Days 8 & 9: to Valkenburg (~15k) & Kerkrade (~20k)

An unbelievably fun weekend with Khanum. Great to have such excellent company and fantastic sunshine!

Friday night we went for traditional (awful, deep-fried) Dutch food on a sunny terrace, followed by a quick trip through a Haunted House at the funfair, and then some higher grade tapas and people-watching in the centre of town.

Saturday morning we had a decadent hotel breakfast at the perfect table overlooking the river, and then spent the morning pottering around Maastricht. It is a most charming place with many and varied styles of old buildings, endless squares, Roman town walls with turrets and riverfront walkways. It doesn't feel, to me, at all Dutch - more like a little piece of France or indeed Switzerland (what it reminds me most of is Basel).

We had a sunny pre-lunch of cherry pie and coffee and then picked up our bikes and headed off on the short ride to Valkenburg. Navigating in my usual casual style we started down a potentially-closed bike path, only to be rescued by a kind gentleman who insisted the path was really dangerous (correctly: they were digging up the motorway) and instructed us to follow him instead. He put us on the right track, and then warned us about the very steep hills between Maastricht and Valkenburg. Secretly I poo-pooed this... But he was right! Poor Khanum had dodgy gears and was suffering a bit. The hills were made up for however by a drinks stop in a really odd but picturesque village where endless streams of young men, mostly on cycles, continuously passed through.

It wasn't until this evening that we worked it out: far from being the quiet historical town we thought, Valkenburg is actually stag- and hen-party central. We spent the most fun evening imaginable sitting in a restaurant terrace watching the hordes parade up and down the main street in their finest. In truth, some of these gangs may just have been cycle clubs out for a weekend's hill training. But presumably the ones dressed up as gnomes, spongebob squarepants etc were stags. I should think there were 20 separate stag/hen parties, all walking up and down about 200m of street, and mingling amusingly with families, older hiking types, and young couples away for a romantic mini break. At 10pm half the restaurants suddenly stacked up their tables and turned into bars / discos / karaoke clubs. What a weird, but fantastic, place.

Away from the top notch people-watching, Valkenburg is a very old and beautiful town dominated by a ruined castle. It is set at the bottom of a massive hill and has a little river at the bottom, which we were staying on. Sunday dawned even brighter and, based on a quick tripadvisor search / what is free with the Museumkaart, we hurried off to the most bizarre sounding tourist attraction. Well, it did not disappoint! 

In essence, in 1912 a very rich local decided to buy up some 2000 yr old mines (caves) and turn them into an exact replica of Rome's catacombs. Complete with frescos, fresco-damage and ancient graffiti. I think they said there is 15km of them. 

We were given a candle and accompanied by a massively enthusiastic volunteer guide and a Dutch/English history student. I don't think I can fully do justice to the amusement value of being taught about early Christian adoption of traditional Pagan Roman art by a Dutch atheist in a 100-yr old replica of an ancient burial chamber. 

After that sadly Khanum's freedom needed to come to an end, especially because due to rail replacement bus issues it is going to take her hours and hours to get home. So we parted at the station and I headed back uphill (luckily a much gentler one) and away from Valkenburg. 

The journey was easy but unfortunately due to some poor gear control going up a hill my bike started to make a really nasty noise. There were tons of super speedy cyclists around but I was too intimidated to ask for help and thought I would carry on to my hotel and take it from there. Well I am proud to say that I *think* (dangerously!) that I have both found and remedied the problem. And without getting any oil on anything in my sparking white room. I'd boast about what it was but of course knowing nothing about how my bike works I can't describe it at all. 

My location tonight is a funny town that seems to be split by the Dutch-German border. I am still (just) on the Dutch side which is called Kerkade, and am staying in the most stunning old abbey. I picked it simply for being vaguely in the right direction and almost as cheap a room as I could find, but it is really beautiful and currently full of wedding guests. They managed not to look too askance at an oily cyclist and, contrary to what Khanum says about Dutch dress codes, are definitely not wearing jeans to the wedding.

