A day bookended by storks, just when I thought they must all have left northern Europe. The second pair are at the top of the town hall gable directly opposite our hotel tonight.

Perfect cycling conditions: warm but not too hot, sunny but not scorching, the wind mostly helpful. From the converted railway line out of Xanten I thought again of the parallel universe that the Netherlands and Germany offer me: here I am on a path away from traffic, there, less than a hundred yards away beyond the line of trees, lorries and cars roar along. Kaffee und Kuchen in Kalkar, where I thought of the slow fading of a particular type of Germany. We chose a traditional bakery café in the main square, where the assistants looked of retirement age and all the customers were elderly and knew each other. In many towns now we find that the only bakeries are attached to large supermarkets; we’re happy when we find them, of course, but they lack charm and memorability.

And now back in the Netherlands and on the return to Europoort.