...Holland...

3 Days Southern Holland

Today was our third day cycling through the South of Holland. Of course, three days cycling through a small part of a pretty country I don't know very much about it, will never give one a final impression of the place!

However, as we sit and pedal along, me usually 100m in front of Rebecca which means no conversation is happening (the gap is mostly for safety reasons - we are still on talking terms in case you wonder...) we have plenty of time to soak up our surroundings, think about those, put our own spin on it and decide did we just learn something, dislike it or are not quite sure what we should make of it!

Thumbs up, thumbs down...

In my next blog, I will compile a little list of things I've seen on route which made me think (or in some cases even stop to take a picture).

You then can grade those yourself with a 'thumbs up' or 'thumbs down'...

Riding through Rotterdam...

Anyway, at around 8 AM on Monday morning, the pretty new, clean and comfortable Stena Line Ferry docked in Hook of Holland and we were off, trying to find the cycle path to Rotterdam!

Did I just say ‘trying to find’?? There’s no need to search for a cycle path here! They are everywhere. And the word everywhere describes it best too!  

Often in red tarmac, those cycle paths take you pretty much anywhere in Holland. Cyclists even have their own road & train crossings which are not shared with pedestrians. Oh yes, all exclusively for cyclist! And the quality of the cycle paths surface – wow!…When I looked at it for the first time, it felt like I should take my shoes off and have a little tiptoeing over it to show some respect!

Potholes? I don’t think that word exists in Dutch and if it does, it must be the least used word in their vocabulary! Honestly, coming from the pothole-decorated-broken-verge-cracked-tarmac-faded-markings roads in Oxfordshire, Holland created a cyclists paradise! The only thing they forgot, was to build some hills…

As a result, riding early morning on those immaculately paved roads towards Rotterdam was utterly delightful! The only thing we struggled with was finding a nice cup of coffee on route in those early hours of the day.

On route, we saw landmarks like parts of the old harbour, the Euromast (the 1960’s, over 185m tall construction is still one of the tallest buildings in Holland), cycled over the Erasmusbridge, experienced the vastness of the industrial harbour of Rotterdam, came past the Stadium Feijenoord Rotterdam, and the highlight of the day were the 19 windmills from the 17th century in Kinderdijk which presented themselves in lovely sunshine!

We ended up staying for the night near Dordrecht before we continued towards Wijk bij Duurstede and then on to Arnhem for our third night in Holland.

Navigation...

The plan was to follow all the way the Euro Cycle Route 15 which is the Rhine Route. However, coordinating the navigation by using three different navigation apps, finding suitable accommodation and throwing two pretty strong minded people in the mix ended up in a ‘little bit’ of chaos…all sorted though, lesson learnt and we are having a glass of wine together right now…

Whilst yesterday was a lovely day riding through the Dutch wetlands including marshlands, fens, peat bogs and small lakes which seems to be a bird watchers paradise, today was a bit different: We set off before 9 AM into a pretty cold and very foggy morning. After a short visit to the local market and the ‘drive-through’ windmill in Wijk we grinded our way through the fog towards Arnhem.

Honestly, the first part of the ride was about as interesting as pedalling on a home trainer in front of a white wall, with all the windows open on a cold day…but finally, not far before Arnhem, the sun got through the fog and accompanied by blue skies we pedalled into Arnhem which even offered some lovely small hills in and around it!

We are off the cycle paths now and I’ve put my shoes back on…