Out of bed at 6:30. The departure from Ie, near the church with the beautiful cemetery around it, just after ten o’clock was very pleasant, as the whole village also radiates. With a group of I estimate 15 people we cycle in the direction of Anjum and from there in the direction of Laurensoog, about 10-15 km. What is striking in comparison to yesterday is the open meadow landscape, the enormous vistas and the many birds, which are quite shocked by the cycling boom. Of course, they are not used to that. Along the way, we start handing out birthday trees to people we meet, including mostly children. Very nice reaction, anyway the tree bike brings a smile on many faces, and many raised hands. The weather is beautiful again. Sun and a little wind. Around noon we arrive at the WEC in Laurensoog. A beautiful new building with a wooden shell and inside an experience about the wadden region. We are just about to go inside, when I am surprised to see my father of 95 coming out of Dominique’s car. Heh … is this for real? I am really upset for a moment and fill up a bit. How wonderful. What a beautiful gift! Thank you Dominique. We go inside where Jacomijn briefly shows us around, a very sustainable building by a Danish architect, including ceilings made of recycled jeans. It’s a trial open house today. We have lunch there and leave around 2 in the direction of Uithuizen, along the Lauwersmeer, via Borghorn(?) to Pieterburen, about 40 km. The landscape here is also very open along the wadden dike, only around the row of villages it is a bit more cozy. We have quite a headwind in the open area and that costs a lot of battery energy. We should be in Warffum at 5 but we won’t make it because in Pieterburen, just before the windmill, all three batteries are empty. Shit. What now? I wait by the bike while the others cycle on to Warffum to tell the people who expect us to pass by with the tree bike that it will be a bit later. And they also put the batteries on the charger. I stretch out on the lawn for a while and realize how crazy it must be for the trees that watch the hassle of the people every day. What a hassle. An hour and a half later Richard and Floris arrive with a 30% charged battery and we drive for a bit. And again the end is sooner than expected. In Den Andel (?) we are stranded again. Bad luck. Martine with girlfriend, Vincent and Liesbeth and also Roselie have already left. We chain the tree bike along the road and drive to Uithuizen, about 14 km away, as Sanne, Daan, Linda and Ika have already driven and cycled there. There we meet Lillie and Heine at the Havenweg where Daan and I spend the night. At her son’s bar behind the house, a kind of luxury shack for “older” young people, we eat soup and pasta. What a nice place. Richard and Floris and Sanne, Linda and Ika sleep in two other locations, friends on bikes… We are quite broken but still decide to go pick up the tree bike, after the batteries have been recharged a bit. Meanwhile, Henry Mentink called, the walking man with wheelbarrow, maybe he’ll stop by tomorrow morning. It is a full moon, or has just been, and of course that should give beautiful images, Floris is still there now, so we take advantage of this opportunity. And yes, it is another new experience to be able to ride with a tree on the bike in the dark in the silence of the Groningen countryside. Fortunately, there is little traffic on this Saturday night and the bike has good light. It will come down to the wire, and yes, again we just don’t make it. 3.5 km before Uithuizen both batteries are empty again and we park the tree bike at a farmer’s yard. Then we call him to ask if it was allowed, and of course it was. We drive to Uithuizen and there I find Daan, Lillie and Heine still busy in conversation. It is half past eleven and high time to go to sleep. It is the end of day two. It seems like we have been on the road for a week. That will be something.