John’s ideal morning….

We started with breakfast in Bar Wolkers, a straightforward cafe with freshly prepared food and friendly staff.

This mornings challenge was to cycle to the coast at Zandvoort. Our route took us out along the canals of Haarlem and through the wooded suburbs into Zandvoort. We passed some amazing properties.

We finally found the coast and it’s typical North Sea.

We’d earned a break, and a cuppa, and headed for Bernie’s Restaurant in Zandvoort’s racing circuit. John was last here, racing, about 500 years ago…..

The BMW Experience is doing track and drifting training, Motown is playing in the restaurant and we’re out of the drizzle. John is a happy bunny!

Amsterdam

Ok, we cheated and caught the bus back, it was wet!

Marken was very pretty in the rain, it would have been glorious in the sunshine.

We headed back to the bus stop via the wooden shoe factory.

The persistent drizzle had turned into a downpour by the time we reached Amsterdam. We had a plan…. we’d take the bikes to meet their relatives at Brompton Junction. The shop opened in April and John was keen to visit. Apparently, one Brompton is not enough particularly if there’s a lightweight titanium frame on offer. Our bikes were welcomed in with open arms, despite dripping water on the stylish wooden floor, and we were warmed up with tea and coffee. An added bonus was the offer to carry out a recall on Kim’s bike – that’s saved a trip into Hitchin when we get back.

By the time we left, we’d dried out and daylight was fading fast. We decided we needed to see ‘the prettiest street in Amsterdam’.

Next stop a coffee shop, while we decided whether we’d head back to Haarlem or send Kim into the red light district. As we debated, we noticed there was something wrong with the houses opposite….

We cycled past the long queues of people waiting to get into Anne Frank’s house. Our final stop was De Wallen, the medieval city centre, which is crossed by canals, little bridges and narrow alleyways and a real contrast to all the lovely villages and towns we have seen in the last couple of days. The red light district, which is a large part De Wallen, felt sordid and unpleasant which was a shame because the city is so pretty……. and flat which is a huge bonus for a lazy cyclist.

Our final challenge of the day was returning to Haarlem on a rush hour train. We survived and Kim decided Thameslink trains were probably nicer. Who’d have thought that?

Haarlem to Marken by Bike…

Obviously not all the way by bike! We started out, before breakfast (!!), with a short train ride into Amsterdam Centraal and the free passenger ferry across to Buiksloterweg.

There was no way Kim was going any further without food and caffeine so we headed for the nearest cafe and a very welcome breakfast. There were only two choices on offer, luckily they suited both of us!

According to the Cycleways App, we had 13 miles to go to he little island of Marken. Our highest elevation would be 30 feet but at least half of our route would be up to 20 feet below sea level!

Negotiating our way out of Amsterdam was interesting, stopping every few minutes to work out where we were and retrace our steps, tempers were fraying and we’d only managed a mile.

We persevered and found ourselves on quiet roads or dedicated cycle routes through the villages of Waterland. Kim now wants to live in Zunderdorp, where all the little houses have water at the bottom of their gardens, or Broek in Waterland, where the bridges across the canals are raised to let the boats through.

We stopped for lunch at Taverne De Oude Visscher in Marken and the rain started, so we stayed and had a local beer before deciding whether to be brave and cycle back or catch the bus. What do you think we did?

An Evening in Haarlem

We’re staying in the Amrâth Grand Frans Hal’s which doesn’t have parking. The cost of parking the Beetle is dearer than Luton Airport or even eating out in Reykjavik ….we didn’t think it was possible!

Haarlem is looking pretty in the dark and it would be lovely to see it dressed up for Christmas.

Anyway, we had a lovely meal at Cafe Collette and here’s a picture of the birthday boy to prove it..

John’s highlight of the evening, however, was the restaurant’s urinal, complete with built in iPad for entertainment. I’m sure there’s a pun to be made there. I was too scared to see what was on offer in the Ladies.

John’s Birthday adventure

John has everything he could possibly need, if you exclude our unreasonably small garage from his wish list. He has chosen a trip to The Netherlands for his birthday.

