A good ride only marred by the strong winds and more rain. It was a combination of 2 circular rides we had been given routes for and gave us the opportunity to see some of the other local villages as we are in the same hotel tonight.
The route took us along more canals, where we raced some young sailors who were being towed out to the river over lots of bridges, one of which was a very busy lift bridge and over several level crossings, one of which started to clang and flash at the precise moment that the front wheel had creeped on the line. As I looked left I could see a large blue and yellow train heading my way. Fortunately it was quite narrow and we made it across without being concussed by the barrier.
We had supper in a pancake house. yum yum
Pictures will follow once we get them sorted.
Tandem at Gibbs Hill Lighthouse, Bermuda
Sunday 29 May 2011
Notes on foreign travel...
My former neighbour, Frank, doesn't like it "abroad." Apparently the rooms are too small. This wonderful insight has been Frank's reason to avoid all foreign travel for about 30 years. Fortunately we have chosen to ignore Frank's sage advice on this and other subjects and have sampled rooms in several different "abroads" over the past few years, and with the notable exception of Denmark have always found the rooms to be very pleasant, and even the one in Denmark was of a perfectly good size.
So now we find ourselves in Foreign Parts once again, with all the fun of giving and receiving directions to and around places with names that no respectable English speaker should ever have to pronounce, and, just occasionally, being reminded of entirely random things by something as simple as a name on a roadsign, as here for example:
View Larger Map
which put me in mind of this for the rest of the day,
I don't know what Frank would make of Holland, but I'm finding it flat. Not just flat in the way that Norfolk is flat, but flat in a whole new way that must make car handbrakes utterly redundant. This is no bad thing as we're here to cycle, not climb mountains, but what I didn't expect was just how far away the horizon often appears, and how "big" the sky seems when you are out in the middle of nowhere.
I've never asked Frank's opinion on foreign menu's, and never will, but if I had I'm sure he would have warned me about things like this:
(For the record, the Lukewarm Salad was excellent, and I shall most certainly be having another of them before we leave this place on Friday.)
So now we find ourselves in Foreign Parts once again, with all the fun of giving and receiving directions to and around places with names that no respectable English speaker should ever have to pronounce, and, just occasionally, being reminded of entirely random things by something as simple as a name on a roadsign, as here for example:
View Larger Map
which put me in mind of this for the rest of the day,
I don't know what Frank would make of Holland, but I'm finding it flat. Not just flat in the way that Norfolk is flat, but flat in a whole new way that must make car handbrakes utterly redundant. This is no bad thing as we're here to cycle, not climb mountains, but what I didn't expect was just how far away the horizon often appears, and how "big" the sky seems when you are out in the middle of nowhere.
I've never asked Frank's opinion on foreign menu's, and never will, but if I had I'm sure he would have warned me about things like this:
(For the record, the Lukewarm Salad was excellent, and I shall most certainly be having another of them before we leave this place on Friday.)
Saturday 28 May 2011
day 1
We reached the Hotel de Harmonie early, about 11 ish. There was a large envelope waiting for us containing all the route notes and maps for the first week. As our room wasn't ready yet we sat in the resturaunt and read through it, well, looked at it. We then went and put the bike together, it travels in pieces as it won't fit in the Volvo any other way. It caused a bit of a stir as tandems aren't that common round here due to the number of bridges which you would have to get off it and push it over. You would be right to expect to hear more on that subject later.
Once the room was ready we could unpack, change and head out for our first ride, in the rain. It had been raining on and off all day, not just little showers but fairly heavy downpours and of course now we were ready to go out it was going to keep it up. The ride we chose was a fairly short one round the local area to get me used to using the route notes. It is beautiful here even in the rain, although the twee content might be too high for some. The cycle routes go along the small canals with thatched cottages on small islands that have little bridges providing access. All the gardens seem immaculately kept often with small hedge mazes in the front gardens.
The routes themselves are quite narrow, not easy to pass a bike coming the other way. They hop across the canals and back again just for the fun of it. As the bridges are not spanning a great distance, but require a bit of head room underneath, they tend to be quite steep. They are also perpendicular to the narrow paths which doesn't leave much turning room for a 10ft long tandem. There was only one occasion when we nearly lost the front wheel over the edge of the bridge and into the canal, but there were quite a few occasions where the bridge was so steep that the pedals caught on the angle between the ramp and the deck.
