In which Sid and Doris discover bicycle priority and the cut and thrust of Dutch cycling.So, to start with the vital statistics:
Distance: 92 kms
Climb: 265 metres
Weather: Dry with north easterly wind.
If you have a look at the map you will see the route is pretty much due north east. Now, when I am cycling I expect it to feel as if the wind is against me because my progress creates apparent wind. When we add this to the true wind, a force four from the north east, we begin to feel a bit picked on. Two days, two different riding directions with the wind on the nose both days.
The route from Hook of Holland up to Amsterdam starts along the coast though picturesque dunes and the wind straight from the North Sea. We are enjoying learning Dutch, which will come in handy on the Winter Trial and other Cloggy events. You might be able to work this out. Smooth grid?
So we are soon looking for second breakfast. Finding a coffee shop we get chatting to the ladies outside. Have we ever been to the country before? Never, I reply, overlooking years of flying in to Rotterdam or Schipol and taking the train to The Hague for work at NN – one of the Netherland’s biggest insurers and investors. It is just not the same category and my brain had kept the work and play in their own houses.
At this point we become extra lucky. It is well known that it is good fortune to be pooped on by a bird. The local small crows are quite fearless and came to perch on Doris’s bike, which is now vairy lucky.
We have also started a new convention: eat and drink local delicacies. So apple cake at coffee time. (We promise that this will not turn into one of those blogs where we photograph every meal we eat, but look here is a photo of our first local delicacy, now you can assume all the future ones are really true.)
Almost the entire route was on cycle paths. Some of these are silky tarmac and others brick or tile. Even with our touring tyres on, the bricks give you a small flavour of the Hell of the North. These are whole miniature roads given over to bikes. Bikes seems to include small capacity motorbikes, which feels like a mistake as they are menaces. These bike roads have priority almost everywhere that cyclist might be in the majority.
To get into Amsterdam, to the Cool Blue shop where Doris’s electronic goodies await, we come around Schipol airport. At one point a plane seems to run across our path until we see we have a tunnel under the runway. For those of you who have ‘enjoyed’ the Route Verte into Paris, this is a lot better.
Cycling through Amsterdam however is much worse for a beginner. As a Londoner I am happy in with the vans and cars. Here in Amsterdam the cycle traffic is dense, fast and close. On sit up bikes with reverse pedal brakes people who have been riding from the age of four storm around at great speeds, mixed in with the motor scooters. No wonder NN does so much business.
We had found the Hotel Americain by 4.00 riding through huge crowds of Ajax footy supporters. Was there a match on? No, they are going to be presenting to the fans because they won the KNVB league. They are also known as the Joden, the Jews. They were knocked out of the UEFA cup in the semis by Tottenham Hotspur, also known as the Yids. An amusing and totally non-PC coincidence.
Next job is to find a bike shop as we are running in new bikes as we go along. We find a couple of shops nearby then hunt out beer and dinner. We were diligent in testing local beers in a micro brewery, but the glasses were the same size as anywhere else. (AK, that is a Dad joke for you.)
The Narbonne restaurant offers to serve food as from South Western France. In Derbyshire we once had pizza with the flavour of shepherds pie. The Narbonne serves nice food but I have never had bitterballen in Narbonne. They are a Dertch confection and so keep us to the goal of eating local.
In the bar back at the hotel we and our waitress give a good rendition of Rocket Man (Elton John not Kim Jong Un). And so to bed knowing that on Friday we will not be riding.