Last night, the Beetle was packed with the Bromptons and we set off for the overnight sailing from Harwich.

We docked at 8am and set off for our first stop, Afsluitdijk Dam. It is a 20 mile dam, constructed between 1927 and 1932, that connects the North Holland Province to Friesland Province.

It dams the North Sea inlet and has created a fresh water lake. It has two claims to fame. The first is that it was the initial demonstration site for the 130kph speed limit in The Netherlands. The second is that, in May 1940,it was the site of the Battle of the Afsliutsdijk. This was one of the few successful defences of the Western Front and was held until Dutch forced surrendered later that month.

Our route back to Haarlem, where we’re staying, took us on a round trip across the Houtribdijk and into Edam for a late lunch. Edam is a maze of little streets and canals. Kim is rather taken with it and will be checking out property prices later. John has noted that none of the houses Kim likes have garages….

We stopped off at a cheese shop and a quick lesson in the difference between local, farm produced Edam and that made in a factory for export.

Guess which one tastes the best? Later in the week we’re planning on cycling from Amsterdam to Edam so that we can sample the local beer at 8.4%.

We’ve covered about 200 miles today so we’re aiming for a quiet evening in Haarlem which might be a challenge. Our hotel is right by a very large church, which might be a cathedral, which plays a tune every 15 minuted….

Final thoughts from Iceland

Hiring a car is always a challenge, you think you’ve covered every eventuality, then the hire company find another to take your funds. In Iceland, it is trying persuade you to take extra insurance cover against damage from sand and ash. Usual insurance doesn’t cover this and you take a risk if you drive on the south coast which has unpredictable winds. We chose not to take it and, luckily, Avis were happy with the state of the car when we returned it!

Our apartment was a good choice, we’d stay there again. We were a 2 minute walk from the bus station and all of the tours picked up from the hotel around the corner from us. Now that we’ve see the Northern Lights we probably wouldn’t hire a car again. It was extremely useful being able head to out as, and when we wanted, especially on clear nights.

Several of the sights we visited has signs banning drones which was a hazard we hadn’t considered. That didn’t stop some inconsiderate, lazy people using them to save the walk or climb. The noise a sort of high pitched buzzing was extremely irritating and felt very intrusive.

We did try Icelandic Skyr (and, yes, we know you can buy it in the U.K.!) Its a cross between yoghurt and cheese and comes in a variety of unusual flavours including liquorice. It was very thick and smooth and made a nice change at breakfast time.

We decided not to try roast puffin, whale or horse steaks.

We definitely need to come back to do a glacier walk. There are many museums, art galleries and geothermal pools and we didn’t visit a single one. Neither we did we see any Puffins except as ornaments in the shops. We were too late in the season so that’s on the list for next time too.

Our last day in Reykjavik

We went our seperate ways this morning. Matt disapppeared for a 2 hour private running tour with Bjorn, who we’d found via Citywalk tours, while John and I headed out to the Botanic Gardens.

After the last few days looking at quite alien scenery, the Botanic Gardens were lush and filled with familiar looking trees and plants.  It was surprising to see them surviving in a climate that must be quite hostile at times.

We also saw a traditional Icelandic turf house. Reykjavik started life as a small settlement of turf houses back in the 9th century. There are preserved houses and villages dotted around the island which would be worth a visit on another occasion.

Matt’s running tour took him 9 miles around the city and its suburbs. He learned about curing shark meat. When first caught, sharks are cut up and, because it’s poisonous, the meat buried in the sand for three months. It’s then hung up to dry in the wind before it’s eaten. Here’s the shark drying shack!

We met up for a quick lunch, before heading out to Grotta Lighthouse. Grotta is accessible at low tide and high tide was approaching rapidly. Matt disappeared over the rocks to take photos, just as everyone else was coming back, while John and I stayed safely on dry land. The water came higher and eventually Matt decided he ought to come back. Guess who got wet feet today?

