218. Europe Bicycle Trip--This Accident Could Have Been Much Worse, Four Angels to Help

I was feeling really good as I bicycled into Oosterhout. The day had gone well. I had had a very good visit with Sister Marietta. The weather had cleared. Soccer fever was in the air as the Netherlands had another game in World Cup Soccer. I was getting very close to Cousin Hans' house according to my GPS. I came to a street where I had to go for a little while on gravel and some people were walking ahead of me and I said a cheery hello as I passed them. THEN...

A section of cobblestone came up in front of a building. There was suddenly a dip in the cobblestone that jarred my bicycle. The bottom of my front right rack cracked in two and the pannier dropped down and because of that the round bar that goes over my front wheel dropped down onto my front tire and stopped me DEAD very suddenly. I wear shoes that clip in  and I thank the Lord greatly that I was able to quickly unclip my right foot and step onto the cobble stones with it as the bicycle fell down. If I had not been able to do that quickly, I would have flown forward onto the cobblestones and would have been badly hurt. I picked up poor Silver just as the 4 people that I had just passed came up and asked if I was okay. It took all 4 of us to hold the bicycle and work at loosening the front pannier to get it off. Then one of the men pushed the rack and the bar over my tire back up. I took off my repair kit and found some duct tape and he duct taped the cracked part together. But there was no way I was going to put the heavy pannier back on so one of the ladies called my cousin , Hans and told him about the mishap. He knew the location immediately because he volunteers here. He would come here right away because his house was only a kilometer away. I thanked my four angels for their help and they left for home so as not to miss the beginning of the soccer game.

The accident happened when my front tire left the gravel, and then hit the blue dipped area in the cobblestone.

My wonderful angels who helped me. I was in a little bit of shock thinking what could have happened if my foot had not unclipped. The pannier is off here, the bottom of the rack is taped and the round bar joining the two sides of the rack is off my tire.

After the rack was taped, I walked Silver over to the building and leaned her against the wall. Then I brought the pannier over and left it on the ground and waited for Hans to come.

The name of this place where Hans volunteers is Sint-Catharinadal. It is the oldest nunnery community in the Netherlands. It is the convent of the Sisters of Norbertine. It was founded in1120 by Norbert van Genep.The altar of the first monastery church was dedicated to Saint Catherine. This monastery has a long history but now it is still in use by the Norbertine Sisters who do spiritual work, and restoration of old books and manuscripts.

Entrance to Sint Catharinadal--My angels took a quick look inside.    Hans came quite quickly on his bicycle and we said hello. It has been 36 years since we last met.  I was slightly embarrassed to be meeting him with such a problem. My Lord certainly humbled me when I was getting a little too proud of myself and my trip. He put my pannier in his bicycle bag and I said I would try to ride VERY SLOWLY so the the duct tape would hold the crack together.

Inside of Sint Catharinadal Monastery.   As we cycled on and around the corner Hans told me that this area is called the Sacred or Holy Triangle because there are 3 monasteries located right here. Besides this one there are also Our Lady Abbey with Benedictine Sisters and St. Anthony Monastery with Franciscan Sisters.