, Germany 🇩🇪 Cologne is lovely & the cycling along the Rhine close to Bonn was beautiful. Landscapes, people enjoying the great weather. Swimming, enjoying a beer, kayaking etc. Less enjoyable for me was 2 flat tyres but absolutely worth it😀🚴🏻‍♀️🚴🏻🌳(Day 10)

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https://campingplatz-genienau.de/


Zweirad-Gehle

27/06/2024

Cycling 65 km from Gevelsberg to Cologne, Germany 🇩🇪 Lots of Hills today. Enjoyed the Balkan Trasse & Alten Bahn Trasse 😀🚴🏻‍♀️🚴🏻🌳(Day 9)

Stephan Gehle is amazing!!! He fixed both our bicycles. It would have been an incredible difficult without Stephan Gehle. It was like cycling up a sand dunes, after Stephan changed my bicycle It was like ski-ing down a Ski scope. THANK YOU!!! Zweirad-Gehle

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Zweirad-Gehle

27/06/2024

Cycling 12 km from Witten to Gevelsberg, Germany 🇩🇪 Lovely short route. Relaxing day 🚴🏻‍♀️🚴🏻🌳(Day 8)

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25/06/2024

Cycling 61 km from Dusseldorf to Witten Germany 🇩🇪 Lovely route especially the Nordbahn Strasse above Wuppertal. 🚴🏻‍♀️🚴🏻🌳(Day 7)

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