Four wheels, two rainbows. The lull before the deluge struck. I’ve just dropped Molly off at school 20 yards up the road. Daisy is cocooned in trailer admiring the colourful sight. PS CLICK ON PICTURE TO MAKE BIGGER. MY MUM DIDN’T KNOW THAT BUT I’M SURE EVERYONE ELSE DOES!

I’ve been meaning to update my not-very-update website for the past month but I’ve been a bit busy getting waterlogged on my bike. What floods! What rain! What wetness! What driving! What is it with some motorists that when they see a cyclist taking it slowly up to their hubs through foot-deep water they think nothing of blasting past? I’ve had nothing short of crested waves pass clean over me – it’s like surfing the Bonsai Pipeline in Hawaii only instead of warm blue sea it’s muddy freezing water. Quite exciting all the same, but an excitement I could do without – especially when I’ve got offspring on board. Molly is not impressed when a cold wash of water sluices over the tops of her wellies. We’re going to arm ourselves with rotten tomato machine guns for the inconsiderate – so watch out you wave-sploshing lot, Molly’s a mean shot.

Meanwhile, harking back to our summer cycling escapade, a German newspaper reporter called Manfred Ulferts has sent me this piece that he wrote after spotting us cycling through the city of Emden. I think all you’re supposed to do is click on the link and a bit of Deutchland should pop up.

German newspaper Emden summer 2012

Rifling through the undergrowth of my files I’ve come across some more summer cycling snapshots from the low lands of Holland, Germany and Denmark. So here we are and here we go:

Roll on the flat roads - with a little sheep on the side for light entertainment.

Old German barn - still in working use - one of many that we were to pass while cycling through northern Germany.

Waiting to take the ferry across the River Oste, north of Bremervorde, Germany

Still waiting for the ferry and here it comes now - one man, one chain, one platform. To get the boat-man's attention there is a bell on the bank beside us which you hit with a hammer. After some time, the boat-man appears from the bar on the opposite bank.

We're on and we're off and...

... he's pulling us across. Slowly.

Waiting for another ferry - this one a bit bigger, to cross the mighty Elbe.

Bike-side kite-flying on the banks of the River Elbe.

A windy time with wind turbines. Near Brunsbuttel, Germany.

Husband's have their uses - mending a broken spoke.

More riding and jumping beside the River Elbe.

The only hindrance on these long straight dyke-side, river-side, sea-side bike paths were the sheep (they don't half get in the way when they flop asleep across the path) and the sheep gates - which you have to keep stopping and starting for to open and shut. (Molly had her uses in this department - we nominated her top gate girl which meant kicking her off every time to hold open the gates for our wide-loaded steeds).

But it wasn't all sheep and sheep gates - when we looked upwards we would often see the sky a wonderful scrum of starlings and lapwings.

Back on terra firma here's Daisy limbering up in keen athletic spirit. She would see me doing similar antics, and I would say, 'Daisy, you don't really need to be doing that as all you do is sit in the trailer eating buns!' But it kept her happy and that was the main thing.

It might not look like it but it is very windy here. Everyday was windy but this was particularly windy. Good for drying our washing, though, hanging off the back.

Holding tight on to Molly lest she gets blown clean off a dyke.

More pictures to follow so keep tuned!