Along the Eem River
A trip along the delightful River Eem gave us our first chance to explore the countryside on our bikes. Here there are well- marked cycle paths which do not simply follow the course of the river but also go into the quiet rural countryside. Our longest cycle was to Amersfoort, a city which dates back to the 13th Century and which has retained or restored its many beautiful and historic buildings. The museum gave us an excellent account of the life of the city, and we were very interested in the display regarding the German occupation of the town and of the prison camp, Kamp Amersfoort, just outside. Unfortunately there were also road works which almost doubled the distance we had to ride from a 12 kilometre return trip to well over 20 k. As it was all flat it really didn't matter too much. It was a good day out.
The old canal in Amersfoort The old Amersfoort town
We had expected the whole route to be on cycle ways but in fact we shared minor narrow roads most of the time on this trip. Much of the traffic was rural machinery such as tractors and hay trucks so it was sometimes a bit squashy. In the town itself there were clearly marked bike ways separate from the road ways and the footpaths, and at traffic lights there are separate buttons for cyclists and pedestrians. The cycle paths are used not just by bicycles and motor scooters but also by people in motorised wheelchairs. We saw many quite elderly or infirm people enjoying themselves out in the countryside.
Bikes everywhere The red machine is a pushbike (unlike motor bike behind)!
A second interesting bike trip was in Drenthe, along the Noord- Willemskanaal. There are fifty four Passage Graves (hunebedden or burial chambers) in the Netherlands and of these fifty two are in the Province of Drenthe. We visited the Balloo Hunebedden, one of the largest and in excellent condition, dating back over 5,000 years. It is made from huge stones washed there from the Baltic Sea during the Ice Age. The Passage Grave is simply sitting out in a field, surrounded by trees, very tranquil. Nearby is Kamp Heide which has been farmed since Neolithic times. We also visited the little township of Balloo and admired the thatched roofing, which is very common in this part of the Netherlands, on new as well as old buildings.
Balloo Passage Grave
We have remarked before on several city centres where the bike is much used. In Groningen, over 50% of transport movements are by bike. Instead of providing cycle paths, the road system is set up to filter out the cars and leave the space for bikes. We were moored near an opening bridge on the main thoroughfare. When the bridge opens to let a boat through the bike traffic lines up in front of the queue to be off first. Up to 100 bikes would move off from each side of the bridge, and only when they had all cleared would the buses, usually the only other traffic, make their move. It's quite the opposite of what would happen in the main street of an Australian city of 900,000 people.
Bikes in Leeuwarden
I think I commented that in one town the only people who walk are those with their dogs- in Groningen, that does not apply. Often the dogs are on a lead attached to the bike. In other places the dog is taken for the ride, travelling in an attached trailer. This is a very common way also for children to be carried; those children carried at the front of the bike are often protected by a windscreen.
Interestingly, Groningen does not have the type of widely distributed bike hire spots we have seen in French and Belgian cities such as Namur, Paris, La Rochelle, Lille and Lyon. There is bike hire at the station and we have now discovered that there is a hire system operating in the Netherlands but it is available only to those who have a Dutch credit card, as payment and top- ups are only done by card and only local cards are recognised. This is a common problem for us in the Netherlands and applies to shopping, to public transport cards and topping up phone credits. Only a Dutch credit card works in many instances, even for on- line transactions. This has been one of the main annoyances for us as tourists in the Netherlands, especially frustrating after navigating a payment site in the Dutch language only (for example, to top up a Vodafone card) to find out at the last payment point that only a Dutch card would do.
There are parking stations for bikes in the cities and at major train stations. Some retail venues and at least one restaurant we have been in provided secure bike parking.
Only racing cyclists and Penny wear a bike helmet in the Netherlands. This applies also to children and to motor cycles. Penny is too uncertain of her bike balancing skills, and too concerned about her brain, to let go of Australian habits but no- one else seems to care. At first when it seemed as if the cycling would be on bike paths, I was prepared to compromise but once we started mixing it in 60kph zones with really heavy trucks, I resumed my ingrained habits. Then I see a two year old riding pillion on a motor bike without any protection- maybe Dutch heads have thicker skulls!
Best Regards,
Penny and Dave