Next a sculpture walk along the harbour took us to the Sun Voyager. Although it looks like a Viking long boat, it is intended to be a dream vessel and ode to the sun. However you view it, it’s a striking piece of art and visible from the top of Hallgrimskirkja.

Our evening entertainment, at the Harpa Concert Centre was….

We thought it would be a fitting end to our adventure and learned how to walk, talk and behave like an Icelander.

Waterfalls and Glaciers

Yesterday’s challenge was to visit Iceland’s highest waterfall and a glacier.

We started with a quick trip, after breakfast, to Braud & Co to pick up provisions for our trip. Customers were queuing out the door and the shop was jam packed, a complete contrast to yesterday’s early morning visit.

This wouldn’t have been a problem but it was pouring with rain and only Matt had been bright enough to wear a waterproof. Luckily we were able to reward ourselves with freshly baked cinnamon buns which were as delicious as the reviews promised

Iceland’s highest waterfall, Glymur, was our first stop after leaving the city. We drove along the fjord that had rewarded us with last night’s light display, up an unmade road, worrying about damage to the hire car and our insurance excess. We found a car park and a 3.5km hike to the waterfall – not quite what we had in mind. We only really wanted to spend 10 minutes there, taking photos, before heading to the Snaefellsnes Peninsula to get up close to a glacier.

The waterfall might be the highest but it wasn’t as spectacular as the others we’ve seen. We couldn’t see it all without hiking along quite a hazardous track so we made do with crossing the river at the bottom which was hazardous enough! We’d scrambled down through a cave before crossing the river by holding onto a metal cable while walking across rocks and a tree trunk.

We all made it across safely but guess who slipped and got very wet feet on the way back. Was it Matt (never pays attention), John (expert on hazards) or Kim (terrible sense of balance)?

So bad luck tends to come in threes. Matt dropped his lens cover, John managed to twist his ankle on the walk back to the car and Kim had shoes full of water!

Next stop was the Snaefellsnes Peninsula, a two hour journey but we were aiming to drive across a glacier. As we headed north, the weather became revolting. It was wet and windy with visibility becoming increasingly poor, we could barely see the road let alone the beautiful coastline, amazing lava fields and towering volcanoes. According to our research, you can see everything Iceland has to offer here. Our experience says that’s fog, wind and rain.

We drove out as far as Hellnar where the glacier should be easily visible and accessible. This is what we were hoping to see…

Here’s what we could see…

We arrived back in Reykjavik at 8pm, after 300 mile drive, and decided to treat ourselves to another meal out despite plans to eat more economically. We headed out to The Old Iceland restaurant which looked a little different to some of the others. We have tried to stop converting the cost of everything into sterling, it is too distressing. We worked out dinner would be eye wateringly expensive and got on with ordering (£12 for John’s local beer and £55 for Matt’s langoustines – oops shouldn’t have done that!). We had a delicious meal, John’s starter of Icelandic cheese and fruits was ‘the best salad ever’

There is always water available in restaurants which is helpful when you consider the cost of beer, wine is even more expensive so we’ve avoided that. Icelandic tap water comes straight from the ground, into the pipes and out of the tap. It is so pure it needs no filtering and literally tastes of nothing.

Luckily, the sky was cloudy, we therefore found no need to hunt down the Northern Lights and, for the first time since we’ve been away, we went to bed the same day we got up.

Result!!

On our third night of trying, we were treated to a spectacular display by the Northern Lights. We drove out along Hvalfjard, which is fed from the Greenland Sea, and found a nice dark spot to park. If it wasn’t for eagle eyed Matt, we’d have dismissed the initial sighting as clouds and given up. He insisted there was a green tinge and took a photo to prove it. By 11:00pm the sky was dancing with light before fading around an hour later. We were very lucky, the rain has set in today and we’re unlikely to see a clear sky again

Cinnamon buns, Golden Circle and Green Energy

The answer to yesterday’s challenge: it’s a photo of where the wing attached to the fuselage on the DC10.

