Cycling into the Wind - a tour of the Netherlands on two wheels (part two - the north)

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June 29th 2012

Published: August 13th 2012

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Backpackermatt

Quiet backroad

A sample of the colourful roadside scenery between Utrecht and Zwolle

While the title of this particular blog may not have strictly applied to my entire cycle trip around the Netherlands, it certainly sums up the weather conditions that I faced for the vast majority of my trip; for it seems that the Netherlands possesses a weather phenomenon that I have encountered nowhere else on earth - no matter which direction you happen to be travelling in, the wind is always against you! Well it's either that, or the wind swirls around the country in a clockwise direction - for my chosen route happened to follow an anti-clockwise route around the country and, sure enough, it felt as though I was pedalling into the teeth of those relentless North Sea winds every kilometre of the way!

The one exception to this logic-defying rule came on day six (after I had set aside day five as a rest day in Utrecht, enabling me to catch up with another Dutch friend from my days at Melbourne Connection named Vince) when I had to tackle my longest day yet - 120kms from Utrecht to Zwolle, mostly along the LF-23 Zuiderzee cycle route. And what a day it was! After cycling generally north-east from Utrecht

Plain sailing

Cruising along the shores of the Zuiderzee

I eventually hit the shores of the Zuiderzee (South Sea - which was created artificially with the construction of a 30km dyke connecting Friesland to North Holland, and thus damming the North Sea) where I soon found myself cruising along in sixth gear, seemingly without having to put any effort in at all! Of course I had first considered this to be proof that I was getting fitter and stronger as a result of my first four days on the bicycle, only to notice that everything else - even the ripples on the water - was moving effortlessly in the same direction!

So with the sun shining down on me and the wind at my back, I positively floated alongside the picturesque Zuiderzee (which is clearly some sort of windsurfing mecca, judging by the number of sailboards on the water) before parting ways with the artificial sea and heading inland to the city of Zwolle, where I was soon re-united with a dear friend of mine - from Austria of all places - that I had first met in Australia five years ago, and had not seen since I travelled through Austria the following year.

Indeed it had

Miniature beach

In a country as small as the Netherlands, you take what you can get

seemed as though some sort of divine intervention was at work when I had been planning my trip, as I had mapped out my general route and lined up cheap (hostel) accommodation for every night of my journey, with the exception of the one night in Zwolle that I had considered to be a necessity given it's location exactly halfway in between Utrecht and Groningen. It was only months later that I discovered to my delight that my Austrian friend Kathi happened to be living in Zwolle at the time (having volunteered for a university placement there under the Erasmus foreign exchange student program) and that not only would we be able to meet up when I passed through, but I would be welcome to stay with her - and her two beautiful Czech flatmates, Alena and Lucka - at a campground on the outskirts of the city.

And in a further stroke of good fortune, my arrival happened to coincide with a farewell party for the twenty or so Zwolle-based participants in the program beside a lake at the campground - during which I had the opportunity to play a guitar for what must have been the first

Art on Sunday

Kathi performing at Kunst op Zondag in Zwolle

time in nearly two years, while Kathi accompanied me with her wonderful singing voice!

The following day (sunday) being another rest day for me, I went along with Kathi and Lucka to a lovely little Italian restaurant called Danini, where an acquaintance of Kathi's named Lambert had organized a 'Kunst op Zondag' (Art on Sunday) event. Naturally it was originally supposed to have taken place outside, but the disagreeable Dutch weather had forced the event to be relocated to slightly drier surroundings! So for the next couple of hours Lucka and I were kept entertained by not only Kathi's (and later another friend of hers named Eveline's) musical talents, but also by a painter and a sketch artist who had set up shop at our table and were busily painting and sketching Kathi while she sang - thus treating us to a truly audio-visual performance!

And then just when I thought the weekend couldn't get any better, we got back to the girls' chalet at the campground - at which point the girls had to get straight to work finishing off an assignment that was due the next morning - just in time for me to watch the

Putting up a united front

Renegade highland cattle refusing to budge

fourth quarter-final of the Euro2012 football tournament in which Italy beat England on penalties, condemning the English to yet another two years of shame and humiliation before they get another chance to embarass themselves at a major tournament at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. What a perfect end to the week!

Monday I was up bright and early to say my goodbyes to Kathi and the girls as they set off for uni, before setting off myself to tackle the 120km stretch from Zwolle to Groningen along the LF-9 cycle route. It was during this leg of my journey that I realized the tailwind I had benifitted from two days earlier had been nothing more than an anomoly, and that I would henceforth be cursing the wind for the rest of my trip. Eventually though, after passing through the attractive and historic town of Hasselt and, much later, a random herd of highland cattle(!) that were scattered across the path as I cycled through a national park, I arrived in the vibrant university town of Groningen.

