Netherlands to Scotland

By Johan - It’s always a treat to visit the Netherlands to catch up with family and friends. We are fortunate that we are able to “pop-in” from time to time to keep in touch because although the Internet is great to find out what’s happening, there is nothing quite like a hug, a toast and an evening of face to face banter with the people that are so dear to us. We absolutely loved it and we thank everybody for their amazing hospitality and “gezelligheid” once again. 

No surprises here; the biking in the Netherlands is always great; it’s flat and there are cycleways everywhere.  We followed various canals and rivers from the German border near Kerkrade to get to Someren, my old home town. 

We were impressed with the European cycleways all the way from Slovenia to Germany and between, however the Dutch put it up another notch. You literally can go just about anywhere using cycleways only. Despite the fact it’s densely populated, there are numerous beautiful scenic cycleways to enjoy. 

As I said, it’s alway a joy to visit Hanny and Hans (my sister and brother in law) and their family. Rijk and Rieky (my brother and sister in-law) came over for a surprise visit from Canada so we had an absolute ball for the week. We also caught up with various friends over lunches, dinners and breakfasts which was awesome! We loved seeing them and were overwhelmed by their hospitality - yes Deborah and I both gained a few kilos I am afraid. 

On the way up from Someren to IJmuiden we managed to fit in a small detour via Kinderdijk. Always cool to see this most stereo typical image of the Dutch polders. We also went through Leiden where we had lunch with Wilmer my nephew. It’s a beautiful town that I would recommend you visit. It’s like a very laidback version of Amsterdam without the millions of tourists. 

A new scene for me was the cycleway from Noordwijk to Ijmuiden via Zandvoort. Absolutly beautiful trail through this huge coastal dune area, we even saw some deer with a big stag watching over his herd. 

From Ijmuiden we took the overnight ferry to Newcastle; a mini cruise with a surprisingly comfortable bunk bed cabin. 

Newcastle was a cool surprise in more ways than one. We were met with horizontal rain coming off the boat so we decided to bike into the city and get an apartment for the night so we had time to explore the city for the afternoon and evening. It’s very cool to see the height differences from the river up to the castle with the old town in between with it’s impressive brickwork buildings and bridges. It all felt a bit “Harry Potterish” 😊

Unfortunately the weather wasn’t in our favour in our first week in the UK. Lots of rain and wind so we faced several flooded streets that we had to bike through ankle deep in water. We got soaked a few times so we alternated camping with apartments so we could dry our stuff out after each wet night and day. 

There are some awesome castles and villages on this part of the UK National Cycling Network. We followed route 1 and also parts of routes 776 and 777. It’s definetly worth following the NCN routes as it keeps you away from busy roads as much as possible. There are large parts of dedicated cycleways on this route too, some paved and some a bit muddy. Often you share the path with walkers and although the signage is generally pretty good, there are a few parts where having your own map is important to stay on course. 

The weather slowly improved at the start of the second week and although it remained fresh, the showers became a lot less frequent and more importantly the wind turned from northwest to southwest which for us meant 35km+ winds in the back! Yay. 

A big milestone for our tour: crossing the Scottish border. We were very excited to enter this last leg of the journey. 

Edinborough, capital of Scotland.. The Edinborough festival was on for the month of August so the city was buzzing with street performers, and tourists. It’s pretty amazing how big this festival is. We only spent one afternoon here but you can see why some people come here for weeks to see the many shows that are on offer. The central city venues are full of acts, as are a significant number of temporary pop-up street stages and theatres. There is also a literature festival at the same time with an equally impressive footprint. 

When cycling from Edinborough to Aberdeen along the coast you cross a few big waterways, which with the winds we were experiencing was a bit scary. Great to see excellent cycle ways leading up to and across these bridges; they are certainly a high light of this coastal route.

And there we are; a celebratory lunch at the end of our cycling journey in the heart of Aberdeen, Scotland. It was followed by a very warm welcome at Andrea and Steve’s place, friends we met when we biked in Bolivia a few years ago. Awesome to be able to celebrate the end of the cycling trip with some fellow cycling adventure enthusiasts. 

We cycled approximately 4300 km. Because we didn’t stick to our original route in all places I will still need to work out the final distance when I get home. We loved it. We were lucky to avoid any major dramas and bar the usual maintenance stuff, both our and the bikes’ health ventured well throughout the trip. 

I can thoroughly recommend this way of travelling.  With all you need strapped to your bike you can go where ever you like. You don’t need to plan, book or schedule too much which gives you a great sense of freedom. Sure the weather can be a pain sometimes but that is generally temporary and we were fortunate enough to be able to hide in some apartments for the days the weather got really bad. (Booking.com really is your friend on those days or for those that are open to sleeping on somebodies “couch” there are cheaper alternatives as well like “warmshowers.org”.)

This morning, we swaped our bicycles for a rental car to tour the Scottish Highlands, the WestCoast and some of the Islands before we head home mid September.  It will be my first big taste of Scotland and I can’t wait.