Pippa and Adamski go Dutch (or cycle camping in The Netherlands)

[Pippa]

We decided a few months ago that our summer holiday would be a week’ish cycle camping around The Netherlands. I’ve only cycled briefly in The Netherlands previously (from Rotterdam to HoH) but Adamski lived there for a while and we had heard good things from friends and family. With the Harwich -> Hook of Holland ferry an easy option for us, plus the cycling infrastructure and general flatness, it seemed like a good choice. I checked the weather forecast a few days before leaving (wet, with a bit more wet) and at that point it didn’t seem such a good choice after all. Ah well, there’s nothing like a bit of character building...

[Pippa]

Day 1.5: London to Harwich to HoH to (just beyond) Haarlem

We spent Thursday night packing up our stuff ready to leave on Friday evening for the ferry. Going for a week cycle camping, as most of you know, requires precisely the same amount of stuff as going for a weekend. I’ve pretty much got my packing sorted now so it isn’t so hard, everything has its place sort of i.e. the sleeping pannier, the clothing pannier etc etc. It was made that bit easier with something fizzy from adamski’s parents to celebrate/congratulate his previous holiday achievements (which I’m sure he will tell you about in another thread). I had arranged to go into work late on Friday so I could avoid commuting on a fully loaded tourer in rush hour. I always find that getting onto a loaded touring bike puts me in a completely different frame of mine to, say, my commuting hack, and I pottered gently into town, taking quiet back streets, not racing and enjoying cycling in London.

After an easy day at work finished off with a few wines at our Friday afternoon bar, I meandered over to Liverpool Street, bought lots of soap from Lush to keep us smelling nice on holiday and got onto the Harwich bound train without issue. Same at the other end at Harwich and before we knew it, we were on the ferry, at the bar on the ferry, asleep on the ferry and waking up in The Netherlands.

As we walked across the car deck to the exit, there were streams and streams of water coming down from above, which we both thought was water pouring off the deck above. Yeah, no it wasn’t. It was rain. Bah. And then very loud thunder and lightening. We stopped, put on waterproofs and stood and waited, and waited, and waited, hoping it would pass. By the time the ferry had finished unloading, a break in the sky appeared so we cycled pass the queue of cars waiting to get through border checks etc (ha ha, so long car suckers) and we were off.

First stop, supermarket to get some brekkie (as you will discover reading further, cycle camping isn’t really about cycling, or camping, but eating….), and then we actually were off. The weather (and my face/mood) changed from this to this to this (I can’t find a downward arrow opposite to ^ but you know what I meant) in the space of about 1km.



We easily found the cycle path (they are everywhere, on pretty much every road) and we cycled along the coast, through the dunes, with a nice tailwind to assist our progress. The cycle paths were full of cyclists (of course) including large groups of club runs. There were also joggers, dog walkers, lots of people out and about. But it was all remarkably social and civilised and everyone got out of everyone else’s way with no fuss and mostly a cheery “hoi”. It was nice and flat and it wasn’t raining I thought this might actually be ok. We saw lots of sand dunes, and more sand dunes, and lots of green spaces. All in all it was very pretty. And pretty flat.

We cycled through a residential area filled with enormous houses, each one unique, and then realised that a lot of them were embassies on the outskirts of Den Haag.

It started drizzling a bit and given it was around lunchtime, we decided to stop and eat (I had Uitsmijter, dutch fried eggs on bread with cheese and ham, something I would eat a LOT of, nomnom) and as we finished the rain had pretty much passed.

We pressed on to our campsite which was just beyond Haarlem in Driehuis. I had contacted this campsite previously to book a pitch, but had heard nothing back, and had tried calling a few times but no answer, so I was pleased it was actually there. The reception was closed but we found the tent field and soon enough we were all set. The nearest supermarket was basically a corner shop, so we had a fairly basic dinner (we were cooking for two with a single small saucepan and lid – I will detail recipes at the end of each day’s entry) but after a day cycling it tasted pretty bloody good.

As the sun set, it got rather chilly and I was worried my summer sleeping bag wouldn’t be warm enough, but I snuggled in, read some of my book and before I knew it was fast asleep. Before I knew it (again) I was wide awake in the middle of a massive rain storm. I hoped the tent would hold out (it did). I was cold. The rain stopped and back to sleep I went. And then rain = awake, no rain = asleep for most of the rest of the night. I continued worrying about my sleeping bag.

