New Discovery

I have discovered the website www.crazyguyonabike.com This offers all sorts of inspiriation.

Haarlem and the beach

Rode to Haarlem Wednesday and ate poffertjes with strawberries and cream in the square. Its abut 25 km east of Amsterdam and home to the artist in the 1600's Frans Hals. Otherwise a typical very old Dutch town with the canals and cute old town.

WATERLAND 2

then cycled to the seafront (inland that is the Ijmeer)at Marken where the oldies were returning from their racing) and sat in the sun enjoying a Heineken.

WATERLAND

North of Amsterdam is an area of reclaimed land below sea level (polder) called Waterland. This was reclaimed in the 1300's by building dykes and keeping the water pumped out by windmill power. Its agricultural though only 5 km from the centre of A'dam. i had the most enormous pancake at a gorgeous village in Broek en Waterland (after which Brooklyn in NY is maned) where the houses are the traditional wooden cottages.

UTRECT WITH CHRIS

Chris had the day off and was clearly stuffed so we went ot Utrecht by train ...with bikes of course. I think that I ride too slowly for him too. We climbed the 430 steps of the Dom , the highest bell tower in Holland and the view was pretty extensive.





Saw an unusual way to transport toddlers.






The canals are below street level and there are restaurants along the side path. We saw a barge delivering the beer .

CASTLES DE HAAR

This castle was closed but wow was it gorgeous.

TRAVELS WITH DAMIAN

Damain Murphy, Karen's brother , very genously fore went his brother in law's birthday lunch to take me for a drive . We
hit the Koffie and applebak trailand visited the beautfu, village of Muiden with the Muiderslot (castle ) built by some clever bloke in the 1200's who slung a chain across te river and charged boats to cross. This is the more recent version of the castle which was occupiedfrm th 1500's by the family of a P.C. Hoost , a writer and administrator who had a cultural salon there. This was at time when Holland was incredibly wealthy due to the spice trade and wealthy merchants had to do something with their money so bought paintings...which were formerly only created for religious purposes. They commissioned paintings of their own lives and portraits...pity Chris wasn't born in those times!

Sunday in Amsterdam

Chris and Megan had to work .....sad ..but I didnt so could restore my energy but just checking out the place , visiting Megan at work and then cycling over to Chris's work where his boss, Gerry, plied Megan and I with "very good wine" so that Chris could work an extra hour ..the day being good for business. We then headed of through the brothels of Niewmarkt to Chinatown to enjoy an amazingly generous chinese banquet...they were happy to put the substantial remainder in doggy bags which Chris transported home like he'd won Tatts. Shades of Grandpa??

This photo is the shop of Charlotta and Dick where Megan serves coffee on the weekends.

AMSTERDAM

A few images of A'dam

ROTTERDAM TO AMSTERDAM

I arrived in Rotterdam Europort and scootered of the boat first..the advantage of being on a bike...but onto the wrong side of the road...until I met a truck.

Had to ride a fair way to get a train to Rotterdam Centraal where I met with the happy couple. I think they were happy to see me but also becauseit had stopped raining !

We found the LF2b signs which made it a lovely ride to Amsterdam. We stopped by a canal and made lunch...they are now very frugal and had all sorts of lekker things to eat. The weather was so beautiful that the sheep with their lambs were just chilling ON the bike path and were most reluctant to move. Lots of baby animals in the fields. It was not the most direct route so it was more like 100km and I was a bit knackered when we got back to their appartment. It is in Amsterdam Zuid Oost which ahs had a spot of urban renewal ...a man who guided me very kindly to the railway in Rotterdam fromt eh Europort recoiled in alarm when I said I was staying in that suburb..."but that is where the criminal live!" . I explained that Chris was a poor artist. The gentlman running the B&B which is in an ordinary house in the same suburb explained that the area was the most dreadful suburb in the whole of Holland until 15 years ago when the authorities decide to pull it down and rebuild with a mix of private and public housing and lower level buildings. He sometimes gets clientle who have been told be the taxi driver that they had better not go to his establishment due t its location. Actually the B&B is in a small older developement adjoining Biljmer Park with open space and even horses and very close to a metro station . UIts a lovley ride into the city.

HULL TO ROTTERDAM

The day in Hull was for recovery so I went to the only restaurant in the city that looked over the Humber ..it was in "The Deep" a space age building housing an aquarium which had thousands of kids on excursion...still finished a book and watchedthe huge tide go out baring huge gravel banks in the river...would be a tricky navigation exercise.

They ctch them big in the Humber...note the crane to lift the shark out...well onto its pedestal!

