Dit zijn de afstanden die er per dag gefietst zijn. Dag 4 was de rustdag.Dag 5 en 6 waren de dagen dat we rond hebben gereden in de Veluwe zonder bagage.

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Haute Route - Day 8
At night, the temperature dipped to around 4 degrees Celcius, which, together with the wind and rain, was pushing the limits of our gear, although we never got more than a bit chilly. The weather predictions were that it would stop raining around 6 am and start again around noon, so we planned to use that window to make it to the next hut. However, during the night, the predictions got worse and worse. It was still raining hard in the morning and wasn't planned to stop until 3 in the afternoon. Using my GPS, I sent a message to our parents saying that we were fine but would wait until the rain slowed down.

Two hours later, it was still raining hard. I noticed an increasingly large puddle forming around our tent and under its 'bathtub' ground sheet. No water was leaking through, but it was gradually getting higher and the edges were only 5-10 cm off the ground. These conditions were definitely a bit too harsh for an ultralight tent. There was no end to the rain in sight, we weren't feeling super warm, and most of all, we didn't want water to rush into our tent and sleeping bags accidentally. Therefore, we decided to pack our gear and start walking toward the warm and safe hut a few hours away.
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With the wet tent jammed in my backpack and all our rain clothes on, we started hiking. We had to climb up and down several rocky slopes and mountain ridges. Because of a dense fog and the wet rocks, we had to be careful. The limited views we got were beautiful, though.
After a few hours of walking, scrambling, and climbing, we started to descend, and some other people passed us. The descent took a long time due to the rain and mud, but eventually we reached the mountain hut, where we took a long break. It was great to have a warm meal and dry some clothes. The weather started to clear up in the late afternoon. Around four o'clock, all the people who had started from nearby mountain huts streamed in as usual. They looked very confused when we walked out.
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First, we had to climb another hill which took about half an hour and ended in the fog. Then there was another long descent towards a big lake. Near the lake, we saw several ibexes. There were a few mountain huts along the lake, and we picked one that didn't have a staff and was free. When I opened the door, we found about seven men inside. They were also from the Netherlands and had been climbing a nearby glacier. It was nice to chat with them about the area, and we played several games of UNO before going to bed. The hut also had a wood stove where we made some tea. The 'bedroom' consisted of a big room with around 20 mattresses. As was the tradition on this hike, we didn't sleep well because of all the snoring.




