Veronica 2

 I'm getting into the swing of things, learning what goes in which of my bags and no longer having to consult my list. This just isn't me being obsessive . The weight of the two bags needs to be fairly equal to make the bike stable.  The days of riding with my sunglasses on most of the time have left me with panda eyes. I look especially fetching when I am hot and have red cheeks. Getting up and getting on the road as early as possible each day is good. I always function better early in the day. This morning though at 8am it was7c!
The ride was through lovely rolling country , read hilly.  As I pedalled my way up the hills. I watched Willem's shapely legs doing the same.  We are riding on roads with cars and trucks now and I am delighted and amazed at how considerate the drivers are.
There were huge fields and lots of farming activity.   Most of cereals are harvested. Still some wheat much of which has been flattened by the storms. Maize and sugar beet are still growing. Straw is being baled and fields now being ploughed and disced.  There had been, to use a good English farming term, muck spreading on the fields. To my farmers nose I'm sure it was porcine in origin!
There are many cemeteries. So sad, so many young men, 'known only to God'
There are not many places to sit for breaks in the countryside. It was past midday and just as I was rejoicing that Amiens looked down hill all the way, the GPS had us turn left up a hill. It was down to the lowest gear for me. When there ahead on the outskirts of a village was just what we were looking for. I was so relieved to see it I was inspired.

Ode to the bench seat

Oh long awaited resting place
I thought you'd never come
It's lunch time and I need some food

And a place to put my bum (that isn't on a bike seat)

We are staying on the east side of Amiens, thus missing the city, the traffic and unfortunately it's wonderful cathedral etc. However biking is the thing on this holiday and this is the best place to stay for our route south.

Across Belgium

Our first stop was in Sint Niklaas where we met up with our friend Hilde again, which was great.
Biking through Holland and Belgium is easy because of the so called "het knooppunten netwerk" which is a network of bike ways, consisting of trails, paths and small quiet country lanes. Each intersection (knooppunt) has a number, so one can plan a route by listing the numbers of the intersections and then physically following them.
They are not always the shortest route between towns, but they usually go through the most scenic and interesting places.
The numbers are displayed at regular intervals and the intersections are between 500m and 8 km apart. They are not displayed in a standard fashion, so they could be high or low on an existing pole, have its own little pole or could be on either side of the road. After a while one gets the hang of it and realises early on when a sign is missed and the going back to the last known sign is not too far.
We encountered some interesting obstacles on our way across Belgium, at Wetteren the route went across the river Schelde, much narrower here, over an elevated footbridge. I had to push the loaded bikes up a channel beside the steps and down again on the other side. These are the times that Veronica is particularly happy that she is a girl !
The second time she was so happy again, was after we ignored the signs that the track was blocked, and I ended up having to lift the bikes over some large steel beams laying across the path. It was fortunate it happened on a Sunday, as the workers would certainly have send us back. Which would have prevented us finding "knooppunt 28" and we may have been lost for ever !

However we found our way and ended the day in a small hotel in Horebeke, next to the church. The clock chimed every half hour which caused a frantic exit from the tower by the resident crows and pigeons. You'd think they would have found more suitable places to roost by now.

The restaurant and bar in the hotel was shut till 18.30 and the only place open apart from the church was a small pub in someones house. I enjoyed a good Belgian beer there but did not get the impression that they see a lot of tourist.

The next day was another day of battling the wind and dodging the showers, and the temperature hardly rose above 15C, which is comparable with our NZ winter.

We again encountered some serious stretches of Cobbles called "Pave" and  the hills of the Ardennes with some long climbs and descents, but also long bits called "fals flat" where the road rises enough
to slow one down, but not steep enough to notice. I wondered if I had a name change as Veronica kept calling me "Slow Down" but realised that she was not being nasty. She is doing well though and keen to get going each morning.

We arrived in Tournai, the oldest city in Belgium going back 2000 years. The Notre Dame cathedral is a world heritage site and being repaired after a tornado in 1999 shifted one of the 4 towers by 80 cm ! The outside is completely surrounded by scaffolding which in itself would have taken years to erect.