We needed to be ready by 8 for today’s tour so John and I were out at 7am to buy breakfast – freshly baked cinnamon rolls from the Braud & Co bakery. We were so early the cinnamon rolls hadn’t been baked so, heroes that we are, we made do with warm almond pastries and cinnamon croissants. They were well worth the trip and might be a reason to move here!

We’re a little sleep deprived and there was muttering from all of us when the minibus didn’t turn up until 8:40. To be fair, we did only have a 2 minute walk to our pick up point or, if we were all a little more agile, climbed over our balcony straight into the minibus. Our guide for day was Ardis from Sterna Tours, a lady with a passion for her home country and an ability to drive a minibus whilst waving her arms around to illustrate her point and looking anywhere but at the road. She was brilliant.

We started at the Hellisheidi Geothermal Power Plant Exhibition. This is built at the base of the Hengill volcano and is just round the corner from yesterday’s mud spitting hole. We won’t give you the history of the plant, or green energy in Iceland, there’s a whole web page devoted to it. What is impressive is the care that’s being taken to protect the resources from over-harvesting and that water leaves the plant, through heavily insulated pipes, at 85 degrees and is still at 84 degrees when it enters homes, in Reykjavik, about 30km away.

Next stop, Kerio crater which, for any geologists out there, is a large scerio crater. All you need to know is that we walked around the top of a volcano and down into it.

Faxi waterfall followed. It is situated on the Tungufljot River which is a surface water river rather than a glacier water river. Apparently it’s easy to tell the difference between the two. Surface water rivers are sparkly and clear, glacier water rivers aren’t – who’d have thought it? Anyway, this is a popular river for salmon fishing and we learned all about the salmon run (just visible on the photo)

Our lunch break was at Geysir where we able to watch the Strokkur geyser spout water every 4-6 minutes. The area is full of boiling mud pits and you are kept well away from them. There are warning signs every few metres reminding you that the water, and mud is 80-100 degrees. There is also a very strong smell of sulphur hanging around the place!

Next was the 32m high Gullfoss waterfall. It was saved from becoming a hydroelectric power station by Sigridur Tomasdottir, the daughter of a local farmer. She campaigned tirelessly to save it and we were rather pleased she did! It is fed by the glacial Hyvita River, can you tell the difference in water colour from the earlier picture?


A short stop Fontana Spa followed. Bread is baked in the thermally heated sand and the water at the edge of the lake is boiling in places. Ardis is the lady in the hat, I think it’s specifically chosen we don’t lose her.

Pingvellir National Park was our last stop of the day. This is where the Eurasian and American tectonic plates are slowly pushing apart at the rate of 2cm a year. Give it a few thousand years and Iceland will be massive! The area is full of fissures where the ground drops as a result of the movement and surrounded by lava fields. There is very little vegetation on many of the lava fields because it is grazed by sheep , cattle and horses. It became much greener when we entered Pingvellir but it’s obvious plants struggle to survive – it’s mainly mosses and a few low growing grasses and shrubs. Any trees you see have been planted, they don’t grow naturally.

Gosh, we seem to have done a lot today and we still have the evening to go. Time will tell if we attempt another viewing of the Northern Lights. We have been really lucky with the weather so far. The sun has shone every day and it looks like there might be clear skies tonight…..

Black volcanic beach, crash landed planes and a waterfall

Yesterday’s plan involved a 2.5 hour drive to see the remains of the American Airforce plane that crash landed on the black sand beach at Solheimasandur in 1973. This was top of Matt’s wish list and took us out along the south coast, past lava fields, sulphur pools and the Eyjafjallajokull volcano. This volcano brought European flights to a halt when it last erupted in 2010, much to the amusement of locals – they weren’t particularly affected by the dust because it all blew south!

Back to the DC10, it crashed when the pilot switched to wrong fuel tank, everyone on board survived and Iceland gained an unusual tourist attraction. It was a 40 minute walk across a very grey, barren landscape to the plane and it was quite an eerie sight when we finally found it.

The first stop, on our route back, was the Skogafoss waterfall. It was spectacular but, more importantly, it came with a visitor centre with a cafe attached. It was after 3pm and lunch was most welcome although we seem to be living on fries at the moment.

