And the winner is....

Hard to say as we don't know who voted but at weigh in on Monday
Sarah weighed 59.3 a decrease of 0.2kg
Ed weighed  83.8 an increase of 0.9kg
So those that voted for option 4 were closest, but we didn't give you an option to say we would change much.

The last Post, homeward bound..

So I'm sat here on the ferry in the upgrade lounge with free nibbles, soft drinks and wine thinking that if all boat travel was like this I might do it more often.  If you ask me again once we are underway my answer may be different though.

Having done a bit of adding up, the number of miles routed over the two weeks was 437.5 we achieved 480.51. So that is 43 miles of wrong turns and ooh lets go look at that.  I think if we had realised at the begining that we would be so close to the 500 mark we would have done a few more early on, but we didn't notice until we had only 3 days to go, (each of 40 miles plus,) when it was beyond our reach to do it.  Next time we will.  There will be a next time but it may not be for a year or two.  Hopefully we'll have replaced the pannier racks and maybe even splashed out on some disc brakes, but that is unlikely.

There will be one more post tomorrow with the result of the weigh in for those that voted.  After that we might keep the blog up and running with the occasional post about where the tandem goes next but don't hold your breath for an update for a week or two. We want to let the swelling go down first...

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...

day 16

Last day of cycling, from Edam (pr. a-dam, with a long first a) to Schagen.  For the observant (and the non observant) the audio of Edam's bells is now up on yesterdays post, here is the promised picture.

Edam had been an odd place as it is the only place where there have been tourists who aren't Dutch.  At breakfast this morning you could hear German and French as well as English.  It must be a bit depressing for the French guests that the only they can communicate with the staff is in English

We pottered round the shops and couldn't come away without some cheese so there will be a cheese tasting at ours soon, including the local honey mustard..  Who knew there were so many different types?  We have 6 for you to try.

It was quite late by the time we left Edam, gone midday and today was the longest planned route.  The clouds were starting to gather and look dark and menacing.  We had been so lucky with the weather so far it seemed very likely it wasn't going to hold out and indeed after 15 miles we started saying it will only be a brief shower, the clouds are going the other way and all the other thing you use to convince yourself.  It worked for nearly another 10 miles and then when we saw lightening we stopped to put the waterproofs on and a few extra layers as the temperature had plummeted.  It was at this point that on the horizon appeared this

A spinning windmill of the old variety.  The route didn't take us past it exactly, but Ed decided that didn't matter and off he headed with me chuntering on the back about being cold and wet.  It turned out to be the best bit of the ride today.  It is a completely restored windmill, still functional but no longer required as the job is now done by electric pumps.  It is one of a chain of 3 remaining out of 11 original and they have turned it into a working museum.

 I'll let Ed fill in the technical stuff.  Whilst we were there they connected the sail mechanism to the water moving mechanism (an Archimedian screw) so we did get to see it working.

(Couldn't get a decent picture of the water gushing through as it's bit dark inside, but at full speed it moves 60,000 litres of water per minute by driving a screw like this one

Ed was then pounced on by a Dutch inventor who had a great idea that he was desperate to explain to anybody who would listen whether they spoke the same language or not.  His English was better than Ed (or my) Dutch. but not good enough to put across complex points of hydroelectric generation and use of air pressure as applied to it.  (He wants to use water flow to create compressed air to generate electricity, but why not just use the flow to generate it directly? I can't go on public transport on my own without attracting the loony-on-the-bus, seems that I may have the same trouble in windmills...) This was a close as we came to understanding his great scheme that no one will give him the money to build a prototype of.

And, as it's our last day, have another wotd

By the time we left the museum the weather had cleared up and although still cold it was now sunny.  It felt a bit like a long slog back, especially as the last part of the ride was the same as the route we left Schagen by nearly a week ago. As we came into the town centre the church bells started to ring out, which we thought was a nice gesture...

day 15

Back on the ferry today. The main fly in the ointment being that we needed to be at the port 16 km away by 10 am and breakfast doesn't start till 8.  This means a very rushed breakfast and out the door by 08:30 just to be sure we make it in time to buy a ticket first. The notes for today say follow the signs, but fail to specify the green ones, red ones or blue ones.  The map shows a route, but the scale is such the fine detail is lost.
So when at 08:50 we finally leave the hotel room and get on the bike we have a certain amount of work to do.  This is somewhat reflected in the stats for that section of the ride, average speed 12.6 mph and max speed 26.4 mph.  We were fortunate that althought the route was along the lake edge the wind had so far failed to get out of bed which made it an easy ride.

