My Dutch Holiday with the CTC.

Friday 14th April to Monday 23rd April 2017.
On a cycling holiday with CTC Holidays.

We met up at Marks Tey near Colchester and were taken by Bike Bus to Harwich where we boarded the ferry to The Hook of Holland.

It was an overnight crossing which was as smooth as silk. I shared a cabin and was lucky that my companion Mike did not snore!

Windmill with Jo.

The massive wooden gears inside the mill.

Once ashore we drove to Amsterdam stopping on the way for coffee and a stroll around the town of Hoofddorp Here Jo and I found a windmill and were able to go inside. Jo climbed up into the mill room. I merely peeped. 

We boarded our "ship hotel" and once settled in our cabins had time for a walk around before we sailed out of the city to our overnight mooring at Zaandam. We passed some interesting ships and other vessels tied up each side of the waterway. Including an oil rig.

It would be tedious to detail all of our daily coffee stops and sights we saw so I will mainly use pictures and maps to illustrate our holiday.
The next morning the real fun began. Here is our route for the day:

We rode a few miles through the streets and along cycle paths to visit the village of Zaanse Schans. Here there is a collection of typical Dutch houses brought here from all over Holland. There were large numbers of tourists. I heard many languages.

An Easter Bicycle.

A little later we stopped for our coffee fix. The weather was surprisingly cold and as we neared Edam, our planned lunch stop, it started to rain. We were lucky that it was not too hard and we were able to find shelter outside a cafe to eat our lunch.

Cheese Shop in Edam.

We continued after lunch across the polders to Alkmaar. There were many water birds, herons, coots, moorhens, gulls and various ducks. Many of the banks were covered in a bright yellow flower of the Brassica family, very like Rape, possibly Charlock. Also a lot of a little white/pale flower which I have seen in the UK but couldn't identify. for sure, but think it is Cuckoo Flower.

Alkmaar was lovely with many old buildings and some fine ones too. 

We were in the bulb growing area here so there were many fields of tulips and other flowers, There were also some huge sand dunes planted with many trees and we had a lovely run southwards to Haarlem. Another ancient and interesting town. Lots of mountain bikes here taking advantage of the more rugged countryside.

Tulips

Saw a few swallows and some swans which were either Bewick or Whooper.

In some woods there were lots of sycamore seedlings and lilly of the valley.

Windmill in the centre of Haarlem.

Our next stop was at Leiden. We had some more varied countryside en route, with more woods than expected. The trees were pine, oak, ash, beech and sycamore. Many more fields of bulbs, here grown for the cut flower trade. 
Saw some cormorants and I believe one stork, but maybe it was just wishful thinking and was a Heron.

Our joy this day was enhanced by a visit to the world famous Kuekenhof Gardens. They were magnificent. A small selection here: (Don't forget if you click on a picture you can see it and others as a slide show, full screen). 

Tulips of many colours.

Other flowers in a delightful combination.

Mondrian design.

River of Blue.

Lady in historic costume

Royal Delft Cow.

Our next day was enhanced by a visit to the Royal Delft pottery where we had a tour. We saw a master painter at work decorating a dish.

Also many historic details and examples and a video too.

The following day we visited Sassenheim where we saw a number of flower floats being decorated for a festival at the weekend.

Flower Bike.

We returned to Haarlem as our original planned stop was inaccessible due to bridge works. 

The week was now coming to an end with an easy ride into the centre of Amsterdam, passing through the area of Zaandam where we had stayed our first night. We passed an interesting memorial to a Wellington bomber whose crew and perished on their way back from bombing Genoa.

Our very last ride was an unplanned extra to see and ride over the Cycle Super Highway.

All too soon our holiday was over and we were driven back to the Hook to cross to Harwich. This time in daylight which was very enjoyable too, giving us the opportunity to watch the other ships on the sea, to bask in the sunshine, albeit well wrapped up as there was a keen N. wind. and to see these windmills miles out from the coast.

We had a very good time overall, the weather could have been warmer but at least it was mainly dry. The cycle paths were magnificent through the countryside but were not always easy in the towns  and intersections. I estimate that about 90% of our miles were on cycle paths including those marked on the roads very clearly. There are many junctions and roads across the cycle paths where the cyclists have right of way. Despite that I managed to tumble, twice(!) due to sudden stops and not being able to get my foot down from my saddle position. (I usually shift onto the cross-bar as I stop from which point my leg is long enough to reach the ground.) I now have road rash on one elbow and one knee and a very sore upper torso, maybe a cracked rib? 
We had a couple of punctures and one rider had his saddle come off his hire bike. Dave, our leader swapped bikes with him and rode the last 5 miles standing on the pedals.

We had a few problems with route finding due to changes in the road signs which give numbered point locations, but Pam and Dave managed to sort them out.


We crossed many bridges and had several ferry crossings. Here are a few:

Some 149 pictures taken in all. If anyone would like to see more let me know and I will share them.

The captain of the ship and his crew were very friendly and spoke excellent English so we were well looked after and the food was magnificent. Typical continental breakfast which also provided us, officially, with a selection of food for our picnic lunches. Bottled eater and choc bars were also provided. The dinners were very good 4 courses each day except the last when the Captain and his Mate (also his wife) joined us when we had five.

A very good week, suitable to riders of all abilities as the speeds were very gentle and there were almost no hills. The wind was tough at times though as there are few sheltering hedges. Apart from coffee and tea stops and evening drinks with the meals everything else was included in the Tour price.

Gridironman.