Tomorrow Germany - my 4th country. All being well, I am hoping to finally meet the Rhine tomorrow, at Cologne where I am booked into a rather glamorous-looking hostel for two nights. I have a lot of time to get to my next friend-rendezvous on Friday, so thought a day's touristing in Cologne wouldn't go amiss while this warm weather holds. Plus I really need to do some washing!

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Khanum in Maastricht admiring the walls

Maastricht at night

Beautiful countryside in this hilly corner of Holland

Looking back at Valkenburg from above

My abbey, for the night

Day 7: to Maastricht via Belgium (~90k)

A perfect day!

Isn't Belgium a wonderful place? For starters the sun has been fully shining... Well actually it was shining in Holland when I woke up, for that matter. Despite the 'school party' (which turned out to be 30 or so youngsters doing sports at a vocational college), I slept wonderfully with two duvets to make up for the previous night. 

It's been a day of amazingly beautiful off-road cycle routes. I have finally got to grips with the Dutch/Belgian system of cycling by following signs from point to point. (And also worked out that google maps can work without internet at least some of the time). As such I spent most of the day following fantastic paths along canals. I saw very few cars, though a good few cyclists, average age 60 I should think.

I've never been to Belgium before but this bit seemed lovely, and quite different from the Netherlands (at least in architecture). 

With fewer map-reading stops I happily put in 50k before lunch where I finally made it to a 'fietscafe' (bike friendly cafe) on the outskirts of Neeroeteren. Not actually sure what qualifies it thus, but this seemed to be attached to a sports centre and I sat outside in the sunny, wind-sheltered terrace with full view of my bike and two old ladies eating the most enormous strawberry-covered cakes while their dogs woofed at all who passed. An odd spot but very pleasant!

Crossed back into the Netherlands shortly after, after a lovely stint along the Maas river. Needless to say border formalities (or indeed, border signposts) don't exist, the crossing back was a free two minutes on a roro ferry.

Back in the Netherlands I followed the magic numbers for a much lengthier than planned, but very picturesque, dawdle through small villages and over, along and around a confusing set of canals and rivers.

Finally made it into central Maastricht where I am staying in the Crowne Plaza. I know this seems a bit decadent but in my defence, it was the only option. Khanum is coming out for a much-needed weekend off from the kids, and as we only decided this a few days ago everything was already very booked up. So I decided to splurge some of my last remaining airmiles (thanks Camcog!) on a room for tonight. I have to say I was a bit apprehensive rocking up to a four star hotel with a cycle but of course, this being Holland, it was completely fine. In fact the concierge told me to take it right into the hotel and they had a meeting room to leave it in. Brilliant!

So now I am taking advantage of all possible hotel luxuries (A bath! Hurrah! And a bathrobe! And biscuits!) and awaiting the lovely Khanum and her bike, who are due in to the station at any moment.

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Sunny canals and happy cows

A tough second international border crossing of the day...

Day 6: to Valkenswaard (83k)

Well, my night was peaceful but bloody cold. My sleeping bag is rated down to zero degrees but I'm never convinced this means 'keeps you snug down to zero', more like 'keeps you alive down to zero when you're wearing every thing you own' (I pretty much was). Looking at the weather report it was probably about 3 or 4 degrees last night... So yes, a chilly night and not super comfy as a result. Bring on the more southerly climes! I'm happy to have road tested the new tent and stove without disaster, but I do hope it warms up before Katy and Ed come out for a week's camping! Forecast is looking good, but then it feels like it's been one day away from good weather for quite a while now! 

Some early morning porridge soon saw me right however and I packed up and set off into slightly threatening-looking weather. 

A few K down the road I was admiring some lovely Norwegians (any relative to Molly, I wonder) and was accosted by a nice man determined to help me find my way. In the end I named a town I 'wanted to go to' just to cooperate. He did confirm the existence of a ferry however and it turned out to be free which was nice. Such a civilised country.

Had morning coffee and a panini in the patchy sunshine in the centre of Drunen, where I happily took advantage of the internet as well as the refreshments at Baker Bart's place. 

The next section was absolutely beautiful, through a birch-forested national park with separate walking, cycling, mountain biking and horse tracks. Saw some other cycles but no cars, and even the cafés advertise themselves as 'cycle-friendly'. A most relaxing section. 