Tournai also has many museums of which we visited a few on our first rest day.

The city is like most old cities in Europe and has a fortified old inner city. The river passes through the middle of it and it still serves as a living highway for transport.

Quite big self propelled barges negotiate the winding course and fit beneath most elevated bridges. Few need to be opened, but one in particular is interesting as the whole 2 lane section is lifted vertically on 4 legs rising out of the banks.

Some pictures from Belgium

The river Schelde just before Antwerp, the nuclear power station, the ferry from Lillo to Doule and the traffic on the river....

Veronica's perspective

Riding on real Pave on the Tour of Flanders Course !

The wind was so strong I could not stand still !

Now we have left the comfort of family and friends in Holland and we are on our own.  It was wonderful with them and we were very spoilt by everyone. We had two days biking then two days off.  In Belgium so far we have had reasonable weather but also some nasty rain and lots of wind (against).  We have biked some of the bike race route Ronde van Vlanderen and the hills while not as steep as Coromandel are long and are still taxing for my inexperienced legs, especially into the wind. Willem is doing a good job sheltering me as best he can. This requires good concentration as if I don't watch out I will get too close then...crash!  Also I am getting lots of advice on gear changes. I should be a much improved biker at the end of this.   My quads are a bit stiff today after yesterday's effort in the wind and rain. My backside is toughening up though the sections of cobbled road are not very comfy.   Willem so far has booked our hotels the night before and we have been pleased with his choices. So good to have a nice room, shower and someone else to cook dinner. En route we make coffee with hot water in a thermos. I look forward to that first stop usually after about 20km we start looking for a good spot to stop. I tuck in to raisin buns, biscuits or whatever we have for the day.   There are not always places to eat at the time we need it so take food for lunch too.
We gave just had our first rest day in Tournai in a very nice hotel close to the Cathedral.  Washing has been done and dried. Very important as we have a very limited selection of clothes. So far I have to say I am pleased with the choices I have made. I will be very tired of them by October I expect. Today we decided to walk along the river to find a place for coffee and something to eat we had skipped breakfast.  It is Monday and lots of places are closed. We found a little shopping centre with a bar. Bars sell coffee too. It was about 10am and already a man was at the bar drinking beer and an old lady playing  the pokies. However friendly and good coffee.  No food though. We proceeded to search for a boulangerie and there bought raisin pastries.  Over the road was smother bar so we ordered more coffee and ate the pastries. This is perfectly OK here if they do not sell food. We had a good day sightseeing .  The wonderful cathedral is undergoing huge renovations so we could only see the nave. The museum of Beaux Artes was a little disappointing but the Folklore Museum was wonderful.   Lots of interesting things very well displayed.  So it has been a good day and I am ready for tomorrow hopefully no rain and back wind.

The first week in Holland

1600 km bicycle challenge, the first week in The Netherlands.