Miles cycled: 51
Route: here
Camping dinner: Most nights we shared a bottle of plonk, had a starter of soup and bread and a pudding consisting of some sort of baked goods, so I will just include the main dinner, which was the key variable each night.
One pot dinner: Smash as per instruction, add jar of dutch equivalent to baked bean and mix through, open tin of spicy tuna and empty on top, sprinkle over some grated cheese. Eat with spork.

[Pippa]

Day 2: Driehuis to Oostwoud

The next morning, we were still dry inside, but the tent itself was pretty wet. We had some porridge with yoghurt for brekkie and packed up, leaving the tent till last. Of course, as we took it down, it started raining so we ran for shelter (with the tent) to the toilet block. Yay rain (my face says it all).



The weather did what it did the day and night before, with a fierce but short rain shower, so when it stopped raining, off we set. We cycled not very far before we had to take a ferry. Here’s the obligatory bike onna ferry photos (yes those are crocs, yes my dignity does leak through the holes every time I wear them, no adamski doesn’t have any and yes he was touring on fixed).



In contrast to yesterday, today the cycle paths were pretty much empty. Most of them are segregated and either look like this or like this.



And when they weren’t segregated paths, they were on roads and looked like this, so the cars get one lane and have to wait for a break in the (non-existent) traffic to overtake. I have to say, this cycling is a very stress free kind, not having to worry about cars so much as in the UK.



As the photos above show, we had both blue skies with fluffy clouds, and angry menacing grey clouds that would dump their contents on your head if you let them catch you. We managed to stay remarkably dry all day, only having to shelter once in a petrol station to sit out a rain storm.

We saw a few pretty towns, all with a canal running through the middle. We stopped in Alkmaar for lunch and managed to sit outside, mostly because the restaurant had blankets we could wrap ourselves in. I had an omelette.



Beyond Alkmaar, we were then in the polder, or drained lands, full of windmills (which were used to pump away the water) and dikes, to keep out the sea.



We cycled through the polder to arrive at our campsite, where we planning to stay for a couple of nights. We booked in, sat out a rain storm in reception and went to the camping field. We were told to seek out “high ground” in the camping field, and when we walked in, we realised why. Swamp campsite!



We found a small patch of high ground, which was still really squelchy underfoot, gritted our teeth (well I did), pitched the tent (I was now worrying about my sleeping bag not being warm enough, and the swamp getting into the tent). Ducks in the canal next to campsite laughed at us (I don’t know why they call it quacking, it is definitely laughing). Unsurprisingly, the campsite was deserted. I’m sure it would be a lovely campsite in the dry, but in the wet conditions, well, me no like.

We discovered that by being a “nature” campsite, there was no hot water (unless you specifically paid for it) and no bog roll. We had enough loose change for a hot shower each, but the lack of bog roll presented other issues (until we found some wet wipes in a pannier). 

We couldn’t risk using our thermarest chair converters in the swamp, so we sat on my ortliebs to keep our bums dry (yeah, the irony with no bog roll right?), ate our dinner as quickly as possible and snuggled into the tent at about 8pm. I put on thick socks, pjs, fleece, buff, gloves and was actually warm enough, so at least I didn’t have that to worry about any more.

Miles cycled: 44
Route: here
Dinner: Last packet of smash (apparently one pack is for 4 people but we easily managed it between 2) as per instruction, add jar of ratatouille, for pippas add some chicken, for adamskis add something fishy, sprinkle over some grated cheese.

[Pippa]

Day 3: Oostwoud to Oostwoud via Edam

We woke up and were dry and warm surprisingly. We opened the tent door and it was still swampy. Any clothes that we had washed were still wet. Our towel was damp. It was still squelchy. I ate my porridge in bed and we both agreed that booking in for 2 nights wasn’t the best decision ever.

Anyway, we had a circular loop planned today, to go to Edam and eat some cheese. We set off in the grey and damp morning wearing all our dry clothes as it wasn’t exactly summery.


(is it dry this way?)

We cycled through the polder, looking at the general wetness everywhere and got to Edam. The sun was poking through a bit but it wasn’t warm enough to eat outside. It was remarkably empty everywhere and as it turns out, it wasn’t just the weather keeping everyone away, but more that dutch kiddies had gone back to school today.

