Tour the France - Yes Folks, It Will Hit Hellevoetsluis on Sunday!

If you know me at all, you'll remember I am a cycling enthusiast...
But with that term I mean tour, recreative tour, cycling on a normal bike with no more than 8 gears. In my case including a battery to ease my arthritic knees, but that's beside the point.

But, oh my dear Frith, we are in the claws of the racing cyclists at the moment...The Tour the France starts in Utrecht this Sunday, and boy do we know it! The newspapers are overflowing with yellow polkadot sweaters, routes are being published, roads are being closed, people are being urged to come and watch (and spend money, please) and...and now we are at the crux of this post...wanna-be tour racers are everywhere.

This afternoon, after a long and strenuous day of planning for the new school year, I cycled home along my usual cycle path. It takes me from the historical town of Den Briel to my own home town of Hellevoetsluis, along this idyllically situated cycle path, right across the meadows and fields with wheat and fodder corn.

This is not the exact location, but you get the picture, sort of. I was contemplating my first beer of the day, when I heard a shout behind me, sounding like "Watch it!"

I thought "Watch what? Watch the birds, watch the trees, watch the fodder corn, what?" but before I had the chance to watch anything at all, four guys in racing gear, on racing bikes, with frantic determined expressions overtook me. I swear they thought they were Contador in quadruple. They nearly ran me off the path, and (much worse!) they almost ran an older couple (I estimate in their seventies) off the path four meters along.

They went so fast, that they were gone before I had the chance to shout "Selfish Morons!" back at them...

And now my town of Hellevoetsluis will host the Tour the France on Sunday. That is to say, the "karavaan" will whisk through it on its way to the next island of Goeree-Overflakkee and then on to the finish at the Neeltje Jans (Deltaworks). 

It means us islanders cannot visit each other for half a day, much to the chagrin of my daughter, whose boyfriend lives on Overflakkee. And that most major roads are closed off.

It also means us islanders will take the opportunity to party. I mean...Tour the France...wine etcetera.

It also means we will have to put up with wanna-be tour racers for another two days.

Well. I would like to say something to them:

Hi, welcome to our beautiful islands. We hope you will take the opportunity to enjoy the surroundings. Do race, by all means, as this probably is your reason for living. But try to realize that you are just another cyclist, who has to abide by our cycling rules. Which means, that just taking right of way is not the done thing. And just because you travel in groups, doesn't mean that you have more rights than couples or singles. So, be a gentleman cyclist! 

Happy Tour the France to you!

Goedereede - Sleepy Little Gem on Goeree

As a cycling enthusiast I frequently take myself on a trip - and yesterday I visited our neighboring island of Goeree and a charming little town called Goedereede.

Goedereede means 'good place to moor your boat', not unimportant when you live on an island... Nowadays this part of Goeree is sleepy and still largely agricultural, and something tells me this was no different a century, or centuries, ago.

To get to Goedereede from Hellevoetsluis, you need to cross the Haringvlietdam, part of the Deltawerken which protect the (my!) island of Voorne from the water.

This means your leg muscles get a proper workout, as there is always wind and it usually blows straight in from the North Sea... But despair not! Just across, down below from the dyke and cycle path on your left, there is a fish&chips shack selling wonderful fries (open on a Sunday too, which is rather special on this predominantly Dutch Reformed island)!

To get to Goedereede, take the cycle path towards Stellendam, and just across the draw bridge veer to the right, and go under the motorway, follow the path to Havenhoofd and then left along the canal. It is only 5 kms and you have the sturdy church of Goedereede to guide you.

Just before you enter the village, you pass this house on your right, on the Kinderdijk. Intrigued by a plague on the wall I stopped, and found out this was the local Dyer's Madder mill.

The what??? It's 'Meekrap' in Dutch, and I had vaguely heard about it, but had to look it up. Here goes: Madder, or Rubia tinctorum, is a plant with tiny yellow star-like flowers (hence  Rubia), originally from Asia, but (and this is the part I really like!) stolen around 1747 from dyers in France and brought to Goeree. Apparently the Goeree soil was perfect for growing it, and an entire industry evolved. First they used horses to extract the alizarin (red dye) from the roots and later a machine (steam, probably). And then, suddenly around 1880, the entire industry collapsed because this gorgeous red dye could be produced synthetically.