The waterfall was impressive and the challenging walk up 527 steps to the top was well worth the effort.


 

As we headed back to Reykjavik, we encountered the strong smell of sulphur, saw lots of steam rising from the side of the road and decided to investigate. Matt reluctantly left the car, complaining loudly about the smell but was then off exploring. There is something rather compelling about holes in the ground that spit hot mud at you, definitely something you don’t see at home.

 

Our last stop was dinner at the Bike Cave in south Reykjavik. It was recommend as the best place for a budget meal. Our meal could not be classed as healthy but it was certainly budget, by Icelandic standards, and was accompanied by a live jazz pianist in a very quirky bike repair shop.

The day ended with another trip to try and see the Northern Lights. We’d settled down for the evening when Matt suddenly announced there was a strong chance of seeing them, we may need to take his internet access away! Back to the car we went. At least this time we were only chasing a clear sky in Reykjavik. We went down to the thermal beach at Nautholsvik where we got carried away until we realised we were looking at laser beams. Then we drove out to the Grotta lighthouse where we waited patiently for half an hour or so before giving up in despair.

Northern Lights, woohoo?!?!

Last night was a good night for seeing the Northern Lights, the sky was clear so what could stop us?

Our evening started with dinner at 73 on Laugauvegur. The meal was delicious but £70 for two burgers, grilled chicken and three cokes came as a shock. Saying that, we’d eat there again, the atmosphere and staff were lovely.

At 9pm we packed the car and set out of the city towards Hvalfordjut, a fjord just north of Reykjavik where the light pollution would be less and tourists fewer. Neither John or I like driving in the dark and adding Matt to the car insurance is money well spent. He doesn’t stop complaining about the little Hyundai but it seems ok to us.

We spent three hours in and out of the car on a freezing hillside watching the sky. We lost count of the number of shooting stars we saw and how many times we said ‘did you see that? I think something’s happening over there but itcould be my eyes going funny’.


On balance, we can say we’ve seen the Northern Lights but they weren’t as spectacular as you see on tv and we got blooming cold doing it.

Finally to bed at 1am!

Reykjavik, the world’s most northerly capital city

A big thank you to Diane for getting up unreasonably early to take us to Luton Airport for 5:15.

Flying into Keflavik Airport gave us some fantastic views of the Icelandic coastline which is very different from anything we’ve seen before. The volcanos dominate and are surrounded by flat lava fields with the occasional plume of steam rising from the ground.

Matt drove us into Reykjavik, his first experience of driving on the wrong side of the road, and we arrived at our apartment in under an hour. The roads were fairly quiet and the drive into the capital was easy, unsurprising for a country with a population of less than 500k.

Our home for the next few days is a lovely modern apartment about 20 minutes walk from the city centre along the main shopping street – Stakkur Apartments are recommended if anyone is planning a trip!

Our late breakfast tested out Reykjavik Roasters, voted best coffeehouse in Reykjavik 2017 and conveniently just across the road from us.

Next was a visit to Hallsgrimskirkja which is the largest church in Iceland and one of the biggest structures, constructed from white stone its designed to look like a volcano.

It is named after Poet Hallgrimur Petursson, a 17th century Icelandic poet and clergyman. It took over 40 years to build and was finished in 1986. We’re still not sure why it took 300 years to honour him!

The inside of this Lutheran church is beautifully simple and a calming place to be. The views from the top of the tower were fairly special too.

Next stop was a Citywalk walking tour led by Tomas, a local with an unusual accent courtesy of his Chicago born father.

We were treated to a whistle stop history of settlers in Iceland (Vikings in 870ish who probably landed here because they were poor navigators) and the story of independence from Denmark (Siggtryggur Jonasson led the dissent against the Danish in the mid 19th Century before Iceland finally declared their independence in 1944 while Denmark was distracted by Nazi occupation!) We also learned some Icelandic and it is the most complicated language ever.


We treated ourselves to a late lunch before heading back to the apartment for a rest before dinner and a trip up the coast to try and see the Northern Lights.