In general there was much less getting-lost today, with the exception of one major warp in the space-time continuum which had me doing three sides of a square. One minute I was bowling merrily along a fast road following cycle route signs to Middelbeers, the next the road disintegrated into dirt and then sand (remember that Vic?). It seemed to be a private estate of some kind, very beautiful but a somewhat annoying detour. I wonder if perhaps Dutch kids think it's as funny to swing fingerpost signs around as we used to...

One reason I was grumpy about that detour was because my knees and shoulders were feeling a bit jolted around after a very high proportion of my route today had some form of brick/cobble/set surface. Perfectly cycleable but definitely more wearing on the joints, plus it increases my pannier-paranoia - whenever they jolt on a rough-set set I worry something is breaking. So a lumpy dirt track was not welcome.

This part of the Netherlands is horse central. As well as two sets of Norwegians I also saw Shires, more Haflingers, and an unbelievable number of fat Shetlands. I don't know if breeding Shetlands is a Dutch speciality, or if they're all just people's pets. Maybe the latter given that I have seen a lot of weird pets in people's gardens, including lots of goats, several pairs of bambi-like deer, and a group of llama. Any idea what the collective noun for a group of llama is?

Today's destination is Valkeswaard, a town I picked as being vaguely on route and because I wanted to try out a Dutch youth hostel. On first impressions it seems good - I am the first in to a large dorm and there is a nice bar etc. It's in a very peaceful location but I have been warned there's a large school party in tonight - from the looks of it a group of early teens from the Philippines or similar, which seems a bit random. Right now a warm clean bed seems pretty nice regardless!

Day 5: to Bruchem (88km)

My mum's birthday, and my first 'real' day, in the getting-lost and hoping-for-somewhere-to-stay sense. 

Set off in sunshine but had a couple of good heavy showers. The part out of Amstelveen was easier than expected thanks to Khanum's clear instructions ('so you go left, left, and then left').  All went smoothly for an hour or so. Then the losts, the showers, and the roadworks started.

The cycle paths are assiduously signposted at least 90% of the time. The other 10% you can either follow your nose, try and work out which of the two options at a t-junction qualifies as 'straight on'... Or chance it and correct as necessary.

Today I had only a 1:300000 Netherlands-wide map (!) because I've changed route, and am currently heading south in the Netherlands rather than east to the Rhine, so I can rendezvous with Khanum this weekend. So I suppose it should be no surprise that a fair bit of navigational vagueness occurred.

When the first rain came I sheltered for a while in a subway, eating Nutella sandwiches. I soon got bored and so got kitted up with the new and, I'm pleased to report, entirely waterproof waterproof. After a good wetting I stopped for a coffee in Breukelen (namesake of the New York borough). Can confirm it is both smaller and more picturesque than its American cousin. Caffeined up I was ready to face Utrecht, which is quite a large city. Minus any real game plan, and with multiple sets of roadwork diversions making a mockery of the signposting, I nonetheless made it through in reasonable style. 

South of Utrecht was more rural, though still in that distinctly Dutch style of suburbia where you never seem more than a few minutes from houses, but also never far from a field. I guess it's just how you have to build in a country this densely populated, and on the whole they manage it with flair. A lot better than Bedfordshire does, anyway. There are amazing looking castles and manors all over the place - the most spectacular castle I saw today was merrily playing a very loud and complex hour chime from its clock, and appeared to now be a business school. 

I took a ferry across the river Lek at Culemborg, an old and very cute town. The landscape around here is dominated by the rivers, and the main produce appears to be soft fruit (although Haflingers, Shetlands and pet lambs are also in abundance). A fair bit of bird life - herons etc - and I got a cracking close-up view of a jay in full colour who was sitting on a fence watching me.

Late afternoon I crossed the Waal, an even bigger river containing serious-looking barges, courtesy of a bridge which had four lanes of thundering traffic but - of course - a separate two-lane bike bridge alongside. This really is the land of bikes and cyclists frequently have priority over all other traffic at roundabouts etc. People also think it completely reasonable that you're cycling everywhere. I love the Netherlands for that alone.