Goedereede is lovely. It is dominated by a huge church tower, its design typical for this part of the Zuid-Hollandse islands (there is one just like this in Brielle, in Nieuw-Helvoet and again in Veere in Zeeland). There used to be a lighthouse glass on top, for warning the ships about the treacherous sand banks which still litter this coast.

But it also has a quaint little harbour, a nice market place with some restaurants and narrow practically unspoiled streets.

If you are, like me, the Bourgondian type, make sure you taste the local Stellendam shrimp. They are the best in the world!!! Tiny, but tasty. And fresh from the sea. I had some with a nice glass of dry white and enjoyed myself tremendously before pedaling on.

Don't let my photos fool you as to the number of tourists who have found their way to this part of the Netherlands. I chose my moments to take them! Especially older folk are on the cycle paths on a Sunday, and sometimes this can test your (at least my!) patience as they seem to think they own them. But hey, when the sun is shining, and you enjoy the gorgeous Goeree landscapes, who is complaining?

 This last photo is from the cycle path on my own island of Voorne, by the way. It illustrates my own private name for my part of the Netherlands - The Wetlands. Wet as in 'lots of water everywhere' and wet as in 'plenty of rain all the time'. So when you come for a cycle tour, do as us locals do: never mind the weather and bring a mac. You won't be sorry!!!

* All photos ©Renée Koopman

* Stellendam shrimp enjoyed on the terrace of 't Sas.

* Cycle Tour maps available from the local VVV (approx. €7,00) or use Google maps and use my route for free (I would): Hellevoetsluis - Stellendam - Havenhoofd - Goedereede and then back to Hellevoetsluis via de Kwaade Hoek. Signposted everywhere!

The Joy of Cycling - Wetlands Adventure No. 1 (or two...)

When you live in an entirely flat country, with only a few bumps that hardly deserve the name "hill" in the far South and the far East of your (otherwise tiny) country, you get used to wind.
And wind is precisely the thing that you either love (when you are a sailor) or loathe (when you are a cyclist).

Now there is such a thing as a sailor-cyclist (a species which takes along a folding bicycle onto their boats), and they are a curious lot, but on the whole you can divide my countrymen into two categories: the sailors and the cyclists. 

The landlubbers amongst us love to keep their feet firmly on terra firma, and only take them off to push two pedals round. Needless to say, I fall into category two.

I love my e-bike! I suffer (well, I play it down, but anyway) from arthritic knees, so cycling became a tad painful of late. But then some years ago a colleague pointed me towards e-bikes, and my horizons broadened considerably again. Not only did my school have a wizard cycle-plan, which paid half (!) of the cost of acquiring said e-bike, but it conveniently lies within cycling distance from my home - 13 kms.

My bike is a Batavus Allegro E-90, an original Dutch make, and has 8 speeds and an action radius of 130 kms (I do have the largest battery). This radius will diminish somewhat over the years (as the battery ages), but so far it is plenty for me.

Last Summer it has taken me all over the country, right up to the North and back again, in easy 80 kms a day stretches. (You can find the story on this blog, in August 2014)

The Wetlands is an ideal country for cycling. Not only is it flat, as I mentioned before, but it has an extensive cycle path network which even the biggest dummy can follow. There is a signpost on every corner and fork in the road, I'm not kidding you!

And we have a cyclists repair and aid organization, in fact we now have a couple I believe. Got yourself a flat tire and you don't want to repair it yourself? Call the number and a nice man comes and does it for you. At a price. That goes without saying.

But here it comes: using an e-bike will take the wind factor away almost entirely! All of a sudden I will cycle to work in a wind force 7, and it will still only take me 35 minutes, instead of the usual hour it used to take me with that wind. It is wonderful!

I overtake most other cyclists and even youngsters on mopeds have trouble overtaking me. The only disadvantage (as such) is that you are vulnerable to nasty accidents when your speed is 24 kms or more. But you can choose to wear a  safety helmet (I don't - I am prone to bad hair days as it is already).

The Summer holidays are approaching fast, so I am researching new cycling adventures. I'll let you know.