YORK TO HULL IN A DAY

This nearly killed me. Its flat all the way so there was no excuse for the exhaustion at barely 90km. Well perhaps the persistant easterly wind was a mitigating factor. It would have been less but i set off north instead of south for at least 5 km until I was getting to concerned that nothing on the map matched the signs I was seeing. This was despite having my compass at the ready. The trail north was very nice so It didn't hurt. Back at York I took the opportunity to go to the post pffice and obtain a phone charger to replace the one I must have left at Walton. That meant getting away at 1000 and grinding south through the lovely town of Selby with its 12th century Abbey which the headlines in the local paper claimed is becoming a ghost town. The recession has it midlands town hard. As I approached the town tere was a huge grey thunderhead looming so I thought I was in for the forecast deluge but it was a false cloud formation form the rising steam from the cooling towers of the several nuclear power reactors. It made me think that as the have so many , why dont we sell out uranium to the poms?

The next stop was Howden...an historic town with another medieval church framed by collapsed ruins . The town also sports a very English cricket ground.
It was then on under "Constable skies" throught the flat Ouse basin with littel villages called Yokefleet, Blacktoft , Flaxfleet eventually reaching the Humber Estuary and a great ride along the Humber under the amazing Humber Bridge. I have to thank the barman and waitress at the "Griffin" , a pub in Ellingham for their coffee , mars bar and general encouragement which revived me at about 5pm. I still had about 25km to go to Hull.

YORK

Once in York I abandoned Betsy and checked out the National Trust home of an eccentric heir of some manufacturing fortune late in the 19th century. The Treasury House was decorated in the fashion of the day...green pannelled walls were big,and he had a suite built for the visit of royalty. The garden was , as usual , very pretty and green. I gave York Minster a miss and checked out the cute little shops and back alleys of the old city. It then finally acvtually rained and I retired to the TV which had more of Gordon Brown's problems. I admire the man, who has stuck it out despite the press gunning for him. York is beautifully preserved and the minster retains its dominance due to the hight restriction on new buildings. There are some very old..as in 13th century ...buildings like this tudor pub that looks a bit wobbly

Walton to York

Under glowering skies AGAIN I set off north to Leeds. This is a lovely and flat part of the TPT along canals and there were several marinas for the narrow boats that seemd well patronized. I came in thru the industrial backyard of Leeds and discovered that there as been a whole developement of new and renewed apartments form wharehouses and an enormous basin with a huge longboat marina. One can sell the family home, move in to an apartment and have ones longboat moored outside. i didn't tarry in Leeds but found the station, booked a train to Leeds and and lunch whilst listening to a repeated recording telling me that he station was regularly patrolled by security and monitored by camera , then watched the police arrest an young man. I was glad that I didn't stay. Train to York with chats to travelling cyclist back fro France and interested commuter.

Glossop to Walton

No idea how far it was but seemed a hell of a long way. I was planning to get to Leeds but absolutely stuffed. Set off after tremendous breakfast, Mentioned to Joanne that I would like fruit so I had yoghurt and huge plate of berries. The sky cleared so this was the time for an attack on the summit...Woodhead Pass. The trail along the Logendale Resevoir lead to a gravelly, rocky, steep path which I double checked said walkers, cyclists and equestrian. There was no way to ride. It was slippery and steep. I pushed Betsy up and got to a plateau full of sheep and their lambs. The moor was desolate (except for the sound and at times view of the A road traffic). I expected to see Heathcliff marching over the moor. The track then turned into a brook and in process of keeping on a lamb got separated from its mum and pursued me bleating pitifully. At times the track crossed the A road and went up and down, crossing a bridge (Salter's Bridge) This was apparently a well used road for the carters of salt. and the remains of an inn for travellers was there to see. Eventually the trail went down hill to a very quaint hamlet with a restaurant and onto Penistone. This merited morning tea. I tried to order a cream eclair with my cuppa but my accent was unintelliglible and I nearly missed out. The camera then depowered as I treid to take a photo of the Penistone Church which is 13th century. The brochure will have to do. The onto the Dove Valley Trail..on a disused railway trail with huge puddles. At least it was flat. That was not before a shortcut through willow lane involving another horrible push up a narrow right of way that should never have indicated being bicycle worthy. From there the trail skirted Barnesley ...thankfully, as a bus in Penistone had an advert on its side for living in Barnesly emphasizing that the crime rate had halved in the last 8 years and it was now safe to live there. Unfortunately the trail became very narrow , wedged between a wire fence and stone walls as it skirted the industrial parks. It was quite claustrophobic and rather scary and incredibly ugly....but not for long. North of Royston along the Dearne it became well paved and rather beautiful. I was well aware that at the pace I was making it was impossible to reach Leeds tonight but the guide book cited a hotel in Walton ..and what a beauty. Its an old statley home turned into a hotel and golf course. I have a claw footed bath to soak in, free wifi, a room with a view onto the surrounding lake the house is actually in a lake) and have just enjoyed a dinner of dales lamb. I am in heaven.