I still cannot believe that we got to Edam, had lunch (chicken satay for me which came with chips AND prawn crackers – yay!) and didn’t eat any blinking cheese. This tour was turning into a disaster.

The only thing we could do to rectify our errors was to have a 4 course meal and wine in the evening. Lots of lovely wine (that’s why I needed the big pannier on the back). We found a bench in the campsite and sat and ate it there, feeling even more cursed to find that in the “caravan” part of the site it wasn’t so swampy. More ducks laughed at us.

Miles cycled: 56
Route: here
Dinner: Extra course: Avocado with prawns in a marie rose/whisky dressing. Main: Chop up an onion and some mushrooms and fry off in a bit of oil until soft, add a generous glug of white wine and place some salmon on top to steam; put on lid and place brown rice on lid to warm through. Add jar of red pesto to salmon/onions/mushrooms once salmon and cooked. Serve with rice (this was probably our best dinner of the tour and it didn’t even involve cheese).

[Pippa]

Day 4: Oostwoud to Harlingen

Today, all our best laid plans fell to pieces. However, in good news, it was sunny. In bad news, the usual westerly winds had changed to easterly, which was the direction we were heading. Boo.

Our aim today was to get to Harlingen to go over to one of the Islands. Fed up with swamps, we had contacted a warmshower host on Terschelling and we were hopeful we might have somewhere dry and warm to stay for the next couple of nights. This, along with the sun raised my spirits.

And then we cycled on very long, very straight roads into a headwind for all of the day. This included the afsluitdijk dike, a 32km road which turned the sea into a lake.

Straight roads like this and this


And the afsluitdijk dike which looks like this from the corner of your eye (nice) and this straight ahead (never ending).


(what looks like an actual road next to me in that photo is actually a segregated cycle lane, no cars, just bikes).

I’m sure it wouldn’t have been so bad without the head wind (which could have been much worse I’m sure, but it was bad enough). I had a complete sense of humour failure (can you tell from the photo?).

I cycled along wondering why was I there (adamski) and what was I going to do about it (kill adamski). It turns out you can pass an inordinate amount of time planning a murder, thinking about how to do it, what to do with the dead body etc etc. With that and singing to myself, the 2 hours and 40 minutes it took to cycle the 32km across this dike felt like, well, frankly, for-bloody-ever.

Just to prove adamski is still alive and that actually it wasn’t all doom and gloom on the dike:



Still, we eventually made it (the number of times I thought about turning around and giving up were too many to count) and cycled into Harlingen with plans to catch the 5:15pm ferry to Terschelling having just missed the earlier one. As it turns out, that ferry didn’t actually take bikes (WHA?) so we were faced with the option of getting to Terschelling at around 10pm (we hadn’t heard from the warmshowers host so it was going to involve camping), or going the next morning. Then we looked at how much it might cost (around £70), the ferry times (not very practical) and gave up on the idea of going to the islands. So we’d just cycled across that bloody dike to go to the islands, to then not go to the islands. I was bought an ice cream.

We found a campsite near Harlingen which wasn’t swampy, and it had a table, and bog roll AND A BAR! and it was sunny and warm and we could dry our stuff. Finally, at the end of a long and hard day, it felt a bit like a holiday. We laughed at the ducks.



Miles cycled: 45
Route: here
Dinner: Fresh four cheese tortelloni with arabiatta pesto and olives (cook as you might expect).

[Pippa]

Day 5: Harlingen to Ossenzijl

We sat around thinking about what to do. Our original plan was to spend two night on Terschelling and to then cycle down towards Ossenzijl, so we brought that forward, as we had heard good things about the campsite there. So off we set.

It was warm and sunny and I even managed a smile. We could multi task and dry our clothes on our panniers (yeah those are socks drying on top of the tent).



Everywhere the cycle lanes were quiet, the clouds were fluffy, there were boats and it was the sort of holiday I had been hoping for.



Some might say that continued flatness and long straight roads might be a bit boring but I didn’t find that to be the case (afsluitdijk dike excepted). It was actually pretty idyllic and such a contrast to the UK, despite The Netherlands being quite densely populated.