There were more windmills, loads of windmills, but this was our favourite of the day, topless, thatched and converted into a house
I supect we could make up our own top trump windmills set by the end of the holiday.
Once the room was ready we could unpack, change and head out for our first ride, in the rain. It had been raining on and off all day, not just little showers but fairly heavy downpours and of course now we were ready to go out it was going to keep it up. The ride we chose was a fairly short one round the local area to get me used to using the route notes. It is beautiful here even in the rain, although the twee content might be too high for some. The cycle routes go along the small canals with thatched cottages on small islands that have little bridges providing access. All the gardens seem immaculately kept often with small hedge mazes in the front gardens.
There were more windmills, loads of windmills, but this was our favourite of the day, topless, thatched and converted into a house
I supect we could make up our own top trump windmills set by the end of the holiday.
Friday 27 May 2011
we made it.
Yep we are here.
Despite threats of delays through the Dartford Tunnel and roadworks on the Essex stretch of the M25 we reached Harwich for the ferry with over an hour to spare. This meant I had to get on the ferry. The Met Office had been forcasting gale force winds in the North Sea and I don't really like being on boats even in calm waters. I had been manging to keep the panic to a minimum during the day at work with the possibility that I may have to stay late and not leave in time to get to the port. Turns out I needn't have worried. After an excellent supper we stood on deck and watched England slip away into the night. We then retired to our cabin and slept the few hours until the rather loud wake up call. If it was rough I didn't notice at all. Ed must have slipped something into my lasagne.
Navigating across Holland to our first stop proved interesting. We hadn't been able to find a road map before we left, but didn't worry too much as we had printed off some google directions and there was bound to be a map to buy on the boat. There were plenty of maps, but not one of them was a road map of Holland, one of the only two places the ferry goes too. So braving it with google directions was our only option which worked admirably enough to get us to the first petrol station where we stopped and bought a map. All would be fine now, or it would be if I could work out how to open the map up and how each page unfolded and then had to be refolded before turning over to the next page. It was quite a work of origami by the time I had finished with it. Once that was all sorted it turned into a pleasant drive through the Rotterdam rush hour and on into flat expanses of countryside punctuated not with traditional windmills but with enormous windfarms. Just to make us feel at home every time we came across a lifting bridge it was up just like the level crossing at St Dunstans.
Despite threats of delays through the Dartford Tunnel and roadworks on the Essex stretch of the M25 we reached Harwich for the ferry with over an hour to spare. This meant I had to get on the ferry. The Met Office had been forcasting gale force winds in the North Sea and I don't really like being on boats even in calm waters. I had been manging to keep the panic to a minimum during the day at work with the possibility that I may have to stay late and not leave in time to get to the port. Turns out I needn't have worried. After an excellent supper we stood on deck and watched England slip away into the night. We then retired to our cabin and slept the few hours until the rather loud wake up call. If it was rough I didn't notice at all. Ed must have slipped something into my lasagne.
Navigating across Holland to our first stop proved interesting. We hadn't been able to find a road map before we left, but didn't worry too much as we had printed off some google directions and there was bound to be a map to buy on the boat. There were plenty of maps, but not one of them was a road map of Holland, one of the only two places the ferry goes too. So braving it with google directions was our only option which worked admirably enough to get us to the first petrol station where we stopped and bought a map. All would be fine now, or it would be if I could work out how to open the map up and how each page unfolded and then had to be refolded before turning over to the next page. It was quite a work of origami by the time I had finished with it. Once that was all sorted it turned into a pleasant drive through the Rotterdam rush hour and on into flat expanses of countryside punctuated not with traditional windmills but with enormous windfarms. Just to make us feel at home every time we came across a lifting bridge it was up just like the level crossing at St Dunstans.
Sunday 22 May 2011
a helping hand
We decided to tackle the Folkestone trip on Saturday. It was our last opportunity for a pre holiday ride. At about 43 miles it wasn't as long as the previous one, but the hills were much steeper, in both directions. On the way back as we stopped for a breather on the cliff face at the back of Peene (you can spot it on the OS map as it has one of those little black arrows on it) a passing Gurkha out for his Saturday afternoon jog stopped and asked us if we would like a push. Whilst fighting for breath, we declined his kind offer.
