Holland by bike - 8

We could not believe it. Our last day in Holland had arrived. Once again the sky was cloudless although the northerly breeze kept us cool enough to ride comfortably so after waving goodbye to our hosts for the night we set off towards the ferry port. The last few days had taken a lot out of us so in some ways we were looking forward to getting on board our ship and settling in for a good night's rest during the overnight passage. But in other ways we were sad to be leaving a place where we had enjoyed such an amazing holiday. (I was going to say relaxing, a strange thing to feel after riding so many kilometres.) As it turned out we had decided that the direct route to the ferry port would not be enough for us and whilst planning the ride the previous evening we decided to make a small detour to visit a vegetarian restaurant, of all things, that would make a good stopping point for lunch. It was actually run by an Italian couple who made their own very tasty houmous. Well worth the detour.

An early arrival at the ferry dock meant we were able to get ourselves and our bikes on board quite quickly, lash them down, then take the lift up to our cabin four decks above. Loading so many cars and other vehicles is a complicated and slow business and getting on board early meant that we could look down smugly upon those still waiting down below on the dock. Sitting in a car might be comfortable enough and foot passengers can wait indoors but if you are a cyclist and it is raining or cold then this is not where you would want to be hanging about.

Our cabin on board was tiny but perfectly adequate since we only needed it for sleeping on the passage to Newcastle. Once all the vehicle loading was complete we made our way to the self service restaurant where we enjoyed a substantial meal just as the ship was leaving port but before we had finished eating the ship's movement could be felt. The northerly wind was coming down the full length of the North Sea and once we were outside the harbour the ship started to pitch and roll as it punched into the swell. Indeed throughout the night in our cabin we could feel this movement and despite our tiredness it was difficult to ignore the gentle rolling and pitching and the slight noises which accompanied the movement. By morning we were wishing it would all come to an end and we delayed taking breakfast until the ship had reached the calmer waters inside the long arms of the harbour walls at the entrance to the river Tyne.

Finally the moment came to push our bikes off the ferry and take to the road to cycle away from the port. This time, however, we were back in the UK, so we had to remember to cycle on the left side of the road and also to steer to the left when confronted by another cyclist on a cycle path. Even more important was to remember to look to the right to check for cars when crossing a road. Everything that had become instinctive during the last month had to be un-learnt...and urgently, from the moment our feet touched British soil. And once again we faced the complex journey from port to home which started with a bike ride from the ferry terminal to Newcastle Central Station, right in the centre of the city. Fortunately this starts with a properly signposted cycle path so with all our senses on full alert we jumped onto our bikes and rode off.

We soon found ourselves crossing a waterway, just like we had done many times in Holland, although we could not help but notice something rather different in what we were seeing. Similarly with the cycle path itself which, instead of being smooth and clean, was riddled with lumps and bumps, obstacles that we had to steer around carefully. It was also covered with rubbish and dog poo plus we were constantly ducking from the overhanging tree and bramble branches that were growing beside the path. When we came to our first road crossing it became clear that priority would be given to cars, cyclists always being expected to give way even on the smallest of roads. This was not what we had become used to. It occurred to us that in the UK there are no rules embedded in our Highway Code that can be applied to signify a change of priority at junctions, no road markings specifically designed to indicate that cyclists have priority. All road users, cars included, are expected to give way at a Zebra crossing, marked with broad white lines on the road, but there is nothing similar to deal with the situation where a cycle path crosses a road. There might be an awkward pair of iron fences on the path which cyclists have to zigzag around when approaching a road but sometimes these are absent so there is nothing to warn the cyclist of the approaching road crossing and certainly never anything to require a car driver to give way. We had become used to a vastly different infrastructure everywhere we went in Holland, irrespective of whether it was a town or in the country. We had now arrived back in a country where cyclists are treated as less important than any other road user, quite a scary place to be.

Several times we were directed onto minor roads, perhaps through a housing estate, and the unclear signposting made this quite difficult but eventually the Hadrian's Wall cycle path took us along the River Tyne to the quayside in the centre of Newcastle. From this point we were faced with a very steep climb uphill to the station, this being on overcrowded roads with no signposted guidance as to which route to follow. It might have been safer to walk the bikes but pushing a loaded bike uphill either in the road or on the pavement is extremely strenuous. In the end we did a bit of both, riding, juggling with the traffic, and pushing, until the station finally came into view.