I was feeling a bit apprehensive about my first camping night, and arrived at my 'if I'm feeling fit' campsite destination to find no one around at reception. A nice neighbour pointed me to the local bakery-cum-Spar and by the time I got back I found someone to show me to a tent space. So now my tent is up, nothing seems too out of place, and though there will be enough breeze and showers to test it, I don't think there should be anything worse. Doesn't look like the bar is open (still low season?) so it's a sausage roll and fresh buns with buns for tea. Unfortunately I seem to have picked up a bit of a cold from Khanum but hopefully there will be enough sleep tonight to drive that off.

Days 3-5, in Amstelveen

Awesome few days with the Dutch-Kiwi connections in Amstelveen. Friday night was enlivened by Eurovision, or more precisely by a Cambridge-Holland live vote-off with Ruth and Alastair. The wonders of the internet. The remainder of the weekend was miserable weather so we pottered around at home with the boys. Sunday was Mother's Day - lucky Khanum got a lie-in and breakfast in bed and I did too! You don't get that kind of service in the hostels...

On Monday I was planning to go into Amsterdam to see about a more waterproof waterproof. Instead as we went to pick Sam up from nursery my phone slid out of my pocket into an innocuous-looking flat surface, and the screen shattered completely. After a tip-off from the locals we found a repair shop at the local mall. They told me it would be 89 euros and I gasped and said no. Having googled the alternatives I hastily went back and had them do it. As I was waiting a guy came in and asked how much it would be to repair his phone screen. When they told him 89 he gasped and said no... He'll be back.

So that was unfortunate. While I could probably live without phone contact it would bother me to live without a camera and t'internet. On the positive side, while at that mall I found a great new breathable waterproof on sale for 40E, marked down from 100. So maybe that offsets the phone annoyance. (Though I notice on later photos that my camera has indeed been cracked by the fall.)

Happy to use the excuse of a guest, Khanum and Alle Meije hit up their local teenage babysitter and took me out one night to their local eatery, which is the most amazing Japanese restaurant. Eating out is quite expensive here (everything is) but this is all you can sushi etc for 25E and it was really top quality. An odd thing to find just down the street in quite a suburban area but an excellent local to have.

Yesterday K had daytime appointments so I took the tram into Amsterdam and, armed with her annual museum pass, took on the two biggest museums and the two oldest churches in a day. As someone who is largely stuff-free at the moment it was funny to see so much Beautiful Stuff in the Van Gogh and Rijksmuseums. The old church had amusing / rude carved choir stalls; the new church (also v old) was exhibiting the world press photographer of the year awards. All in all a lovely day.

The weather has been improving gradually and today has dawned bright and breezy. I'm about to bid a fond farewell to the Wink household and head off. With few maps and sleeping plans the next 24 hours are about to get tougher! But what a nice day for it.

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K tests out her Mother's Day presents

Sushi!

Sadly cracked camera - can you guess where I am?

Day 2: Hook of Holland to Amstelveen (80k)

So the ferry was amazing! Well, in fact the only part I really saw was my cabin, but that was because it was so great... Comfy bed, fairly roomy room, and the best shower. As a result, instead of going for a beer and/or watch the lights of England fade into the distance, I think I fell asleep before we had even pushed off. And slept through till 6.30 (Dutch time) when I was awoken with 'Don't worry be happy' through the loudspeakers. I must have been very deep asleep, it was a very disorientated awakening! 

By the time I rode off the ferry it was raining lightly and it basically did that all day, plus or minus a little bit of heavier rain and the odd fleeting moment of dry. Because of the constant wetness I'm afraid no photos exist, so words will have to suffice.

It was a really lovely ride, despite the weather. The first part was straight up the coast, most of which is the North Sea cycle route.  So I can just about tick that off my wish list! After Scheveningen (the Hague's beach resort) there was a lovely remote section of nature reserve where I was cycling through a landscape of foresty sand dunes and met more rabbits than people (Ruth's parents named their house after this, I believe). 

Late morning I stopped for coffee at a seaside resort called Katswijk and dripped all over the floor of a classy but empty cafe as 'I would walk 500 miles..' played. (Nope, that was the last trip). 

