Left what was a rather quiet B&B in Hardenberg to continue on forest trails. Our British expectation of a B&B breakfast involves the owner taking your order for a fryup and generally being hospitable . This was a solo breakfast with scrambled egg on toast left on a small heater -no sign of human life ( except me) ! Oh well – I did knock on before leaving to explain that I may have broken the filter coffee machine 🙁.
The usual desperate search for a coffee at around 11am led me to a cafe with an open door . Hooray ! But no, was told it opened at midday “ when church finished” pointing to the service opposite . A frustrating morning navigation -wise with a few forest tracks that didn’t exist and trying to escape a couple of towns en route .
Arrived at a rather posh looking hotel at Ootsmarsum – average age of clientele 110 . I obviously dropped it to 107. The town was rather twee – famous for its artists evidently but it did have a brewery plus bar 👍
Pint at the brewery at Ootmarsum; traditional amusing place name; some very large thatched bldgs!
Next morning off to Hengelo via more forests and passing through the impressive university campus of Enchede followed by the magnificent vista of FC Twente’s stadium ! No statue of Steve McLaren but did chat to two lads who worked at the cafeteria !
This is where I stayed in Hengelo . A disused water tower that a couple is renovating . A lot of work still to do but my room was funky ) /sorry forgot internal photo 🤷♂️. They’ve kept the industrial feel inside . Otherwise Hengelo is a low- rise functional kind of place – certainly not the wealthiest part of the Netherlands . I hope they can make the water tower work -need to attract punters to Hengelo !
Round the Netherlands by bike 
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