Netherlands

We got up early on the 5^th November and needed to do some admin but our laptop had other ideas and had started to download an update which killed our data allowance so we did what anybody who is limited on data does and headed to McDonalds where they have free WIFI. We sat in there for about an hour but it still hadn’t downloaded the whole update and our laptop battery was dead so we had to think about what to do next. We decided to head into Netherlands and charge the laptop on the way before heading to another McDonalds to hopefully finish downloading the update. Our camper stop was in a little town just over the boarder called Sittard and had all the services we needed so we parked up and cycled across town to spend another hour in a McDonalds while the update finished and then headed back to the camper where we could actually try and do the admin we had started in the morning. We also made sure that we turned off all the automatic updates on the laptop although this is more difficult to do on windows 10.

The following morning we got up early and had to fix my bike as I seem to have picked up a second slow puncture on my bike in Cologne. While the glue was drying we decided to explore the town but soon found out that as it was a Monday most shops either opened at 1pm or not at all and given that it was only 10am there wasn’t much to see. After the bike was fixed we headed to a town called Arnhem which was a couple of hours drive away.

The town of Arnhem played a significant part in WW11 when the British tried to defend the area from the Germans but suffered significant losses. It was an interesting town to explore the following day and we cycled around the large park Sonsbeek which had a small waterfall, some deer and various birds. It was a Tuesday when we cycled around the city but it was eerily quiet until the late afternoon. Apart from the bridge and the park there wasn’t that much to see so we had some lunch at a nice café where they made fresh stroopwafels and headed back to continue our journey Eastwards towards Rotterdam. We found a camper stop in a town called Maasluis which was around 20km outside of Rotterdam but it did have the ever elusive free electricity. It only had three spots and we managed to get the last spot and we settled in for the night.

The following morning we got on the bikes and cycled the 20km to Rotterdam and while it didn’t pour with rain, it was a murky day and looked like it was going to pour it down any second, the ride wasn’t too bad. It was mostly flat (as you would imagine for the Netherlands) but the signs weren’t as good as expected and I think it took us more than 20km to get there due to a wrong turn.  Once we got to the centre we were keen to ditch the bikes for a couple of hours and walk around the city. Having researched online we knew that the Netherlands was the bike theft capital of the world so every time we locked up the bikes we had to make sure it was safe and that we had secured every wheel and the frames so in the end we had 2 bikes, 5 locks and it took us at least 5 minutes to tie them up.  First off we went in search of the status which line some of the streets and managed to find several including Santa, Picasso painting and a weird baby statue. Next we crossed the wan bridge and admired the range of architecture around the city which ranged from very old to very modern. We went for lunch at the Markthal which is a very modern building containing lots of different food from around the world and we struggle to choose what to eat.  We then went out to one of the disused stations which has been converted into cool shops and saw lots of people doing photo-shoots around the outside of the building.  Finally we decided to get back on the bikes and head out of the town a little to a brewery where we could taste some local beers. We had a 5 beer taster which ranged from 5% to 8% alcohol with a couple of blonde beers and 2 dark beers, but all were very nice. Afterwards we started the long journey back to the van but this time seemed to make it without getting lost, despite the alcohol.

The following morning we headed off East to a farm camper stop which was an interesting little place. The farmer had limited English and we had very limited Dutch but between us we managed to find the services, even though he really wanted to help us (by standing there and watching). We then hopped back onto the bikes and cycled 13km to see a World Heritage site, called Kinderdijk which contained 19 windmills from various years. The Windmills were used to pump the water out of the area and prevent flooding as the area is under sea level. These were used for many years until some were made redundant with the creation of steam powered pumps and then more were made redundant by electric and fuel powered pumps. We walked around the windmills and were allowed into two mills where we could see the mechanisms used and the living conditions of the people who lived there (17 are still occupied by trained millers). We also got to view one of the new pumps and watch a weird video about the history of the area. We then had to cycle the 13km back to the van and avoid the friendly farmer and settled in for the evening.

The following morning we got up and headed north for a couple of hours to get to a camper stop near Amsterdam where we would be spending the weekend.  We couldn’t go to the camper stop until after 6 so we stopped for a while in a nearby town and organised the van before heading to the final camper stop just outside the city centre for the evening. The weather had been horrible again today and it rained all day which is why we just drove for most of the day. Overnight the wind started again and it was like being in Berlin again as the van rocked for hours due to the wind and we had no real shelter as the camper stop was right on the water.

The following morning we got up early to make the most out of our weekend in Amsterdam, despite the lack of sleep the previous night. We headed into town which was, for once only included, a short bike and ferry ride, and headed into the centre to get our bearings.  We then headed to some of the markets which were disappointing before heading to a café for a nice hit of caffeine. We then went to explore the canals and different areas of the city, including the Red light district, the historic centre, Spui and Jordaan. We went into a couple of museums, one being a modern art museum which was very odd. After a long day exploring we headed into a bar for a couple of drinks before calling it a night. Everything in Amsterdam stays open late and we could have stayed later but as we started the day at 7 we were getting tired and there were some very drunk/stoned people out by the time we left.  As it was a weekend the city had been hectic and  packed all day and had tested Rich’s cycling abilities, especially with the petrol scooters being allowed in the bike lanes and the number of pedestrians stepping into the bike lanes without looking (or looking the wrong way which I as guilty of doing once).

The following morning we had pre-booked the Anne Frank museum and headed there first thing in the morning for our timeslot. The tour around the museum showed the annex they lived in and parts of the diary but didn’t go into the relationships as much as we would have liked. We then continued our tour of the city and went to a couple more areas before heading back to the van and onto Zaandam where we planned to spend the night.

The next morning we headed for a local town called Delft where they make Delftware pottery which is similar to the British willow pattern plates. We walked around the town which was like a quieter version of Amsterdam as it also had lots of bike lanes, lots of canals and large historic squares but it was prettier than Amsterdam. After lunch and a nice hot drink we headed back to the van and headed down south back to the Maassluis camper stop with free electricity.  About 5km outside Maassluis a camper over took us and Rich thought they might be heading to our camper stop so decided to over take them back and when we pulled off the motorway they also got off and followed us. They continued following us the final 5km to the camper stop but unfortunately there was only one space left which we were able to pull into leaving the Dutch camper to have to go elsewhere for the evening and we were glad that Rich had over taken the camper on the motorway.

The following morning we had planned to do a couple of things including going to a nature reserve and going to see a life size version of Noah’s ark some guy built but neither were open so we had to change our plans an instead we went to see Moses Bridge which was a bridge which was below the river level and never meant to flood. However this wasn’t fully the case as there was a couple of cms of water in the bridge when we got there. We crossed it anyway and continued to have a walk in the surrounding woods and through the war memorial there before heading back to the van and heading further south to Belgium.