Tuesday 17 May 2011
55 is just too far..
So the weekend came and it was time to get back on the bike. Where to this time? We have been out from (or back to) Canterbury in nearly every direction except towards Dover and Folkestone. The main reason for this is the huge hill if you get as far as the Elham valley. So far the only time I have made it to the top without getting off and pushing was on the back of the tandem. So purely in an effort to avoid that we went to Dover, along the coast to Deal and Sandwich and then back into Canterbury. We didn't really bother to check the route too carefully as it was all on cycle routes so we weren't likely to get lost and we had the maps with us. It was all territory we had cycled in the past, but never in one hit.
The ride to Dover was fun. We stopped to help a couple in the car who were lost. The going got a bit tough where they had resurfaced large chunks of the road and there was lots of gravel. Once at Dover we stopped at Langdon Cliffs for a sarnie and a break. The cycle path goes through the National trust property at the point it climbs the face of the cliffs and they have kindly put in kissing gates up the face just to make it more fun. fortunately they were just big enough to back the tandem into before swinging the gate round. We also had some gear changing woe as we went up the hill as the rear chain stop screw had worked its way loose. An easy fix though.
Whilst on the route from Dover to Deal it became apparent as we passed one of the ornate sign posts of National Cycle Route 1 that we had 1196 miles to go to Inverness, ho ho we joked, till we spotted underneath that Canterbury 21 miles. We had already completed 32 miles and not to be 2/3 of the way round was a bit depressing. The little niggles that set in at about 35 miles don't really matter if home is another 5 miles away suddenly seem more important when there is more than double that to go. Add to that the head wind that you get along any seafront and it seemed a long drag into Sandwich, especially when it started raining. We rewarded ourselves with a bag of tasty chips and sat in the market square, along with a selection of loud mouthed chavs and free bus pass users who were waiting for the bus back to Canterbury. Selfishly we didn't share our chips.
The ride back form Sandwich was hard. The wind hadn't dropped that much when we came in land and by this point my thighs were begining to complain properly. We had to stop again to give my legs a rest before we got home. The cycle route heads down into Fordwich and then offroad along the cycle path up and over a hill before reaching Canterbury. We felt that our legs wouldn't make it and headed along the Stodmarsh Road and back into Canterbury down St Martins Hill. From the garage it was a race to see who would make it into the bath first.
I didn't feel too bad the next day and even made it to my 9.30 yoga class, Ed was not so lucky.
The ride to Dover was fun. We stopped to help a couple in the car who were lost. The going got a bit tough where they had resurfaced large chunks of the road and there was lots of gravel. Once at Dover we stopped at Langdon Cliffs for a sarnie and a break. The cycle path goes through the National trust property at the point it climbs the face of the cliffs and they have kindly put in kissing gates up the face just to make it more fun. fortunately they were just big enough to back the tandem into before swinging the gate round. We also had some gear changing woe as we went up the hill as the rear chain stop screw had worked its way loose. An easy fix though.
Whilst on the route from Dover to Deal it became apparent as we passed one of the ornate sign posts of National Cycle Route 1 that we had 1196 miles to go to Inverness, ho ho we joked, till we spotted underneath that Canterbury 21 miles. We had already completed 32 miles and not to be 2/3 of the way round was a bit depressing. The little niggles that set in at about 35 miles don't really matter if home is another 5 miles away suddenly seem more important when there is more than double that to go. Add to that the head wind that you get along any seafront and it seemed a long drag into Sandwich, especially when it started raining. We rewarded ourselves with a bag of tasty chips and sat in the market square, along with a selection of loud mouthed chavs and free bus pass users who were waiting for the bus back to Canterbury. Selfishly we didn't share our chips.
The ride back form Sandwich was hard. The wind hadn't dropped that much when we came in land and by this point my thighs were begining to complain properly. We had to stop again to give my legs a rest before we got home. The cycle route heads down into Fordwich and then offroad along the cycle path up and over a hill before reaching Canterbury. We felt that our legs wouldn't make it and headed along the Stodmarsh Road and back into Canterbury down St Martins Hill. From the garage it was a race to see who would make it into the bath first.
