May 18, 2014

We dock in Holland at 7.45am, but it feels like 6.45am to us because of the time difference. We roll off the ferry half asleep into glorious sunshine at the start of our adventure down the Rhine. We have 1378 kilometres of traffic-free cycle tracks in front of us – yiphee!

We soon realise that we are going to have to acquire a whole new set of skills. Up until now I have always used road maps for our trips and I am so used to them that I can judge exactly the distances on the road from looking at the map. Now we have a set of maps specific for our cycle route with a completely different scale, so we have to keep stopping all the time to see where we are. The network of cycle tracks is amazing – perfect mini roads for cycles – but also confusing. There are many different routes criss-crossing with different numbers on each junction and a board every so often showing the different routes (a bit like the London Underground). We need to stop at every junction to sort out where we are going. We are not helped either by having to find our way across Rotterdam within a few kilometres of setting off. Fortunately, with it being so early on a Sunday morning it is quiet and we can take a bit of time to orientate ourselves.

We might not have to worry about motorised traffic, but by mid-morning there are every type of human-powered wheels out and about; city bikes, road bikes, mountain bikes, tandems, tricycles, recumbent bikes, hand-cranked bikes, stand-on bikes, roller skates, scooters and people of all types too – graceful old ladies sweeping along serenely on city bikes, families shepherding children, teenagers in groups, serious road cyclists in team time-trial formation, whole pelotons of club cyclists and just hundreds of normal folk travelling from A to B using a bike. Somehow everyone seems to be able to share the small cycle tracks without mishap, but you need to watch what you are doing. We are beginning to follow our route a bit more easily by now and so we’re starting to relax a bit more. At one stage during the morning, as we were making our way across Rotterdam, Ken was actually heard to say that cycling down the A38 from Taunton to Bridgwater was easier – it might have been easier but at least we’re not in danger of being killed on a Dutch cycle track.

Once away from Rotterdam the countryside is showing itself off to its best – flat, as everyone knows, but criss-crossed with waterways and rows of poplar tress, fields of cows or horses here and there, and with windmills and villages dotted around. The temperature is soaring and by mid-afternoon it is scorching. We reach a place called Kinderdijk, a UNESCO World Heritage site of 19 windmills built from 1738 to 1760, some in thatch, some in brick and a couple in stone. Some of them are in full working order and we watch them having the sails set by turning the top of the mill around to face the wind. Being a weekend the place is thronged with people. We’re aiming for a town called Dordrecht, which on our map has a little blue ‘tent’ symbol. These are not always reliable on the road maps but we hope that our special cycling maps will prove themselves to be accurate. Sure enough, there is a camp-site exactly where it should be and it is open and has spaces. Couldn’t be better. We’re going to stay an extra day tomorrow to catch up on the chores (and snooze in the sun with a book).