Mawdesley U3A Cycle Group

Mawdesley U3A Cycle Group (aka Mawdesley Kids Club for Oldies) Tour of Holland – June 2016

A collaborative account

A group of eleven eager folk left Mawdesley Village Hall on Sunday, 5th June for Newcastle and the overnight boat to Holland. Day 1 We rode out of the docks in sunshine and this sun stayed with us for most of the week. It was slow progress initially through an urban area before reaching the wonderful traffic free cycle path network taking us through woods and past fields. We were initially a little taken back by the ‘Grannies’ over-taking us on their sit-up-and-beg style bikes until we realised that they were riding electric bikes, just the first of the many we saw. We had a brief photo stop in Spaarndam by the statue of the boy who put his finger in a hole in a dyke to stop a leak. Actually, he symbolises the perpetual struggle of Holland against the water, something we came to understand well. Next stop Zaanse Schans, a community living and working in traditional wooden buildings and maintaining the traditional crafts of clog- and cheese-making with museums to explain all and a picturesque row of working windmills. They were pretty good at providing us with food and beer as well. Onwards towards Amsterdam, we wound our way through the lovely rural villages and meres with cheery children playing, unattended, in the water (something we saw several times) before arriving at a ferry. Amazingly, a short sail took us right to Central Station, the manic hub of Amsterdam from where all the free ferries shipped us to our various destinations. It was something of a learning curve as we learnt the survival skills needed to negotiate the cycle ways without being annihilated by speeding cyclists, moped and scooter riders and, worryingly, mini-vehicles. Tony N questioned whether the Dutch were trained from birth to cycle in so close. Dorothy described it as ‘scary but impressive’! Ian wondered why they never gave a warning before zooming past (and they all seem to be 6” taller than us!). Many of the bikes were the Dutch gearless and brakeless type and there seemed to be a fashion of decorating them with flowers. Our cycle attire seemed to cause amusement, especially to those riders dressed up to the nines or in high heels! Our attempts to secure our bikes in a bike park (they are massive) were in vain but the Botel, our floating hotel, helped us out. Our day ended with a canal tour of Amsterdam, its lovely waterfronts, facades, churches and wonky houses. Then a meal to remember! Ian was wearing a spotless white shirt until a waiter spilt a large glass of red down his back. His description of where the wine finished up cannot be printed! Day 2 We left Amsterdam as we arrived, from Central Station a different short ferry-ride took us immediately out of the city to the quiet quayside villages of Nieuwendam and Durgerdam with their distinctive wooden houses and painted decorations. Heading north, our coffee stop was at Monnickendam by a historic wooden building and church, overlooking the bridge and harbour. Here we tasted our first apple pie and cream of the trip. Volendam, a little further north, had a larger harbour, larger sailing barges, many Japanese tourists taking ‘selfies’ and a group of crazy Hong Kong tourists who insisted on taking our photograph. Some of our group sampled the local delicacy, smoked eel, for lunch. We left via Edam with its historic houses to follow a quiet road beside a dyke. This was the land of hares and herons with our ornithological experts, Chris and Ian, identifying other birds for us. Buzzards, kestrels, lapwings, cormorants, ducks and geese a-plenty, and wading birds. Added to these were the dragonflies and loud cacophony of croaking frogs. Our dyke-side road took us to Hoorn, a port with many large sailing barges with their lee-boards (thanks Tony N for the lesson about them), a couple of which were carrying youth groups. After our meal in a town square restaurant we watched the local youngsters arrive there for their Leavers Prom. As at home, their conveyances were varied, unusual and noisy, and their attire pretty impressive. Day 3 A lovely sunny start and a memorably smooth road (not a cobble or brick paver in sight!) took us up to Enkhuisen for the ferry. Our fascination was growing over the vernacular architecture. Many roofs were high, steep and thatched, sometimes with two levels of windows set in but the thatching was often edged or broken up by patterns of tiles. Apparently the steep roofs shed the water quickly, so preserving the thatch longer, this may solve the mystery?? Ruth spotted a modern church with a thatched roof too. We entered Enkhuisen by a historic gate in the town’s outer wall and after coffee at a wet fish shop (?) joined the many other cyclists waiting for the ferry to Stavoren. We then watched as a ferryman stashed the bikes so that they did not lean on each other, a work of art, before sitting down for a light lunch on board. At Stavoren there was much ‘bonhomie’ between cyclists of different nationalities as we set off, especially the Swiss ‘Alpinists’ on their electric bikes. Later, as Ian commented, we chased them down in a style the British Pursuit Team would have been proud of and later we were applauded by the French. The weather on this side of Ijsselmeer was overcast and several degrees cooler than earlier so we welcomed a break for afternoon tea and apple pie at Oudemirdum. Our day ended at Lemmer in the hotel which some voted the best of the trip. It had recently been converted from a mast store. Day 4 This was our most scenic day so far. We turned onto a canal-side path which, for several miles, was a continuous switch-back of small bridges, sometimes several packed very closely together giving us a rollercoaster ride, - good fun! It was compared to the Norfolk Broads. The houses along here were clearly rather special. We had already noted that houses and gardens were generally neat and tidy, and rural areas too were well looked after but here houses and gardens reached a new level. Like elsewhere, the smell of roses, pervaded the air, whether wild or growing in gardens. Topiary and pollarding seemed to be a national pastime. There were several new-builds with new thatching on unusual shaped roofs. Their boats, too, were expensive-looking. This area is the Weerribben- Wieden National Park, apparently it has the largest bog in NW Europe. Leaving the canal we turned into