back to the low-lands again

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My muddy old bike was still muddy and old-looking when it arrived at Amsterdam airport. Austrian Air treated it a bit better than Royal Air Morocco did which was a relief.

My sister Rose was waiting for me at the airport, we then jumped on the good old Dutch train system: bike, bags, tent and all and headed north. We spent a day with family in Zwolle and then went up to Friesland where we stayed with more family and celebrated our grandfather´s 80th birthday. It was held on a boat with bar/restaurant on borad, 'the Fresian Queen' (Steve, you know the one), which toured along the Fresian canals. We had a merry old time and with plenty of supplies on board, things went well. Following, I spent more time with other family members further south in Overijssel and visited my other grandfather in hospital.

Despite the temperature being around 25 degrees colder that me and the bike were used to, I rode a bit from place to place, town to town and city to city. It's such a compact little country that makes cycling ideal- and there are just so many bike paths to keep you going. However, my bike's back in pretty rough shape and makes plenty of noises, on still what looks like an alright bike. I tried to bike to Utrecht (a city in the centre that I´d also visited back in June). I got about a third of the way until my chain went snap! Dan had taught me how to fix chains back in Beirut, so it was time to apply my new skills. I don't know whether it was me or the bike but the chain repair only held for about a minute before a double snaping occured and took the front gear shifter with it. Cool. So I took the train the rest of the way from Deventer to Utrecht.

I spent a couple more days in Utrecht catching up with Rose (who is studying art there) and some other friends Chris and Julie. I got my bike half-fixed, toured around a bit on a Dutch bike, and went out a few times in the city.

The next destination was Maastrcht where I half biked and half trained to- it being quite far. It was a nice enough ride through the Limburg province, where I hadn't been before, and there were even 1 or 2 hills on the way, although very minor. I´d used the couchsufing website to organise a place to stay and met a whole lot of German students in the process- the city is so close to both Germany and Belgium which makes it a pretty attractive place. It has the Maas running through it and has so many pubs and cafes for a city its size and has a very nice surrounding environment.

Both Utrecht and Maasricht are great places to visit. Amsterdam is nice too but if you get sick of mass tourism there, then these are the places to go. Next stop: back to Brussels:

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Photos

granddad's 80th
cousins hasstling the beard of course

granddad's 80th
with Rose and Henk

a half windmill
Overijssel: direction Deventer

near Utrecht
Rose

Utrecht´s Red Lights
on houseboats: kind of bazaar

in Utrecht
with Chris, Julie, Rose

border area
castle near Maastricht

with new mates
in Belguim, just across the border: Christian and Andreas

border area
main canal near Maastricht

border area
by bike

Maastricht
on the Maas

Maastricht
on the square

Maastricht
church

Maastricht
, treaty of

Comments

[Rob Thomson]

Mmmmm....smooth roads
The photo of the border area road made me salivate. How I miss the roads of The Netherlands. Still enjoying your updates, Kees. Rob --- --- 14degrees Off The Beaten Track - Around the world solo by recumbent bicycle and skateboard. 20,000km. 2 years. // URL: www.14degrees.org // email: [e-mail] // Raising awareness for Lowe Syndrome - www.lowesyndrome.org