So there we were, about to set off on an early return home from our European tour in order to escape one of the fiercest heatwaves ever seen at this time of year. Ending the holiday was a tough decision to make but we knew it was right for us. My own body was shouting at me angrily and showing no sign of improving - the streaming nose seemed to have become a part of my life - and much of the pleasure of riding had therefore been taken away from us. Our luxury stay in Nooz, close to the town of Grobbendonk in Belgium, where we had air conditioning that we could use to cool the room throughout the evening and night showed us that it was indeed the heat that was affecting us because by morning most of my symptoms had disappeared, at least temporarily.
So it was that the next morning we started off on what was to be our penultimate day of European riding, into the centre of the city of Antwerp so that we could catch a train to Schiphol, just outside Amsterdam. Almost immediately after leaving the Nooz hotel we found ourselves riding beside another canal, this one being quite small and much more like what we are used to seeing in Britain. The smooth towpath took us beside a field full of bison along with their young! We left the canal on the outskirts of the city, once again making cycling infrastructure comparisons with the Dutch cities we had been through and regrettably we have to report a number of failings. Some of the bike lanes, alongside busy roads, were quite narrow and we had no real protection from the speeding lorries overtaking us and passing close to our left elbows. But things did improve as we neared the station and then once on the train itself we had plenty of room for us and our bikes.
We had decided to travel by train to Schiphol (home to Holland's international airport) simply because it is quite close to the city of Haarlem where we had arranged to spend our last night in Holland. The train journey took us rapidly northwards and already it seemed the air was slightly cooler, a light breeze helping somewhat.
This made the final ride of the day, another hour of cycling, much more comfortable and when we arrived at our hotel in the centre of Haarlem we once again admired the view from the hotel window which gave us a memorable picture of Dutch roads and cycle paths, just one of the things we will always love about this country. At the hotel our bikes were stored away in a locked shed provided free by the hotel and here we charged up our bike batteries (also free) so they were ready for getting us home once we arrived back in the UK.
The ferry from Ijmuiden departed at five o'clock in the afternoon (local time) so we made a late start the next morning, the terminal being only about an hour's riding away. But to make it more interesting we rode through the forest park along the same cycle paths we had used when we arrived in Holland. This time the air was hot and very humid - thunderstorms were even forecast.
We paused for lunch and met some of the local wildlife who were hoping for a feed from the clients of a small cafe. The birds spent some time hopping around on our bikes, one even leaving a small deposit on my handlebars - thank you bird.
There were very few bicycles in the queue for boarding the ferry but dozens of massive motorbikes, most of which were en route to the Isle of Man for the TT races. However we did meet a lovely Dutch couple, Leew and Mariella, who were about to start a cycling tour of Northern England and Ireland, putting our cycling efforts to shame!
What more can be said about the ferry crossing to Newcastle? The sea was smooth and we slept very well in our tiny cabin, ate our fill at breakfast then walked off the ship onto British soil ready to set off homewards. Little did we know that what lay ahead would turn out to be the most complicated day of the whole holiday.
Our experience last year of having ridden from the ferry terminal at North Shields into the centre of Newcastle to catch a train home had persuaded us to come up with a different plan this time. Cycling up to the station from the quayside cycle path is dangerously difficult on loaded bikes so we thought it made sense to take a detour this time.
We had heard about the Coast and Castles cycle route that runs all the way up the coast between Newcastle and Edinburgh, a properly signed cycle path, so we thought we would try the first part of this and then swerve off to a station a little further up the coast, at a town called Newsham. We had pre-booked our tickets on connecting trains from there to Glasgow and then on to Gourock from where we planned to take a ferry across to Dunoon and spend the night there. From there, the following day, we would cycle westwards across to Portavadie from where we could get another ferry to Tarbert, home. Simple really, although the plan did assume all the ferries and trains would be running on time.
Although our ferry from Holland docked on time the small group of cyclists had to wait for over an hour before we were allowed to disembark. Bookings for travel on trains in England require spaces for bikes to be reserved in advance which meant we had be at Newsham at a specific time to catch our train. We therefore set off at a rush which meant we had little time to admire and appreciate what turned out to be one of the best pieces of cycle infrastructure we had experienced anywhere in Britain. We started riding along a wide path surfaced with smooth red tarmac which was separated from the road and from pedestrians. Later on we shared space with the pedestrians walking on the promenade and there were signs asking cyclists to be courteous, which we were, of course. A gentle 'ping' on the bike bell serves well to catch the attention of the pedestrians in front. In places the route dodged away from the coast then rejoined the promenade later but it was all clearly marked. This was as good as anything we had met in Holland and thankfully we made it to Newsham with time to spare... largely due to the fact that our train was running a little late.
At some point after making all the bookings online we realised that our train No.1 from Newsham would take us back south to Newcastle so that we could board train No.2 for the journey to Edinburgh. But at least we had avoided that horrible bit in the city centre. Our first train running behind time made making the platform change in Newcastle somewhat stressful but we made it, just, and hung up our bikes in the onboard storage cupboard in train No.2 as instructed. It turned out that this train was also running a little late which meant the change to train No.3 in Edinburgh was again somewhat rushed and it was not made easier by the crowds fighting for space alongside us. Train No.4 involved a switch from Glasgow Queen Street station to Glasgow Central, a short walk which put us out onto roads heaving with pedestrians and traffic but by this time we were ahead of the game and we even managed to jump on an earlier train to Gourock, cycle space reservations not being required this time. We knew the ferry across to Dunoon ran until late at night so once on this last train we could finally start to relax and it didn't seem to matter at all that it had started raining just after we boarded the ferry which made the short ride to our hotel a little wet. Looking back on the day we still find it hard to believe we had successfully managed such a complex journey.
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