Can you tell which one is the troll?

Rain stops play

It’s raining, no cycling for us today. Can you hear Kim cheering?

The year we came here for Christmas, we spent some time in the small town of Daun and bought a wooden Christmas decoration from a lovely little department store. It is one of only a few items at home that Kim has put her name in the event of divorce proceedings! The store is still there and full of things you didn’t know you needed, a great place to browse while it’s raining heavily outside.
From there we tried to find Hit Markt for John’s supermarket hit…… sorry about the pun. You would not have thought it could be so hard but the satnav packed up and the phones had limited internet access. Tempers were frayed and many circular miles were driven to find a supermarket which had been within 500m at one point. John spent a happy 30 minutes pottering around looking at German Dinkel biscuits before we decided to drive back to the Mosel for some wine tasting.

We headed towards Koblenz and stopped at Klotten to admire the neatly planted vineyards which appear to be mainly on the South slope. Obviously more research is required to understand why or if we’ve just made that up,


We’ve not had great weather today but the rain stopped long enough for us to have beer overlooking the Mosel before venturing into a small shop for a wine tasting. Our latest favourite is a dry Rivaner and the Beetle has a boot full.


We have an early start for Dunkirk tomorrow so no more from us other than to say, we understand the Tour de France started in Germany today. If you see a couple of Bromptons taking part, please be clear it isn’t us!

A day on the Mosel

The breakfast here is lovely and quite unlike any we’ve come across anywhere else, John is always captivated by the array of homemade preserves

Today, we drove into Cochem for more cycling. Our bottoms were sore but we’re heroes! The plan was to cycle down to Beilstein and catch the ferry back. As we set off, John asked ‘are you sure we’re on the right side of the river?’, Kim assured him we were.

We had a flat 7 mile cycle alongside the river and arrived to find Beilstein and the ferry on the other side. John had comments to make! We fortified ourselves with a cuppa at a campsite and all was not lost, there was a small passenger ferry to take us across the river.



We managed to catch the 12 o’clock Kolb Passenger Ferry back to Cochem.


The Bromptons caused a bit of confusion, should we be charged for them? There was some debate amongst staff before they were pronounced ‘really very small bikes’ and travelled free. They attract attention wherever they go and curious people are usually treated to a demonstration of how small they fold. Kim thinks John must be working on commission from Brompton.

The ferry ride was relaxing and the boat travelled slower than even Kim cycles which you wouldn’t have thought possible. We were treated to a commentary in German along the way, the only part that was translated into English was the historic and technical data of the Frankl lock we had to negotiate.

             
Finally, we rounded a bend and Cochem came into view


Back in Cochem, the bikes were stowed in the car (but not before a demonstration for a couple from Leicestershire) and we walked into town. Our target was the Sesselbahn, the cable car up to Klotten leisure park which has views across the town and river as well as looking down on the castle


We stopped at the top for a quick cuppa before descending back down.


Next stop, Nordschliefe. John has done really well to resist going before now. A visit to the Nordschliefe brought us here over 10 years ago. It may have 6 or 7 years since he drove a car round it but he is still drawn back. The car park was full of cars from around Europe, from family VWs with local plates to McLarens from the UK and Nissan GTRs from Spain – its an interesting place to sit and watch. At one point Kim was worried, John had disappeared and had the Beetle key with him…….

55 kilometres and counting….

Photos have been added to yesterday’s instalment.

Today started early, for us. If we were to cycle 55kms from Daun to Bernkastel-Kues, we had to be in Bernkastel by 10 to take the bus up to Daun – there was no way Kim could be persuaded to do the round trip, particularly as one way is all uphill.


We were parked in Bernkastel by 9:45, we’d paid for three days parking and found out where to get the bus from, how smug were we feeling? The bus journey takes 2 hours mainly because the driver has to get out and load more bikes onto the trailer he’s towing. Negotiating a bus and trailer round hairpin bends deserves a medal!