Once safely inside the station, grateful to have arrived in one piece, we located our platform then waited for our train to open its doors so we could find the carriage which contained the 'cycle storage unit'. This turned out to be a cupboard! Cyclists are expected to lift their bikes up onto the back wheels and hang them vertically from hooks, but since these were too small for our wheels our bikes were simply balanced upright in the tiny space provided. The door would not close and there were no securing straps so we had to improvise as best we could. Our panniers had to be removed first and stored elsewhere and the physical effort of lifting the bikes would have been too much for many cyclists. Considering this is a main line service between two big cities the cycle storage was glaringly inadequate. But worse was to come when we changed trains in Edinburgh and had to cross a bridge to get to the next platform. There was a lift provided for us to take our bikes up to the top but, so we then discovered, the descent lift to the new platform was out of order. This meant we had to manoeuvre our loaded bikes down a couple of flights of steps amongst a rush of impatient train travellers and with no help at all from the station staff. This was the stuff of nightmares.

But at least our next train had somewhere a bit more sensible to stow the bikes for the rest of our journey to Glasgow.

Our plan was to spend another night in the Glasgow Youth Hostel, a place we had stayed at on our journey out and a place where we knew our bikes could be stored safely overnight. Once settled in we ventured out into the city for an evening meal and were delighted to find yet another vegetarian restaurant close by. Life is getting better all the time! Then in the morning a very early bus ride home enabled me to collect our van with its bike rack and return to Glasgow to load up the bikes then drive home. Only when we had completed these final steps could we truly accept that our holiday of a lifetime was over.

Holland by bike - 7

The trip we were making was not just about the cycling, which we enjoyed, but it was also about immersing ourselves in another culture, although we had not expected to get so much pleasure from this. Each night we spent in the house of a Vrienden was an experience all of is own. In the small town of Bergen we found ourselves welcomed into a large historic monument of a house designed in the style of the Amsterdamse school of architecture, perhaps the equivalent of our 'Art Deco' movement. On this occasion the owner was not home when we arrived but we had been invited to use the garden so made ourselves comfortable until she arrived home a short while later. We had our own room upstairs with all facilities laid on and the following morning we sat around after breakfast chatting, exchanging details about our respective lives, which is all part of the pleasure of staying somewhere like this. Wherever we were we always left in the morning, after eating the ample breakfast our hosts provided for us, with a feeling of sadness that we could not stay longer with such kind and welcoming people.

On this occasion we knew we had a tough day ahead of us - a ride south into Amsterdam. Once again the heat had returned and unlike our ride from Den Helder, this time we would be facing a fresh southeasterly breeze, a headwind coming from exactly the direction we were due to be going. Cycling itself always creates a headwind so this has to be added on. Then, to make things worse, in order to reduce the length of the day's ride our route would follow the straightest line, mostly alongside a road busy with weekend traffic, so we knew there would be few hiding places and we could expect little relief from the wind.

The continuous traffic noise combined with the heat sapped our energy so we were massively relieved when we finally arrived at the ferry crossing (free for bikes, like all the ferries here in the capital) taking us over the Noordzeecanaal into the centre of Amsterdam. This was where we had planned another pause - two nights in a hostel - to allow our bodies to recover a little before moving on. However nothing could prevent us from doing a little sightseeing the next morning.

I must mention the new talent I mastered after arriving in Holland. Many road junctions have a set of traffic lights for the cars, another for pedestrians and yet another set for cyclists. The trick for the cyclist is to ride up to the stop line and come to a halt right beside the iron post which has the lights control button on it. This is clearly designed so that by stopping alongside it at a precise distance and holding the top of the post to balance, one's feet never have to leave the pedals. The post has a smooth top from use by the hands of many people using it to balance and once the lights turn green, a quick push off on the post makes restarting easy and you're pedalling across the road before you know it. It takes time to master the trick but it makes you feel like a Dutch cyclist if you can do it.

Amsterdam, like most cities, is a mad busy place to hang out in and our short walkabout highlighted for us the complications of crossing a road in this city. For a pedestrian, starting from a footpath at the side of the road, the first hazard to cope with is the red tarmac bike lane - strictly one way but rules can be broken so watch out! Next in line comes the first part of the road - full of cars and don't forget to look left. Once across this you meet the tramway, one track for each direction - bells and flashing lights will warn you if one of these beasts is coming your way. Cross this safely and you meet the cars again but from the other direction so look right this time. This is followed by another red tarmac bike lane and be warned, cyclists are not expecting to have to give way to a mere pedestrian. There is a sense of relief when the footpath is finally reached on the other side.

In some ways the bike lanes can be the most dangerous part of the crossing given the wide variety of pedal powered vehicles that are used. Many of the larger and the more modern bikes are electric and tend to be moving at some speed but they do usually keep to the lane where they should be. I should stress that my comments here relate to a big city environment and cycling is far more relaxed elsewhere. We come from a small village environment and no city is ever going to be our favourite place to move around in.