From there on I had to concentrate a little more on the map-reading, which had this far been based mostly on 'keep the sea on your left'. Between my fairly feeble map, and great Dutch cycle route signage I successfully made it to Amstelveen via a lot of very beautiful and empty canalside paths. Holland really is a cyclists paradise and in sunnier weather it would have been just idyllic.

Today provided a great opportunity for trying out my wet-weather gear. Conclusions as follows. My panniers and new RainLegs (front-only over-knee waterproof trousers) both get top marks. My new Sealskin socks are definitely waterproof but after many hours of rain the water worked its way in the elastic at the top - but due to the excellent waterproofing, not back out the bottom. Hmm. The pocket of my jacket had the same problem with pooling water inside. In fact the lowest marks of the day go to my jacket, which it seems isn't waterproof at the zip. So unless a drought is suddenly forecast I think I'd better investigate a Dutch sports shop before cycling on..

I'm staying with my friends Khanum and Alle Meije in their beautiful house in Amstelveen, the next town over from Amsterdam. Last time I was here it was completely gutted and awaiting builders so it's amazing to see it finished (and a reminder of how pokey English town housing is in comparison). I'm planning to stay a few days and then head off across Holland in the middle of the week. Khanum and family may even join me for a day at the weekend - let's hope the weather bucks up by then!

Day 1: Cambridge to Harwich - 105 km

On the move again! 

I write this from Harwich seafront, where the sun is shining. In fact despite many pessimistic forecasts I've stayed dry all day. The most rain there's been was the two minutes I spent locking my bike up before heading into a riverside Essex pub to take shelter / have a rest.

Ah yes, 'locking my bike up'. This nearly didn't happen as it turns out I left my lock at the bike shop yesterday. Luckily Haverhill high street contains a bike/TV shop, and a kind security man held my bike while I ventured inside and bought a new lock. Horace also received his first compliment in Haverhill so all in all it served me well despite its low-brow reputation. (Horace is my bike.)

The Cambridgeshire / Essex border is surprisingly hilly. Plus I am very unfit, cycling-wise. Plus Horace is quite loaded right now (two back panniers, a tent, and a handlebar bag). Plus there was a lot of wind. What I'm getting at is: I am definitely a flatland-only kind of cyclist. 

My ride today went surprisingly well using the 'follow your nose and know the name of the next village' navigation technique. I hesitate to say this, but despite extremely inadequate (google) mapping I don't think I went wrong once. Though I suppose there's still the possibility between here and the ferry itself... I'm giving big thumbs up to the bar ends so thanks Duncan for that suggestion. Really helps ease my aching shoulders. Also thumbs up to the cycle computer which is fun and tells you your current speed etc as well as how far you've come. Clearly I will either lose this or have it stolen within a week!

So yes, increasingly hilly terrain and increasingly feeble legs. Both stopped at around Colchester, which I confess I ring-roaded. After Colchester was gorgeous - pretty, rural, big-sky country and I was relieved from navigation duty by the impeccably signposted national cycle route 51. Which I *think* is also the route I used to live on at Chesterton and work on at Bottisham. So that feels rather friendly.

Got into Harwich around 5.30 and did a loop of the super promenade. Either the middle-aged denizens of Harwich are very stylish people or there's been some kind of ceremony (funeral?) going on. My ferry doesn't leave till 11 or so, but I left home (actually Vic's home) early to beat the forecast worsening weather, and also to beat the pre-match jitters.

I am tempted to get fish and chips as my last English supper, but for the sake of somewhere warm to wait I think I'd better find a pub instead. Also, if it's a rough crossing, I might really regret fish and chips...

Later: lord help me, I'm in a 'Brewer's Fayre' - but it's warm, there is food, I can see my bike from my table, and there is wifi - so I am posting this now. Wish me a good night's sleep in a windowless cabin! And here's hoping my weather-luck holds. The forecast for Holland tomorrow is really awful... But there will be friendly faces (Khanum, Alle Meije and family) at the end of it!

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Last views of England - the church not looking English at all! 

And a seaview of Horace, the handsome devil!