The Old House B&B

The B&B was built behind the farm house. Joanne, the proprietor advised to keep all doors closed as the dogs would come in and nick stuff. The other guest was a lively octogenarian, Alan, born and bred in the north but who had lived in Brisbane but was now living with his second wife in the Shetland . They had met in Brisbane but she came from the Shetlands and they have retired there living in a croft. I now understand the ownership of crofts and the role of the Laird ..yes there are 2 lairds...brother and sister

MANCHESTER

Saturday in Manchester with teeming rain. The art gallery was just over the road so I popped for a tea. The gallery is very child friendly with heaps interesting things for kids including being able to put up their drawings as an exhibition. Lots of 18thand 19th century portraits and Rembrandt's self portrait ..which I thought would surely be in Holland. Went to the massive Arndale Shopping Mall and got lost. When the rain abated I walked south down Oxford street to the Whitworth Gallery past Manchester Royal Infirmary (what a name for a hospital!) BBC manchester, Manchester Uni (enormous). Gallery very limited due to preparing for some event and had some Tracey Emin etchings which I could quite get. Having time on hand finished the "Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Association" which is a lovely book about the German occupation of the Channel Islands during the 2nd WW and the ways the Islanders coped. Recommended light reading.

Sunday came with a slightly better prognosis so I set off early along the canal towpaths out of Manchester. There were few people but a number of canl boats...not like our big one in France because the locks are tiny and very narrow and the bridges pretty low.

Made it to Hyde by morning tea which I could only find in a pub. Being Sunday morning many blokes were on their third pint and were quite chatty re my travels. Lots of navigational advice offered. I headed off to the town of Glossop, a typical grey stone Midlands Town which reputedly had an interesting heritage centre...which was closed. I chowed up on food to prepare myself for the ascent of the Woodhead Pass to cross the Pennines. I set off and the rain came down and the wind decided to blow hard from the direction I was heading. Undeterred , I struggled up from Glossop to the moors and stopped at the first place that offered acccommodation. They were booked but recommended me to the "Old House" B&B which the helpful proprietor pointed out was DOWNHILL. I arrived wet through but felt much better after a shower.....amazing you can stand under the shower for ages and not feel guilty here. It was 3pm and cold so I retired with another book.

Liverpool to Manchester

I set out from Liverpool at the extraordinary hour of 0730 trying to beat the weather (heavy rain ) that had been forecast. I overshot the mark heading up the Mersey and had to back track to make sure I rode along Penny Lane. t was entirely unremarkable and I nearly got skittled by parents in Jaguar sports cars dropping their kids off at Liverpool College. I managed to get on to the Trans Pennine Trail and basically it was flat and rather boring until along way out of Liverpool. The St Helens Canal sound rather nice but the trail was narrow , gravelly and on either side were vicious looking fences and slimy water. Hovering over this scene were the 4 towers of the Fiddler's Ferry Nuclear Power Station. The trail then became more rural with no fences and some pretty villages. The sun was boring down and despite the pathetic effort of 35 km in total today I was seized by pangs of hunger at 1100. I was ejected from a Morrison's shopping mall when I tried to take my bike in but fortunately , in the town of Wilderspool there was Jasper's Cafe where I could sit outside in the sun, keep and eye on Betsy, and have a lovely cup of tea with coconut cake...which was very much needed. I could have sat for longer but the clouds were thickening so I hatched a cunning plan to ride only as far as Alchricham then catch the train to Manchester where I would stay to wait out the rain. At least I could get out and look at stuff in Manchester even if the heavens opened. This plan worked so I am at the Premier Inn, St Peters Square , Manchester and its raining cats and dogs with lots of thunder. I went to the bar to buy a bubbly drink ...guess what...only one was Jacobs Creek sparkling rose.

Liverpool

Here are some of the new and old buildings round Liverpool. Last night I went to the conference dinner in the Liverpool Cathedral. It is the biggest Cathedral in the UK , completed only last century. It also has the highest Gothic arches. Food was splendiferous and I was sat between some Glaswegian psychiatrists, A British trained Indian gentleman (only description possible as he was more British than the British) and a Liverpudlian who had been working in Yellowknife North West Territories , Canada for many years. Fascinating convo and I am brewing a plan to work in the UK in the next few years.