There seem to be a lot of horses and ponies in The Netherlands which made me very happy. There’s an awful lot of Shetland ponies around – anyone know why? Are they companion ponies, or are they working ponies or some sort? We also saw loads of goats busy making cheese and quite a few llamas.

The few cyclists we did see, I would often try and catch. I would chase for ages, often elderly couples pedalling along so serenely and slowly and eventually catch them and realise they were on electric bikes (cheaters!). I did it every time, but it was a bit of a game.

We got to our campsite to find we had the whole camping field to ourselves (well apart from some furry friends).



The houses you can see opposite the feet (adamski’s) are not accessible by car; there isn’t actually a road. You can cycle to them (of course), or get there on this:



All in all it was very lovely. I told adamski that I was feeling quite tired and we should have a short day the next day and that we could stay at this campsite for a few nights and explore the area. And then I suggested the complete opposite and suggested that we spend the next few days of our tour cycling to Utrecht instead. So much for coming up with a plan and sticking to it.

Miles cycled: 48.5
Route: here
Dinner: Chop up some mushrooms and a leek and fry in a bit of oil and some water with the lid on until soft. Put into plastic eating dish with a lump of gorgonzola (a whole pack – we don’t like waste) and put lid on to keep warm and let the chees melt. Whilst the cheese is doing its thing, cook fresh tagliatelle, then combine with the cheesy veggies and top with sunblush tomatoes.


(definitely not pasta slop)

[Pippa]

Day 6: Ossenzijl to Zwolle

We set off the next morning and as this was the area in which adamski had previously lived, there were a few places he wanted to show me. So we cycled along the canal in the sun, crossing little bridges which allow residents to get their boats out



We stopped in the old sea port of Blokzijl, which was really pretty and sat on a bench eating cake. I realised that my instincts yesterday were correct and my legs were feeling quite sluggish and we probably should have opted for staying at the campsite and having a short pootle. Adamski gave me more cake and I felt better.

Adamski said he wanted to take me to Giethoorn, which was a bit of a diversion but assured me the extra miles would be worth it. And it absolutely totally was. Giethoorn is described as the Venice of The Netherlands, which sort of describes it, but also doesn’t. You’ll have to go there to see what I mean (which I whole-heartedly recommend). The photos we have don’t really capture it I’m afraid but there are houses like this and this, and lots of bridges connecting one side to other, and lots of restaurants on both sides. This is definitely somewhere I want to come back to in the future.



It did involve pushing the bikes up some tricky bridges, which were often narrow, steep and with sharp bends in them.



We stopped there for lunch and I would have been quite happy to stay. However, we pressed on to Zwolle to keep in with our plans to get to Utrecht. It was a really tough afternoon for me and I should have gone with what my body was telling me the day before. However, we made it and no one died. We stayed at a so-called “mini-camping” which was basically a field in a farm, but I think I actually preferred it to the very large campsites we had been staying in so far (how come the dutch have mini camping, but midget rather than mini golf?)

Miles cycled: 53
Route: here
Dinner: Go to itsu (probably best to do this before the holiday) and steal some of their mini packets of teriyaki and smear over salmon to marinade. Stir fry a pack of prechopped stir fry veg and when cooked put in plastic box with lid to keep warm. Cook noodles and then place salmon on top to steam through. Combine.


Cheap wine in a folding plastic mug always makes me happy

[Pippa]

Day 7: Zwolle to Scherpenzeel

Today we were sort of venturing into the unknown. We didn’t have paper maps and we didn’t have any routes on the garmin, as our original tour was going to end in Zwolle and from there we were planning to take the train to Den Haag to cycle back to HoH for the ferry. So instead we used the knooppunt network (knot network) to navigate.

The knooppunt network is a remarkable thing and incredibly easy to use. There are knot points, essentially junctions, all over the place (sometimes as close as 1km apart), which are numbered. At each knot point there is a map showing the other knot points. You look at the map and figure out a number combination that will get you to where you want to go.



Once we got out of Zwolle the province we were in had large’ish maps, so we had a list of about 20 numbers to get us to where we wanted to go. 98% of the time it is very clear. The other 2% you might miss a directional arrow, but that was more user error.

And so, we got ourselves from Zwolle to Scherpenzeel very easily. It was very varied terrain. Not the sand dunes, or the polder we had seen earlier, but forest tracks and fields upon fields of heather as far as the eye could see. We reached the dizzying heights of about 60m so we really were in the highlands (and the landscape did look a lot like Scotland) and I had to get out of the saddle to get up the hills (not really, that was done for effect, they were slopes – I actually only needed about 2 gears most of the time).