woodland then open ground with stooks of reed tied up to dry, presumably for thatching. We had a great coffee stop at Blokzijl, beside the harbour with more large sailing barges, and some had apple pie, again! Later, at Genemuiden, we needed only a very light snack. This was the place with the long table in front of the bar. The journey ended at Kamper. The hotel faced the river which, the proprietor told us, was a meter higher than normal and, with rain forecast for the following week, there were fears of flooding. Reminiscent of Croston for Chris? After our hot day we enjoyed a beer in the sunshine in the town square before moving on to a restaurant expertly chosen by our ‘3 Musketeers’. While awaiting our meals the annual Children’s Parade came down the cobble street with bands and all the different children’s organisations walking past and the children receiving presents. Apparently it is their equivalent of Christmas. Day 5 We left Kamper, avoiding the new motorway construction, to enter the ‘land of milk and honey… and jam… and storks. Like elsewhere, some dykes were used for grazing, others were cut for hay so that we were never far from the insistent smell of new mown grass and, as our noses also told us, sprayed slurry. There were, as ever, birds and birdsong with the high-light being the two storks and large bird of prey we saw beside our path. We had, earlier, passed a house with a mock stork’s nest on a platform as a gatepost and with a mother bird and chicks (not real!) in the nest. Coffee was in the little square at Elburg overlooking the bandstand and as we progress towards Veluwemeer there was a definite increase in holiday activity. We had lunch overlooking the harbour at Harderwijk, then the theme continued as we went south down the (now) Wolderwijd ‘riviera’, passing beaches with watersports centres. The sculpture of a giant bicycle was too great a temptation and the inevitable photo was taken with our members hanging off it. Cycling onwards we turned away from the water to Nijkerk and The Golden Tulip Hotel where three of us went for a swim before an excellent meal in the hotel. Day 6 As we left Nijkerk a light but persistent drizzle was refreshingly different. We passed the canal and appeared to trigger the hooter for the end (or maybe start) of the fishing competition. Returning back to the ‘riviera’ we raced the big yachts with their spinackers aloft to the windward marker and passed it first. Then we turned away from the water to Eemdijk for the little ferry before hitting the long, straight road between fields and a nature reserve. We rejoined the big waterway, now called Gooimeer, and the long beach front of Huizen with houses and apartments and watched out, in vain, for a refreshment stop. Eventually, amidst the first midges we had encountered, we found our goal and more apple pie. We had been urged by a helpful local to rate the apple pie on the internet, a national pastime apparently. Beyond this we had a pleasant stroll through a Saturday market before pedalling on and finding ourselves circling moats and ramparts before entering the fortified town of Naarden through a gatehouse. It was such a treat that we stopped by the bridge for an early lunch and watched the growing number of friends and family joining a surprise birthday celebration. The English wife of birthday-boy explained how there were three rings of defence built in the 17th century but Louis XIV then later Napolean were not deterred by this. It was a lengthy lunch stop enjoyed in beautiful sunshine and with much banter. Onwards and the route passed wild flower borders with even greater abundance than the many we had previously encountered and beyond them factories on islands were quite a contrast. This lovely, traffic-free route ended with an elegant, high, long and sweeping bridge which dropped us into eastern Amsterdam. We suffered some more manic experiences before turning into Vondelpark on our way to The Bilderberg Hotel. Here our first experience was to be confronted by the vocal lads from England, second experience was the rather tall doorman who arranged the storage of the bikes in a Conference Suite. Neill delivered the ‘do not touch’ lecture about the mini-bars before we headed out locally for a pleasant meal. Day 7 As breakfast was not included in the (very high) price, next morning we nipped down the road to the Organic café. In Ian’s words, after eating breakfast for fuel, this one was for pleasure, and pleasure it was. Then back to Vondelpark which led us onto the route out of Amsterdam. Well done Tony, you seemed to effect our escape very efficiently. You also took us on a detour into Haarlem passing such treasures as the ‘Coconuts for Sex’ shop on our way to the cobbled square of Grote Markt with its museums and the imposing Grote Kerk cathedral. The gables around the square rivalled those in Amsterdam. It was a good place to while away an hour as preparations were made for a music festival. Not too far ahead we rejoined our outward route at Spaarndam approaching from the canal-side. We still had plenty of time to spare so enjoyed a leisurely lunch beside the canal with an informative lecture from the proprietor of the café who explained that what appeared to be a marina was actually the oldest working lock in Europe (or was it the world?). The silt in the basin was dug out and locks restored by local volunteers who now operate the locks during the tourist season. A proud man indeed! As we returned towards Ijmuiden some recalled our first impressions of the neat and tidy gardens, pollarded trees and shrubs, and, more significantly, the front windows sporting identical pairs of pots, vases or plants in tastefully muted colours. At Ijmuiden there appeared to be loading problems so, after a long wait, we were called onto the boat by seemingly distracted workers. They failed to spot that a group of cyclists were riding on and that they had to cross the line of entering Harley Davidsons, daredevil-style. Fortunately one turned around just in time as Steve catapulted head first over his handlebars when his wheel got stuck in a groove. Steve was niftily scooped up in one arm and put on his feet while the man continued talking on his walky-talky. Fortunately no damage to Steve and his buckled wheel will be paid for.

We enjoyed another group meal onboard and a second calm sea crossing (good news for those with sensitive stomachs) before Alan-the-talker speeded us back to MVH.