Once at the port (we did make it in time) a very strange thing happened.

In this photo there are 3 tandems, ours, a British made touring tandem (Dawes Super Galaxy, Ben) and one of the odd Dutch ones with the child seat at the front.  3 tandems being used in the same place at the same time.  You need to move in very specialist circles to see that in the UK.   The owners of the touring tandem wanted to know if we were Swedish, something Ed and I have been accused of before.  Apparently Orbit is a manufacturer the Dutch associate with Sweden.  They were of moderately advanced years, and substantially fitter than either of us. No surprise then that they've notched up 50,000km on their bike, and they're still going.

The crossing was calm and it was very sunny so Ed took some lovely bird/boat pictures.

As we reached the other side the boat took a detour to drop off a couple of passengers and we passed this

Does anyone have any idea?  To me it looks like some sort of intestinal parasite, but it has windows and doors, and is about twenty foot long, and occupies a prime spot with wonderful views over the Zuider Zee.

The rest of todays ride was also along the edge of the lake, or would have been if they hadn't been digging it up and relaying it.  The normally impeccable cycle path became this

A well sign posted diversion later and we ended up in the town of Hoorn.  It is another very pretty place that would certainly warant further inspection if we had the time.  The down side of this holiday has very much been not enought time to look at places you are passing through.  It is basically giving us a list of places to come back to.  Our destination tonight, Edam is another one of those.  We have a very sweet hotel room which is only the second to provide tea and coffee making facilities in the room (must be a continental thing).  It also has a set of musical bells which are struck by hammers from the outside and hang outside the bell tower rather than within it.  There will be pictures tomorrow, but for now have the audio:

You've eaten the cheese, now listen to the bells...

Finally for wotd.  Somewhat different to previous offerings but none the worse for that.

Things we forgot to remember...

I’ve just remembered two things that happened last week that I forgot to share with you.
Firstly, while out in a big forest, miles from anywhere, we came to a junction on the cycle path, and from the other direction a pair of Segways appeared around a corner. I didn’t manage to get a camera to bear on them before they did a smart 180 and scuttled off back the way they came. Sadly we were going in a different direction as I’d love to know how they cope with the terrain.
Possibly on the same ride, certainly in the same kind of forest environment, we came up behind a group of retired Dutch people out for a recreational ride in the woods. The track was quite narrow so we elected to follow on as they weren’t going much slower that our normal mid-ride speed. After about a mile we came around a corner to find the trail blocked by four large shaggy-coated reddy-brown coloured cows, at least one of which had yery large buffalo style horns, like this:



They were about fifty yards ahead of us. We looked at them. They looked at us. Nobody moved, not least because we were at the back of the queue and the Tandem isn’t easy to turn around on a narrow forest path in a hurry, so we were stuck and we were blocking the escape for the others if it turned nasty. (I was going to put "if the lead cow turned out to be a bit 'tasty' in the Sweeney sense of the word," but then thought about the cow's future and felt it possibly in poor taste.) Next the guy in front’s dog (in an open box on the back of his bike)...



...caught sight of the cows and started barking (not baking as I found that I had typed originally when I re-read it, that would have made for a far better story.) One of the women then dismounted and approached the cows, who decided that they had no answer for whatever she was offering, and ambled off into the forest, allowing us all to continue on our merry way.

day 14

The route today was a short circular (37km) route presumably to give us a break before two long days.  Phooey we say to such sensibleness and added a few extra on to make it at least 30 miles, and it ended up being over 40.  Most of it was over the same ground as yesterday and some exciting woodland trails in the local wood.  The highlight was going to be another trip on a motorised raft, which, we found out when we got there, doesn't operate until July during the week.  That added a good 10 miles retracing our steps as we didn't fancy swimming across with the tandem.

It was very windy today and despite being warm and sunny I had my hood up to keep the wind out of my ears. Not much else to tell, so here are some more wildlife pictures Ed took today, tiny horse, a black bird and beakless heron.

(Cormorant? Same as the vast flock we saw yesterday)

Oh well, nearly a good picture...

Just for Lara, olive oil applicators

And wotd which, due to a distinct lack of windmills (including the ones marked on the map), was taken a couple of days ago.