What the Dutch won't do on a bicycle...

Not much, as it turns out.

There are very few human activities that the Dutch won’t attempt to do on or with a bicycle. To date we have seen:

cyclists leading horses 

cyclists walking their dogs

cyclists with dogs sitting in baskets at one or other end of the bike

 

cyclists towing dogs behind them in the trailers that the English use for their children,

cyclists carrying children in the special bikes that they would probably refer to as a shopping bike

 A few mornings ago two cyclists went past each carrying a surfboard under their arm, and in Enkhuizen we started the day with cyclists riding along holding umbrellas aloft in the drizzle, and later, when the rain had stopped, we passed someone with a big mono-ski water skiing thing under his arm cycling in a wetsuit, (which would be unpleasant if the sun came out?)

Then there was the chap with what looked to be a long bag full of the rig for a small sailing dinghy clutched to his side...

All of this is possible because Dutch bicycles are substantially different to ours. They are much more upright with swept back handlebars, to the extent that when you see one being ridden uphill, (the approach to a canal bridge for example,) it often looks as if the rider is in danger of falling off the back.

The geometry of the steering is such that these bikes will be much more stable when going in a straight line making all the one-handed riding much easier, but they seem to be less manoeuvrable as a result.

The majority only have one gear, and even the posher ones rarely have more than four. The Mountain Bike, or touring variants of it, more or less the standard issue in Britain is almost unknown here, probably because mountain’s and hills are equally rare. I’ve heard stories of a big hill in the south of the country but I’m not sure that I believe them. One downside of this design is that the bikes here are much heavier, but with no hils to climb, who cares?

You do see a lot of much older people out and about on their bikes here, quite often a long way from anywhere. Not entirely a surprise if they were all “born to ride” obviously, but many of these senior cyclists are on bikes with electric assistance. We have electric bikes in the UK, but the Dutch ones are a whole lot nicer. The battery packs are much better hidden away and they just seem like something you really could use day-in, day-out. Additionally there is a national network of free charging points for your electrical velocipede which seems to be part state and part bike manufacturer sponsored. Many hotels and bike shops have the points which are free to use.

and here's that dog-in-a-basket-on-a-bike again from a different angle, as it was the very last picture I took, and he was a bit of a performer...

See you all back in Blighty in a day or two...