The cycle route, Maar Mosel Radweg, starts from a disused railway station in Daun and goes along the old track to Wittlich before following the Maar river down to the Mosel.


Helpfully, the cycle route has the distance written on it in 0.5km intervals. This is fantastic when you’re on a downhill section and kms fly by. However, the first 2-3 km from Daun are uphill and knowing you have another 40+km to go is not helpful. We arrived at Wittlich, for lunch, just before 3 and having cycled 35km. We then discovered it was another 20 to Bernkastel!! By the time we reached the Mosel bottoms were sore and we’d been caught in a couple of torrential downpours. Luckily after each one, the sun came out and we dried off nicely before getting soaked again. We couldn’t help but be impressed by Schloss Lieser as we cycled past. It was built for the Puricelli family in 1880s and has its own Wikipedia page…

Finally, 6.5 hours after we’d left, the castle at Bernkastel came into view. We’d last visited when we spent Christmas here with Ken and Diane. We couldn’t remember what had possessed us to walk all the way up but think it was probably Ken and Matthew egging each other on. Kim did remember that Diane gave up at the cafe halfway up and settled down for a coffee while the rest of us carried on!

Germany, here we come!

It was a long drive to Auderath, 200 miles and 3 hours, most of which was on motorways and rather boring. For the last 30 miles we resorted to our 15 year old map of Europe and recklessly ingnored the satnav. The drive through the Eifel region is glorious.

Our new route took us on familiar roads, past Altenahr and into Adenau where we stopped for a late lunch. We sat outside, under a parasol, in the rain watching the world go by before heading onwards via the Nurburgring. We stopped briefly on an access road to the Nordschliefe and watched a few cars go past. Interestingly, they were all very quiet, apart from the Aston Martins. There was a debate as to whether or the Beetle should have a quick run round the circuit..


Six hours after leaving Etten-Leur, we reached Hotel Wilhelmshoehe where we’ll stay for the next 4 nights. It’s been 6 or 7 years since we were last here. On that occasion John and Matthew took our Honda Civic for several laps of the Nordschliefe while Kim drank tea at the hotel and tried not to worry that they wouldn’t come back alive!


We were met by Jacqueline and Ulrich’s daughter who is the spitting image of her mother.

The rest of the afternoon was spent planning our cycling trips for the next few days. Suddenly a couple of 7 mile rides have turned into a 35 mile marathon. We’re assured that it’s all downhill!

John’s experience in Etten-Leur

During my five mile drive to site each morning it’s very noticable how cars give way to bikes, there are cycle paths everywhere, an absence of hills, all bikes have luggage racks and lots of secure covered cycle parking is available……… the UK has a very long way to go.

Cycle parking at the hotel.

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Initial concerns about running a training course in a foreign country quickly evaporated, everyone speaks excellent English and seems to understand every word – occasionally the group reverts to speaking Dutch to discuss some detail points but then take the trouble to summarise that discussion in English, probably because I’m looking blankly at them.  Of course the only Dutch words I can remember are ‘Circuit Zandvoort’ and “Arnhem a Bridge to Far”.  Although everyone speaks English they pointed out that they do struggle with a Newcastle accent and for some reason phrases such as “Yer gannin’ proper radgie, man. Caln doon, al mek a cuppa.” seem to cause difficulty.

At lunchtime, everything stops as we briskly head to the site canteen, the idea is to get there early enough to make sure some Kroketten are still available. Dutch Kroketten are about ten times larger than croquettes found in the U.K. and seem to consist of potato together with some unidentified meat in a savoury béchamel sauce rolled in breadcrumbs. This sought after delicacy is then enthusiastically mashed onto a slice of rye bread before being eaten with a sliced boiled egg on top.

Kroket

Having skilfully avoided Kroketten yesterday, my hosts encouraged me to try them today. As fast food goes it was fine but its unlikely they will feature on our menu at home.
Soup also seems very popular and my hosts were rather surprised when I declined soup to go with the Kroquettes they had acquired for me. Even the hotel has six different soups on the menu, one of which is courgette and we’re tempted to take some home for Matt!