I didn't feel too bad the next day and even made it to my 9.30 yoga class, Ed was not so lucky.
Tuesday 10 May 2011
in training
A holiday you have to train for??!! As the average days cycling is about 30 miles in the first week and 40 in the second we thought it might be a good idea to allow sometime for our backsides and the saddles to get reacquainted. Over the 2 bank holiday weekends we planned 4 training rides using the getamap function on the OS website. We completed these with relatively few aches and pains, which cheered us but as of yet we haven't been out again. Next weekend maybe.
Getamap is kind of fun if a little laborious. It does allow you to terrify yourself with an elevation plot of your route, but as with all maps it doesn't give you any idea of the quality of the paths labelled. One day I will remember that just because it is legal to cycle on a bridle path, doesn't mean it is physically possible to do so.
The one I had picked on the circular route via Whitstable, Boughton under Blean and Chartham started off across someones back garden. Quite rightly they were sat outside enjoying the evening sunshine and while they may be used to the occasional horse and rider they did seem somewhat perplexed as Ed and I edged around the hedge and asked if this was the bridle path. Good naturedly they waved us across their lawn, no doubt sniggering to themselves as to what was about to befall us. Having traversed their garden the bridle path headed into a wood and followed a little track, so far so good. The track soon disappeared and instead of a nice woodland path we met with a rutted, tree root ridden path dug up by the horses hooves last time it had rained. Well it was a bridle path. Even this would have been fine, if the route continued on the level or only slightly up hill, but no we were already at the highest point of the ride so from here on in it was down.
For those that don't know, on the back of the tandem there isn't much visibility especially when you are shorter than the person on the front. Nor are there any controls, all you can do is hold on tight and scream, which is what I did as we hurtled down what felt like a vertical washboard with the back wheel jumping and skittering its own way. Still we reached the level without falling off and as I had a short break so I could regain my nerve Ed was commenting on how that was the best bit of the ride.
mmhh.
Getamap is kind of fun if a little laborious. It does allow you to terrify yourself with an elevation plot of your route, but as with all maps it doesn't give you any idea of the quality of the paths labelled. One day I will remember that just because it is legal to cycle on a bridle path, doesn't mean it is physically possible to do so.
The one I had picked on the circular route via Whitstable, Boughton under Blean and Chartham started off across someones back garden. Quite rightly they were sat outside enjoying the evening sunshine and while they may be used to the occasional horse and rider they did seem somewhat perplexed as Ed and I edged around the hedge and asked if this was the bridle path. Good naturedly they waved us across their lawn, no doubt sniggering to themselves as to what was about to befall us. Having traversed their garden the bridle path headed into a wood and followed a little track, so far so good. The track soon disappeared and instead of a nice woodland path we met with a rutted, tree root ridden path dug up by the horses hooves last time it had rained. Well it was a bridle path. Even this would have been fine, if the route continued on the level or only slightly up hill, but no we were already at the highest point of the ride so from here on in it was down.
For those that don't know, on the back of the tandem there isn't much visibility especially when you are shorter than the person on the front. Nor are there any controls, all you can do is hold on tight and scream, which is what I did as we hurtled down what felt like a vertical washboard with the back wheel jumping and skittering its own way. Still we reached the level without falling off and as I had a short break so I could regain my nerve Ed was commenting on how that was the best bit of the ride.
mmhh.
Saturday 7 May 2011
a late beginning
Although it is T -19 days till departure, it really is a bit late to start this blog. We have owned Tandem for 7 years and it has already been on two holidays (Rye and Bermuda) and on one extended visit (Folkestone). If Holland turns out to be incident free, you may yet find out about them.
This time it's our first official cycling holiday, rather than a holiday where we took the bike. This doesn't mean we will be gearing up with the tights and padded shorts (a decision that we may yet regret), we enjoy our cycling but refuse to be 'keen'
The company we are going with, Hooked on Cycling, have so far been great, everything has turned up when expected. Lets hope it all continues as it started.
This time it's our first official cycling holiday, rather than a holiday where we took the bike. This doesn't mean we will be gearing up with the tights and padded shorts (a decision that we may yet regret), we enjoy our cycling but refuse to be 'keen'
The company we are going with, Hooked on Cycling, have so far been great, everything has turned up when expected. Lets hope it all continues as it started.
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