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RETURN TO OZ

We had two minor hassles at Schiphol:
one was the inconvenience of having to push the bike box in front of us in the ticketing queue, just to have it weighed, then having to take it round to the "odd sized luggage" desk. If they had scales at the "odd sized luggage" desk, you could take your bike there first, have the weight printed on a slip of paper, then take the information to the ticketing desk. Does KLM have a suggestion box ;-)

The second hiccup was caused by the X-ray machine finding unfamiliar metal objects in Denis' carry-on pannier. He suggested it could be the pump, or the thermos, but the attendant kept digging. She ended up pulling everything out, and right down the bottom were ... 2 Dutch bicycle locks we had bought in Weesp - dangerous weapons indeed!

The flight home was quite fast compared with the flight over - only 20 1/2 hours! It's still a very long way, especially when you can't get to sleep. We reached Sydney on Monday 5 May at 15.00 Australian Eastern Standard time (8 hours ahead of Amsterdam time), then landed at Canberra airport at 18.05 after a 40 minute flight in the small commuter 'plane.
It's funny, the only time I felt homesick was when I saw the typical pink and green Australian sunset on the flight between Sydney and Canberra!

Our two daughters and my sister were there to meet us. It was good to be back, safe and sound, but it meant the adventure was over ... 'til next time. I could really get used to this travel business!!

Some broad statistics

Cycle journey	kilometres (approx.)
Zürich	20
Bern	10
Interlaken	20
Luzern	10
Disentis-Chur	71
Chur-Liechtenstein	50
Liechtenstein-Bregenz	70
Bregenz-Konstanz	85
Konstanz-Schaffhausen	65
Basel-Colmar	95
Colmar-Strasbourg	102
Strasbourg-Karlsruhe	119
Worms-Mainz	80
Mainz-Wiesbaden	25
Wiesbaden-Bingen	50
Bingen-Bacharach	30
Bacharach-Koblenz	75
Trier-Bernkastel	85
Bernkastel-Cochem	90
Cochem-Koblenz	50
Arnhem	30
Arnhem-Epe	50
Epe-Lelystad	65
Lelystad	20
Lelystad-Muiderberg	55
Muiderberg-Zwanenburg	75
Zwanenburg-Schiphol	16
Total (approx.)	1403

It must have been more than that!

Train journeys	km
Zürich-Interlaken	175
Brienz-Luzern	50
Luzern-Disentis	110
Schaffhausen-Basel	95
Karlsruhe-Heidelberg	80
Heidelberg-Worms	50
Koblenz-Trier	120
Koblenz-Arnhem	280
Arnhem-Delft-Arnhem	260
Total (approx.)	1220

Ride elevations (metres a.s.l.)

• Start 1130 (Disentis)
• Finish -5 (Schiphol)
  

Stiffest climbs:

• 140 m in 3.7 k (Valendas 800m a.s.l. to mountain top 940m a.s.l.)
• Rhine River at Bacharach to Burg Stahleck (youth hostel)
• Rhine River at Koblenz to Festung Ehrenbreitstein (youth hostel) 19% incline indicated

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