We left the comfort of Frans and Ellen's home on Saturday the 9th of August as planned.
We biked through the forest of the Utrechtse Heuvelrug, which is a natural sandy ridge rising well above sea level, which forces the large rivers South and West to the North Sea.
After a couple of weeks of perfect biking weather during our training and getting use to our new bikes we were lucky to miss the rain and thunder, but battled a fierce wind against, the left over of the cyclone Bertha which hit the Caribbean islands recently.
We stopped for the night in Gorinchem, an old walled city, where I served the majority of my compulsory military service over 50 years ago, after 67 km.
The following day the wind blew unabated with rain added a few hours later. We rode along the river Merwede to Dordrecht, another historic city and jumped on the waterbus, a twin hulled fast ferry service for commuters who work in Rotterdam City. It takes an hour from here to the Erasmus bridge in the city centre. A great ride and interesting to see the heavy engineering, shipbuilding and general activity along the shores of this busy waterway.
We sheltered in a waterside cafe for lunch and watched my local football team Feijenoord win a game for a change on TV, while waiting for the rain to stop before we rode to Poortugaal, a suburb of Rotterdam to visit brother Arie and Sylvia and family.
On Tuesday the 12th we rode south, ferried across the river again battled the wind and rain, with Veronica getting skilled at drafting, which is sheltering behind, for the non biking readers amongst you. I keep my eye on her in case she looses contact or get too tired, but I don't think I need to worry, as she out sprinted me when suddenly the bells started ringing and the barriers closed behind us while crossing a bridge which was about to open !
Later on as the rain started to hit us horizontally we dashed into someone's open garage just before the owner of the house arrived home on her bicycle with a very small infant in a seat on the front, both dripping wet. They bring them up tough around here !
We had planned to ride to cousin Kees and Diny in Zeeland in one day but the strong wind slowed us down so much that we decided to stay the night in Steenbergen about half way there. The next day we rode around the city of Bergen op Zoom, through forests and heather to avoid the windswept route along the water's edge to Rilland to a warm welcome. While there we visited aunt Nel who now lives in a home for the elderly and is 95.
To make sure we were actually leaving, Kees and Diny biked with us along the river Schelde to the Belgian border, via an old smugglers route, converted to a cycleway. The river mouth is in the Dutch province of Zeeland so all shipping bound for Antwerpen passes through The Netherlands. It is a large busy port and from the boarder, the river is lined with heavy industry, chemical plants and a nuclear power station. The pollution is very visible and disturbing.
Before we reached Antwerp we crossed the Schelde on a free ferry from an old fort called Lillo to a small village called Doule. It is largely derelict and deserted, with one house still occupied with a sign saying "NO MORE DOCKS IN DOULE".
A lone principled protestor perhaps.
We are now in Belgium, after 241 km in Holland and Veronica is still smiling and talking to me!


The old walled town of Brielle,

Just as well the dykes are holding !

Protection within the city of the yacht harbour.

From Holland to the South of France 2014, training in Holland

We have arrived in the Netherlands, after a 2week flying visit in a Fiat 500, to Family and friends in England.

We suffered very painful throat infections after the flight followed by coughing fits, which are now slowly subsiding. The positive side of it is that despite the initial pain and discomfort we did not feel unwell or as far as we can tell were not contagious.

We sailed from Harwich to Hook of Holland on the overnight ferry, where we met my younger brother Arie. He drove us to the cycle shop to collect our folding bikes, which are the only folding bikes with racing bike wheels. They are an American  design called Montague and I am relieved to say they exceed my expectations in quality and performance thus far.

This bike tour is different from my previous tours, because Veronica is riding with me from Holland to St Dezery in the South of France, a distance of around 1500 km.

We plan to arrive there around the middle of September at a leisurely pace, enjoying the scenery, food and wines of the regions we pas through.

We carry a minimum of gear, packed into 2 front panniers each, sleep in small hotels, B&B's  

or the local police cell as a last resort.

The folding bikes including carrying bags are a necessity as well as an insurance policy, we do not have time to bike back to Holland before flying home to NZ, or if weather, mechanical breakdown, physical limitations or marital upheavals force us to abandon we can pack up and get on a train to catch our plane home or prevent an irretrievable situation.

The reason for riding to the South of France in the first place is a 60th birthday celebration of my cousin Willem's partner Shalini, with family and friends for 9 days in a luxury vila called Mas de Pinet in St Dezery near Uzes.

We moved to Scherpenzeel, staying with our friends Frans and Ellen to prepare for the tour.

I set up the bikes, strapped the NZ designed carriers to the carbon front forks to carry our waterproof Ortlieb panniers.

We are training and testing the bikes by riding with our gear the beautiful bike trails which criss cross the National Parks, forest, heaths and some small deserts of the central provinces of Utrecht and Gelderland. 

Our planned departure date is 9 August, when the blog will start in earnest.

The folding mechanism, simply fold it in half by releasing the lever on the crossbar

Assembling the bikes with Frans in Scherpenzeel.

Veronica ready to go !

A training ride in Gelderland.