We stayed at several hostels during the course of our tour and if there was a common element to them it was probably that we are always by far the oldest people staying there. Amsterdam was no different in this respect but our room was clean and quiet (once the neighbour from the flats next door had stopped singing) and the food was well prepared and quite varied. Surprisingly most of what was on offer here was suitable for us vegetarians to eat, something we have not found elsewhere in Holland. Often restaurants have no vegetarian option at all and this led us always asking to see the menu before sitting down to eat. If there was a negative about our touring here then the attitude towards vegetarianism is it. (One menu even described something as 'vegan meat', a total contradiction in terms from our viewpoint.) To avoid too many embarrassing situations we occasionally avoided eating out by buying food from a supermarket to eat cold in the room where we were staying... but we soon realised we had no forks to eat it with. So rather than buy a complete dinner set, which we didn't need, we settled for a very nice set of chopsticks which did the job perfectly!

It goes without saying that in such a cycle friendly country our Amsterdam hostel had secure cycle storage; on this occasion our steeds were safely secured in a purpose built bike shed. In fact the only downside of our stay there was having to climb up three flights of stairs to find our bedroom due to a broken lift, not an activity we welcomed after a day of riding. Then in the morning after breakfast it began to dawn on us that we were facing a ride out of the city to get to the location of our final night stay, another Vrienden house in Zaandam, just outside the city boundary. To get there would mean negotiating the crowded streets outside once more.

The ride was stressful, bikes, cars and trams coming at us from all directions, it seemed, but then suddenly we arrived at the ferry to recross the Noordzeecanaal, along with a crowd of schoolchildren (on bikes, of course), and once on the other side we were suddenly away from all the rushing about. It was like a switch had been thrown. The absence of noise was almost deafening, and there were more windmills waving at us than we had seen anywhere on our trip.

So here we are, finally, at the home of another Vrienden for our last night in Holland. The view from the rear window felt very Dutch - the canal within touching distance - and our hosts, two sisters, left us in peace after giving us a key should we feel the need to go out, which we didn't. The room we were in had a cooker and a fridge stocked up with food for our breakfast next morning. In short, it was perfect.

Holland by bike - 6

We have now begun the last week of our month long tour. It has been an amazing experience for us, teaching us about what the world could look like if we thought differently about getting around. Our bikes are holding out well, just needing a bit of chain maintenance every couple of days to remove the tree pollen build-up and also the remains of less fortunate flies who misjudged their flight paths and got stuck there. Our electric motors are always ready but only rarely do we actually use them to assist us. Sometimes on a slope rising up to the top of a dyke or to cross a bridge over a canal we might switch them on and then when the wind is in our faces slowing us down we often need a boost of power. We have been staying most nights in the homes of members of Vrienden op de Fiets, a Dutch organisation comprised of individuals or families willing to offer a room in their home to cyclists or walkers for an agreed set fee. This has enabled us to experience life from a Dutch perspective, to see inside their homes and how they live, eat, sleep, everything. We can also recharge our bike batteries, which we do every few days, and this only takes an hour or so with us using so little power. Strangely, despite the load we are each carrying, riding often seems effortless and should we be lucky enough to have a tailwind then this feels like our electric motors have made their own decision and turned themselves on. Riding on roads without hills is hard to describe when you come from a land that has lots of them, the hills I mean, and the smooth surfaced tarmac or concrete car-free paths we are riding on really makes us realise the damage that motor vehicles do to road surfaces. Bikes are too light to do any sort of damage on their own so we are nearly always riding on tracks with scarcely a bump.

To our eyes, coming from a world where untidy gardens with uncut hedges and randomly cut lawns are the norm, we cannot fail to notice the Dutch obsession with tidiness. We continually ride past beautiful houses with immaculately neat gardens. When we first caught sight of a robot lawn mower in action we were fascinated but we now realise that these things are quite common here; mechanical beings that move silently around the garden making sure the grass does not get to grow more than two centimetres tall and all without any human intervention. They even park themselves away at night for a bit of a recharge.

On a much larger scale the Friesland landscape is fiercely agricultural - vast fields with gigantic tractors rumbling about everywhere pulling behind them enormous pieces of machinery. The landscape appears very dry (due to a lack of rain) but the fields are often separated by water filled ditches which act as a reservoir ready to be pumped up onto the fields when needed then sprayed into the air so the plants can think it is raining. The Ijsselmeer is also notorious for its mayflies, so we discovered after riding through massive swarms of them. After several days of riding through this agricultural world we were missing our woodland glades with their twisty paths so we made our way to Den Helder in the north of Holland where we took a well earned rest to prepare for our forthcoming ride south towards Amsterdam.