By now having settled into the routine of cycling one day and resting the next, I spent most of tuesday simply

Reaching for the heavens

Churchtower in Groningen

wandering the streets (and canals) of Groningen and soaking up the atmosphere, while also taking the opportunity to climb to the top of the Martinitoren (St.Martin's Churchtower) for a birds eye view of the city; before finishing the day under clear blue skies with a relaxing walk amongst the numerous duck ponds in Noorderpark.

Unfortunately the blue skies were not to last. In fact, the weather that greeted me on wednesday morning (day ten) was almost enough to send me straight back to bed. And the only thing stopping me from doing exactly that was the inescapable fact that I had already booked my accommodation for the next two nights on the island of Terschelling - to get to which I would first have to cycle all the way to Harlingen and then take a two-hour ferry ride (since bicycles are not allowed on the fast ferries that take only forty-five minutes to make the crossing) across to the island.

And as if that wasn't bad enough, I had decided to simplify my navigation for the day by following the LF-14 cycle route from Groningen to the North Sea coast, and then the LF-10 Waddenzee route alongside the

Unusual roadblock

Woolly spectators lining the cycle path out of Groningen

coast all the way to Harlingen. The only problem with that being that it turned what would otherwise have been a long day into a 135km exercise in torture! And what's more, I had a deadline to meet - for the last ferry across to Terschelling would be leaving Harlingen at 7:45pm - giving me just nine hours to complete the journey.

So for 50kms I followed the LF-14 route northwestwards (despite the fact that Harlingen lies directly west of Groningen) with the wind merely blowing across me from left to right; before I finally reached the settlement of Lauwersoog and turned onto the LF-10 route, from where I continued for a further 85kms in a southwesterly direction that pitted me in direct opposition to the unrelenting North Sea winds, which I cursed at every available opportunity with what little breath I had left in my lungs. And just when I thought things couldn't get any worse, I came to a roadblock diverting me around some construction work that was supposed to have been taking place along the cycle route to a detour that would have added extra kilometres to my already excruciatingly long day.

There was never

Quintessential Dutch scenery

One of the few times I actually got lucky with a bridge crossing

any question in my mind - one way or another I was continuing on ahead, no matter what lay ahead of me! Unfortunately that meant negotiating not only a stretch of mud that had me sinking in ankle deep with every step; but then being confronted by an eight-foot-high steel fence that lay between me and the resumption of the cycle path! The only way around the eight-foot-high fence?!? A much lower ELECTRIC fence!!! So ever so carefully I first passed my bags, then lifted my bicycle, and then finally lifted myself over this accident-waiting-to-happen, as a horse with nothing better to do watched on in amusement! So much for the Netherlands being a bicycle-friendly country!

Onwards and onwards I struggled - never stopping for longer than a few minutes - as the wind continued to blow, without the slightest change in scenery (grass, sheep, grass, sheep, grass, sheep...) or weather (clouds, clouds, clouds...) for the rest of the day; until finally, as if stumbling upon an oasis in the desert, I arrived at the harbour in Harlingen with just over half-an-hour to spare before my ferry was due to depart. The relief was almost overwhelming. How I managed

Failing to see the funny side of things

Looking less than impressed somewhere between Groningen and Harlingen

to keep the pedals turning in fourth gear (for to have dropped to a lower gear would have meant losing what little momentum I had, and put me at risk of missing the ferry altogether) for the whole of that final hour I will never know; but suffice it to say I have never been so glad to get off a bicycle in all my life!

Thankfully after all the punishment I had been through, things could only get better for the rest of the day. First of all I had just enough time to gorge myself on a hamburger, fries and salad from a nearby fish and chips shop; and then once we were halfway across the Waddenzee to our island destination, the football came on in the onboard bar - Spain versus Portugal in the first semi-final of Euro2012!

So with glass of Erdinger weisbier in hand, I sat back to watch all the action of what was an exciting - though ultimately goalless - first half. And just to prove that my luck had finally changed, no sooner had the whistle gone for halftime than our ferry docked in West Terschelling - giving me just

Almost there

Cycling the final stretch to my hostel in Terschelling

enough time to jump back on my bicycle and cruise along the waterfront to my seaside hostel, where I immediately dumped my things in my room and headed straight upstairs to the bar to watch the rest of the match, this time with a frosty glass of Palm (amber ale) in hand. And much to my delight, the game ended in another penalty shootout that would leave the Spanish celebrating - and, more importantly, Christiano Ronaldo sulking! Maybe every cloud has a silver lining after all!?!

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