Day 28: Oldenburg, Germany to Emmen, the Netherlands | 118km
26 June 2026
A heatwave unlike any in previous years has swept over Western Europe this past week, and today it hit us hard. We were slow to leave the hotel in the morning because we needed to repack our bags, reattach them, and do some minor bike maintenance. With soaring temperatures, starting early is ideal so you can finish most of the riding before lunch and the hottest hours of the day. We didn’t leave until ten, just as the sun was climbing high in the sky.
We followed bike paths through residential areas to get out of Oldenburg. Once outside the city, we basically followed the same road for the next 60 km, turning only once. The smooth tarmac offered few opportunities to shelter from the sun. One of the more wholesome moments of the day happened when we stopped at a red light along the seemingly endless road. A couple in the car next to us blasted Britney Spears’ ”Oops! I Did It Again”, and we joined in their singing and dancing while waiting for the light to turn green. It took a while, and by the time they drove past us, they honked appreciatively at our willingness to join their small roadside party. It was a nice moment shared between complete strangers, a testament to the power of music even Britney Spears’ breakthrough hit to unite us.
For much of the ride, we biked parallel to the Küstenkanal, which I learned is a 70 km human made canal. Its main purpose is to ship cargo too large for railway or road transport and to connect vital industries to German and Dutch maritime networks. I’ve been to Amsterdam before, so I’ve seen the canals there, but this was something else. I had no idea how far into the country these canals stretched or how much traffic they guided. The Küstenkanal isn’t even among the bigger canals, I discovered after a quick Google search, but riding alongside it all day gave me a sense of just how much work must have gone into constructing it. Not that I know much about construction, but still.
The flat land and smooth tarmac made for quick progress, even though it didn’t feel like it because the landscape looked mostly the same all the way to the Dutch border. I wish there had been a “Welcome to the Netherlands” sign or something to mark the crossing into a new country. Regardless, we weren’t in the mood to stop for photos. We had failed to find a suitable lunch spot and had been out in the sun for far too many hours. Hungry, slightly sunburned, and dehydrated, we finally rolled into a lunch spot around 3 pm, just as the temperature was peaking. Luckily, it was a great restaurant, so we enjoyed the shade, cold Cokes served in glass bottles, and a spread of wraps, a charcuterie board, and bread with delicious aioli. Both Irene and I slowly regained our energy, but the scorching sun had taken its toll. Irene had also been dealing with a sore wrist from her fall the day before, so she was in low level but constant pain. I’ve been incredibly impressed by her grit over the past week, considering the distance we’ve covered, the heat, and her lack of prior biking experience. A warrior through and through.
After nearly 120 km of sweaty riding, we finally reached Emmen. But the heat and late lunch meant neither of us had much of an appetite, so instead of dinner, we each bought a handful of drinks: juice, protein shakes, soda, and iced tea to rehydrate. We also picked up a watermelon and cookies to share. So, although we probably didn’t meet our nutrient needs for the day, we quenched our thirst and got some fuel into our systems.