If you go to The Netherlands, make sure to watch out for these! They are particularly vicious (they’re not actually, they are very benign cattle grids that do not shake your fillings loose)


Miles cycled: 49
Route: here
Dinner: Fry up some onions, peppers and mange tout in the pan. Add jar of curry sauce and some quorn piece. Cover with lid and put brown rice in lid to heat through (Friday night curry innit).

[Pippa]

Day 8: Scherpenzeel to Utrecht to Den Haag to HoH

And so the final day of our tour was a functional day, getting us from Scherpenzeel to Utrecht to catch a train to Den Haag before the final few km to HoH.

Once again, we followed the Knooppunts to get us there. It was pissing down with bloody rain all morning, but luckily our route took us through forests so we had some shelter. The forest tracks were all absolutely fine to cycle on. They weren’t always concrete tracks but they didn’t cause us any problems.



We got to Utrecht without issue, and in the last few km it stopped raining so we dried off before getting on the train (although, to be honest, despite the best efforts of Lush soap, we were still pretty wet dog smelling).

In Den Haag we met up with one of adamski’s friends who took us for lunch where we passed a good few hours and had some beers (but not some smokes) and then cycled off into the sunset to catch our ferry home.

What’s that coming over the hill?



Miles: 37
To Utrecht
To HoH

[Pippa]

Final thoughts

So, The Netherlands. Lots of reasons to recommend it. We definitely had weather; when it wasn’t raining, we had a headwind. But I’d definitely go back and I would probably pick it over Normandy for an easy ferry enabled European cycle tour in the future. BUT, why don’t most places accept visa (including debit) and mastercard? It seems they dutch have not embraced plastic fantastic. Still that’s a minor niggle. The cycling was fantastic.

We ate really well all week (when I say well, I don’t necessarily mean healthily) and most of it was very tasty; the restaurant lunches and our one pot cooking efforts.

Our clothes, tents etc are finally de-damped, the bikes have been cleaned and we have brought back lots of dutch edible goodies to keep us going for the next few days. When we got home I made breakfast and used about 3 different pans, despite our success in cooking in a single pan all week (although I’m sure I could have done it in one)

Thanks to adamski for planning and keeping me going during my (many) low points. Thanks to Albert Hein supermarkets for feeding me with tasty goodness.

[RichForrest]

Great write up Pippa 
I have been meaning to go back over since the last 1400 ride there with Adamski 4yrs ago.
I did pop across in May for a fleeting visit when collecting the tandem.

Rich

[billplumtree]

no adamski doesn’t have any [dignity? crocs?] and yes he was touring on fixed

Hey, at least he was carrying some of the luggage this time...  Great report, thanks Pippa!

[Canardly]

Really enjoyed that thanks Pippa.

[αdαmsκι]

no adamski doesn’t have any [dignity? crocs?] and yes he was touring on fixed

Oi! She was referring to the crocs!

[Charlotte]

I really enjoyed reading this, too Pippa - particularly the recipes 

[Jurek]

A good read.
I think you'll find the correct expression is 'Shome beersh, shome shmokes' 

[Notsototalnewbie]

Great report Pippa. We recognise at least one of those campsites (the one in Harlingen; we also camped near that bench in the photo). I'd definitely like to go touring there again.

[Wowbagger]

Thanks, a very enjoyable read. I want to do some proper touring in the Netherlands some time.

[billplumtree]

 

no adamski doesn’t have any [dignity? crocs?] and yes he was touring on fixed

Oi! She was referring to the crocs!

I knew that, honest 

[peliroja]

What a good read. Thanks, Pippa. I like the sound of your camping cuisine!

[vorsprung]

Reading this makes me think i should go round Holland again

Agree that the recipes look scrummy too!

[StuAff]

Great report Pippa, thanks!

[Adam]

Lovely write-up - the Netherlands is just about ideal. 

I think I could see a correlation between the cap peak being up = happy and cap peak down = not happy. 

[Tigerrr]

great report - makes me want to pack up and go.

[Martin 14]

The ride and the recipes a great read...a cycling cookbook perhaps