Cycling in the Netherlands with Christine & Phil

On the birthdays of Oliver, Scott, Ian, Glen and Canadian Ian, we departed Konstanz early by train. After numerous station changes and a couple of bus rides, 12 hours later we arrived in Zeist (near Utrecht), Netherlands to meet up with our good NZ friends Christine Brown and Phil Vink for the cycling leg of our adventures.

C&P had purchased new bikes in New Zealand and flew them over, with hand luggage only and their bikes taking the rest of their baggage allowance. Inspirational!

We spent the following day purchasing two 2nd-hand bikes (from Cheap Bikes Utrecht) and then arranging to courier our suitcases to our Airbnb host in Maastricht, the end location of our cycle ride. We successfully completed both these tasks on a Sunday, an impossibility in New Zealand!

The next morning we set off and over the following 11 days we cycled back and forth on rural roads and byways, along the top of dykes, beside canals, and (mostly) well away from the busy roads

and motorways of the Netherlands. Phil, with his Dutch heritage and very good language skills, and Christine, had planned daily routes through beautiful and historic regions and villages. We cycled an average of 50 km per day but the first day of 75 km was unplanned and more than a little painful on the rear end but well worthwhile to reach our destination of accommodation in a converted fortification, Fort Bakkerskil!

We cannot rave enough about the ease of cycling in the Netherlands - everywhere (and that means everywhere) you go, there is a cycle path off the road completely or alongside the road, and they are smooth and flat and such a joy to ride on. Of course the cobbles through the villages and towns are bone-rattling but that is all part of the experience. By law, the traffic must give way to cyclists and they sure do stop and let you through, massive fines otherwise. But of course, there are traffic lights and places where cyclists must give way as well.

Our accommodation was a mixture of Airbnbs and Friends on Bikes (Vrienden op de Fiets), with configurations of all sharing a tiny room, to whole apartments, to separate bedrooms, to sharing facilities with our hosts. We met wonderful, generous, hospitable, interesting people and we felt privileged to be invited into their homes. There was only one bad experience, a dirty, messy, smelly home, which unfortunately coincided with the end of a cold, very wet day and three of our party who, we thought, had bad colds but (we

found out later), had Covid! I complained about the stale food smell pervading the house but, as it turned out, none of the others could smell it because they had Covid! A low point indeed!

First Phil, then Christine, then Bruce came down with Covid (C&P for the 1st time and B his 2nd dose) and all had a couple of miserable grotty days but bravely soldiered on cycling, because there wasn't much choice otherwise. Nicola managed to avoid Covid at that time and felt quite chuffed with herself! However, Covid was a complete non-issue in Europe, no-one wore masks, and there were no isolation or reporting requirements.

Highlights of our cycling adventure were: the Kinderdijk (famous site of old windmills); Gouda and the Cheese Market; Delft; riding on top of dykes for miles looking down on immaculate traditional Dutch houses and equally immaculate farmland (their furrows are razor-sharp); stunning tulip fields; historic Old Towns in almost every village, town and city; canals; massive long barges; locks; riding under the Maas River (a tributary of the Rhine); ferry rides across canals; awe-inspiring churches and cathedrals; the Vincent van Gogh Museum; the Klok and Peel Museum (Bells & Clocks and the nearby Peel Region); and so much more.

A not-so-fun fact: There are practically no public toilets in the Netherlands - not located in every small town as in New Zealand. There is the occasional one in the middle of a city but otherwise are almost nowhere to be found, apart from railway stations and the like, also cafes and restaurants, of course, but then there is an obligation to buy.

Over 11 days we cycled about 550 km, more than shown on the map (see over), as that doesn't include the myriad of deviations, turn-arounds and popping into this or that village or location, etc, etc. Note: the map includes the first leg that Phil & Christine rode from Amsterdam to meet up with us in Zeiss (near Utrecht).

Our Itinerary:
Day 1: Zeist to Fort Bakkerskil near Gorinchem - 75 km, Airbnb
Day 2: Fort Bakkerskil to Krimpen aan de Lek - 48 km, Airbnb
Day 3: Krimpen aan de Lek to Gouda (via Kinderdijk) - 21 km, Airbnb
Day 4: Gouda to Delft - 34 km, Booking.com
Day 5: Delft to Brielle (via Schiedam for PV's dad) - 50 km, VodF
Day 6: Brielle to Ooltgensplaat - 52 km, VodF
Day 7: Ooltgensplaat to east of Dorst - 68 km, Airbnb
Day 8: Dorst to Best - 55 km, VodF
Day 9: Best to Asten - 42 km, VodF
Day 10: Asten to Thorn - 40 km, VodF
Day 11: Thorn to Maastricht via Belgium, 50 km, VodF

Our cycling excursion in the Netherlands coincided with two important days on their calendar - 4 May is National Remembrance Day (like our ANZAC Day) and the whole country (including us) observed two minutes of silence at 8.00 pm.

The following day, 5 May, was Liberation Day, a public holiday to commemorate the end of five years of Nazi occupation during the Second World War. Dutch flags are flown from many homes and public buildings, and there are festivals and celebrations in every village, town and city. We came across this in a town called Brielle, with re-enactments of the (mostly Canadian) allies arriving in town, period-dressed locals and displays of military memorabilia.

Kinderdijk is below sea level. If nature was allowed to take its course, more than a quarter of the Netherlands would be under water and 60 percent would be threatened by the water. Kinderdijk is the largest concentration of old windmills in the Netherlands, a UNESCO World Heritage site, with 19 beautifully preserved windmills, 16 of which are still lived in, but only one or two windmills still working. Built in 1738 and 1740, to keep water out of the polder (low-lying land enclosed by embankments/dykes), to deal with flooding issues and to allow the land to be farmed. Each windmill in the line pumps the water a half metre or so higher than the previous one to lift it up from one canal level to another. It was amazing to see in reality those stereotypical images we all have of Holland, now officially the Netherlands, and also fascinating to view the windmills' inner workings and see people's living conditions as well.