Before we set off on this last leg of our journey though I have to share my picture of this rather tame heron standing beside the road waiting for his best friend to take him home. He did not seem interested at all in my close presence. We have often seen herons in flight above us or standing at the edge of a waterway waiting for the opportunity of a meal but this was a first - a street heron.

Den Helder sits on a strip of land pointing north towards the Friesian islands, a line of low lying islands which mark the country's northern border.

Major flooding here some years ago prompted the construction of a system of dykes to protect the low lying coastal land and on the morning of our departure we were delighted to find ourselves riding on the seaward side of one of these massive man-made defences. Standing by the clearly marked cycle lane looking to the north one can see the low lying island of Texel, the first of the Friesian islands.

Without us realising it we had stumbled onto the northern end of the 'Dutch Coastal Route' and as we rode on we soon found ourselves on a smooth fietspad winding through the sand dunes of a long coastal dyke. Better still there was a warm breeze coming from the north east, blowing us on our way all day long. This is a very popular route and we were suddenly in the company of hundreds of other cyclists, many of whom had similarly loaded panniers strapped onto the back. We did feel sorry, however, for those riding towards us facing the headwind that was blowing us along. We stopped for a restaurant meal at one of the many beach side facilities, our seats giving us a view of the beach where the fine weather and the soft sand had brought people out as if it was a summer's day. Swimming in the sea was not popular, however, the water being far too cold.

Holland by bike - 5

Our days merge together as we cycle from one location to another.

We decide we need to pause for a day in order to let our legs recover and also because a mini heatwave has arrived, burning sunshine all day long and afternoon temperatures in the mid twenties (celsius). Two nights in succession in a bed and breakfast hotel seem to do the trick, especially when the room faces out onto a magnificent woodland. The hotel caters for different travellers and in the parking area at the front there are charging stations for electric cars and alongside these these are a bank of charging sockets for use by electric bikes, something we have never ever seen before. But of course it is obvious that this should be available for guests arriving on bikes since electric bikes are very common here, perhaps even more common than back home. We are constantly being passed by riders, often elderly, on their tall Dutch bikes, as they hum effortlessly along. We are slow movers compared to most. This is a country where the facilities for cyclists always go much further than we expect. We have not passed by a restaurant or a bar that does not have a cycle rack outside or close by.

Our rather casual attitude to route finding (adding a start and finish point into the Google maps app and telling it we are cycling) often brings us other surprises. We squeeze ourselves onto a ferry to cross a body of water, bikes being first on and first off, of course. A small payment is taken for this privilege. Soon after we find ourselves riding beside an 'N' road (possibly the equivalent of a UK 'A' road) but here the road always comes with a fietspad on one or both sides. These are not our favourite roads since the traffic noise is constant and this can be exhausting on a hot day but every so often there will be a roundabout which, like all others here, will completely segregate the cars from the bikes and clearly mark this with the red tarmac. Sometimes, but not always, cars must give way to cyclists but whichever way it works the road markings always make it very clear who has priority.

On arriving in Friesland we suddenly find ourselves at the smallest ever ferry, suitable only for about four bikes and a few passengers. We ring a large bell to attract his attention then the ferryman pulls on a cable stretched across the river to move his tiny raft slowly to our side.

As we glide from one fietspad to another on our trip we have noticed small signs with green numbers on, which clearly relate to a unique cycle path mapping system used here. Eventually we were pointed to a phone app called Fietsknoop and when we started using this for navigation we suddenly found ourselves moving between numbered 'nodes' on paths that deliberately avoided busy roads. We were sent down tree-lined avenues, along paths across farmland, on twisting paths through dense woodland, skimming along the top of a dyke, even along narrow paths at the back of a row of houses which involved bouncing over tiny bridges, going anywhere in fact where cars were discouraged. Sometimes the route signing is difficult to follow but the pay-off is a quiet, cycle-friendly world whose mission is to make things better for cyclists. Just when we thought we had experienced everything about cycling here this new world arrives.

It is not, of course, all plain sailing. Sometimes even cyclists must wait at a bridge to allow a boat to come through beneath.

Arriving in Friesland in the north of Holland we are beginning to feel blessed that we have not had to deal with any more rain showers. The exceptional heat has gone, being replaced by a cool breeze from the north which requires greater use of our bikes' electric power as we head into it.

