Category: Netherlands

Arnhem has the only hill in the Netherlands. And a reminder that fast moving bikes and scooters don’t make for a good mix.

After that it’s dedicated cycle tracks through forests and canals almost all the way to Amsterdam. Feels wealthy manicured.

Approaching the capital the wild flowers are a mass of pink and blue. The cyclists are also a mass: anarchy that seems to work if you can suspend rational thinking and plough in. The scooters are terrifying. No helmets to be seen: we never used to wear them. This trip has changed that habit reinforced by the accidents where the helmets worked as designed.

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We arrive. Champagne and off to get stitches out. EHIC works its magic again.

Following the Rhine, the houses soon (in Germany) feel different. Just be a border thing. That didn’t exist: one moment the signs are in German, the next Dutch. Curtis are looking good: fresh crops or newly harvested hay.

Industry is never far away, especially from the river. We’re mainly on the flood defence embankments, a truly impressive scale of engineering for miles.

Giant hogweed, Shetland ponies are strange sights but not as half as strange as the life size statues adorning the town’s. The solar panels are different too! (Look closely at the photos),

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