totallyfixed
Veteran
- Location
- The only county without a McDonalds
It was an easy choice to make, we have friends in Nijmegen who we haven't seen for years since they lived in Cambridge [they are both Dutch] so with less than a month to go, no problem......................I thought! At this point I will say a public thanks to 4F who put me in touch with Auntie Helen who provided some useful information.
The thorniest problem was where to stay, we intended to tour for 8 - 10 days plus the time cycling in the UK. It was decided that it was a bridge too far [get it?] to cycle to Harwich without a stop, plus we really wanted to arrive in the Netherlands in the morning as the first day might not be straightforward [I should have been a prophet]. We joined a Dutch organisation called Vrienden op de Fiets [Friends on bikes], if you ever intend to tour in the NL then I can't recommend this organisation enough, it costs 10 euros for the year and you then get access to a an internet map with addresses of families who offer accommodation for usually one night and contact them either by phone or email, we chose the latter for obvious reasons and usually had replies within 24 hrs.
It was all coming together although the price for travelling on the night boat to The Hook of Holland from Harwich was a bit steep I thought., oh well too late to stop now.
Packing was extremely easy, the bikes were good fast Audax bikes, a Condor Fratello [dr_pink] and a Spa Cycles steel audax, just 2 panniers each plus a bar bag for me, 1 extra spare inner tube and 3 or 4 spare bolts.
That was it, we were ready!
We got the earliest train from Oakham on a Sunday [which at 12.45 goes a long way towards what is wrong with this country] to Cambridge to see friends then a swift 44 miles with a tailwind to Woolpit and an overnight stop with another good friend, from there an easy 40 miles to Harwich for the overnight boat. We arrived with loads of time to spare and had the proverbial fish & chips overlooking the sea before heading to the docks.
Unfortunately there was a problem with the ship's door so we stood around with quite a few other cyclists [mainly Dutch] and a few motor cyclists and watched a great sunset
Eventually long after it had gone dark we headed up the ramp along with our new found friends, when we came to a halt halfway up collective groans ensued so I got to the front and pointed my camera which raised a cheer, I think my favourite photo of the entire trip.
By the time we eventually boarded and the bikes just plonked against whatever wall space we could find it was almost 11pm. Nevertheless after a shower in an immaculate cabin [I was starting to get impressed] we hit the bar with many of the other cyclists and talked until we realised we would only get
4 hours sleep before docking, gulp!
I should point out now that my method of navigation once in the NL was going to be by cardmin, ie, I write names of places on a piece of card and hope to find them somewhere. as well as this tried and trusted method I had a 1 in a zillion scale map of the whole of the NL, oh well.
I had wanted to see Delft but it didn't feature on my route which was up the coast to Alkmaar, our first night's stop, however we had met 2 lovely Dutch girls who had been touring in the UK who lived in Delft so we went with them, a bit potty really because we had a long ride ahead of us without veering inland.
dr_pink and our 2 new friends getting lost
Eventually we arrived in Delft after many dead ends and wrong turns, obviously they haven't yet progressed to cardmin over here I thought. They were great though, I got to see one of their houses and then they treated us to the best apple cake in the NL.
I could have happily stayed in wonderful Delft a lot longer but time was trickling away and still over 60 miles to go we had to say our farewells with promises to keep in touch, so with an escort out to point us in the right direction we were off.
Part 2 to follow, Cyclepaths extraodinaire, bridges, dykes [the earthen type] and mirages.
The thorniest problem was where to stay, we intended to tour for 8 - 10 days plus the time cycling in the UK. It was decided that it was a bridge too far [get it?] to cycle to Harwich without a stop, plus we really wanted to arrive in the Netherlands in the morning as the first day might not be straightforward [I should have been a prophet]. We joined a Dutch organisation called Vrienden op de Fiets [Friends on bikes], if you ever intend to tour in the NL then I can't recommend this organisation enough, it costs 10 euros for the year and you then get access to a an internet map with addresses of families who offer accommodation for usually one night and contact them either by phone or email, we chose the latter for obvious reasons and usually had replies within 24 hrs.
It was all coming together although the price for travelling on the night boat to The Hook of Holland from Harwich was a bit steep I thought., oh well too late to stop now.
Packing was extremely easy, the bikes were good fast Audax bikes, a Condor Fratello [dr_pink] and a Spa Cycles steel audax, just 2 panniers each plus a bar bag for me, 1 extra spare inner tube and 3 or 4 spare bolts.
That was it, we were ready!
We got the earliest train from Oakham on a Sunday [which at 12.45 goes a long way towards what is wrong with this country] to Cambridge to see friends then a swift 44 miles with a tailwind to Woolpit and an overnight stop with another good friend, from there an easy 40 miles to Harwich for the overnight boat. We arrived with loads of time to spare and had the proverbial fish & chips overlooking the sea before heading to the docks.
Unfortunately there was a problem with the ship's door so we stood around with quite a few other cyclists [mainly Dutch] and a few motor cyclists and watched a great sunset
Eventually long after it had gone dark we headed up the ramp along with our new found friends, when we came to a halt halfway up collective groans ensued so I got to the front and pointed my camera which raised a cheer, I think my favourite photo of the entire trip.
By the time we eventually boarded and the bikes just plonked against whatever wall space we could find it was almost 11pm. Nevertheless after a shower in an immaculate cabin [I was starting to get impressed] we hit the bar with many of the other cyclists and talked until we realised we would only get
4 hours sleep before docking, gulp!
I should point out now that my method of navigation once in the NL was going to be by cardmin, ie, I write names of places on a piece of card and hope to find them somewhere. as well as this tried and trusted method I had a 1 in a zillion scale map of the whole of the NL, oh well.
I had wanted to see Delft but it didn't feature on my route which was up the coast to Alkmaar, our first night's stop, however we had met 2 lovely Dutch girls who had been touring in the UK who lived in Delft so we went with them, a bit potty really because we had a long ride ahead of us without veering inland.
dr_pink and our 2 new friends getting lost
Eventually we arrived in Delft after many dead ends and wrong turns, obviously they haven't yet progressed to cardmin over here I thought. They were great though, I got to see one of their houses and then they treated us to the best apple cake in the NL.
I could have happily stayed in wonderful Delft a lot longer but time was trickling away and still over 60 miles to go we had to say our farewells with promises to keep in touch, so with an escort out to point us in the right direction we were off.
Part 2 to follow, Cyclepaths extraodinaire, bridges, dykes [the earthen type] and mirages.