Then, for the first time, we catch a glimpse of the Ijsselmeer, a huge body of water captured by the Dutch as part of their never ending plans to protect their low-lying country from the sea. Houses built on the land side of the dykes are clearly below the level of the water on the other side but life just goes on here as if this is of no concern. At Stavoren we take a ferry across the Ijsselmeer to avoid cycling across one of the long bridges that traverse it. Encountering a headwind on either of these would mean living with it for twenty kilometres, not our idea of fun at all.

So we casually ride onto the ship along with a handful of other cyclists, one of whom has a trailer carrying a small child, and we admire the view for the eighty minute crossing to Enkhuisen.

This brings us onto a long peninsula with the town of Den Helder at its northern tip, a place where we plan to pause again and brush off some of the hordes of mayflies that have plagued us for the last couple of days.

Holland by bike - 4

Our Rotterdam experience was dampened somewhat by the discovery, on the morning of our departure, that the rear tyre on my bike was as flat as a pancake. This was caused, so we discovered, by a tiny piece of glass, almost certainly the outcome of a careless drunk passerby in the street where the bikes were parked. We carry tools and a spare tube ready for things like this but a roadside repair on a busy street did not seem practical so we pushed it to the nearest bike shop and within an hour the repair was done.

The main aim of us visiting Rotterdam was to see our 'Dutch Daughter' who came to visit us last year. We were particularly concerned for her since a recent fall from her horse had left her with a broken arm and we were delighted to see her recovering well. But after two days here we decided we had seen enough of city life and felt we needed to get back out into the countryside. Maartje and her boyfriend, Leo, came with us on their two person electric bike to see us safely across the River Maas but what we hadn't expected was to descend in a lift then ride through a cycle tunnel beneath the river to get to the other side. Our time here is full of surprises.

Our destination after Rotterdam was Stellendam, a massive construction which serves to prevent the sea pouring into Holland. The dam is wide enough to allow two lanes of cars to pass in each direction, beside which, on either side, there is a pathway which is wide enough again for two cars. However this is just for bikes. This generous provision for cycling across motorways, railways and rivers is completely natural here. One railway bridge we encountered provided a lift to take bikes up high above the tracks then a smooth ramp to allow cyclists to whizz down on the other side.

From Stellendam our daily ride took us eastwards to Breda, a distance of eighty kilometres and the furthest we expect to ride in one day. Needless to say our bodies suffered aches and pains from this but we had recovered enough the next day to continue cycling, which must mean that our fitness level is improving. Just beyond Breda is Ramsdonksweer where the parents of our 'Dutch Daughter' live and we were delighted to be able to visit and spend time with them at their home.

We have known them for many years and Theo could be my twin! After lunch they joined us on their own bikes to ride with us to our overnight accomodation, a mere fifteen minutes away, which was in a delightful converted barn, everything beautifully laid out for us to spend a quiet night there.

We often find ourselves in conversation with random passing strangers, many of whom seem impressed when we confess to being from Scotland. Invariably they will ask about the route we plan to travel in Holland and each time we have to admit that there is no plan. We are travelling to a new destination on each ride which is planned, at most, two days ahead. The direction we go is decided by no more than 'it looks nice' on the map.

From Stellendam we were travelling eastwards (which might explain the sunburn on my right leg) but having decided first to visit the south of Holland, due to our friends living there, we changed to a more northerly direction, away from the coast, to see what the rest of Holland can offer us.

We crossed the Maas, again, and cycled onto a ferry to cross another body of water. The days are now quite hot, particularly in the afternoon, and we take care to drink regularly as well as pausing every five kilometres or so to allow our saddle bruised bottoms time to recuperate. Our stopping places are chosen at random; we either just come to a halt at the side of the fietspad or if we spot a seat then we claim this for a short while. A bus stop can have seats and provide shade from the sun too. There is also parking for bikes at many bus stops, something that seems so sensible. Of course you would want to ride to your bus stop to ensure you made it on time so why not park the bike there until you return later in the day.

Or alternatively you might ride your bike all the way to work and park it there for the day. We compare the space occupied by so many bikes with that needed for a similar number of cars. In a small country like Holland this makes so much sense... but wait a bit. Britain is a small country too so why have we never seen this many bikes parked together in our home country?

Perhaps it is because we don't have roads like this in our country, red tarmac on each side laid specifically for bikes. At home this might be called a single track road - room for just one car at a time going in either direction. The difference is the smooth bike lanes we have grown to love here. When a vehicle meets another from ahead then both may briefly pull over onto the red, but only if there are no cyclists there. Otherwise they must slow down and wait.