Glycling - Travel Manifesto
Holidays are a social necessity and more and more of us demand the right to travel as part of our leisure time. However, this activity comes at a cost to the environment in terms of pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. Low carbon alternative cycling holidays are an option but these are often uncomfortable and require a high level of athleticism which leaves them unattractive or out of reach to many. But cycling holidays which are comfortable, even luxurious, we think need not be the preserve of the traditional fossil fuel travel industry. With trains and stations better adapted to transporting bicycles, better cycling infrastructure with routes that separate cars and trucks from bikes and networks of hotels and bed and breakfasts which cater to their needs - the industry could be transformed to function differently.
For our own holidays, we thought that we'd try to see if we could practice this philosophy using the existing services and routes which are on offer. This blog covers an initial journey part train / part bicycle going from France to the Netherlands via Belgium and finishing in Cologne.
Day 1 - Paris Antwerp
We leave the 14th Paris in the afternoon on our Bromptons and cycle up to Gare du Nord. It's the first time that we have loaded up the bikes with all of the bags and allows me to feel the effect of the additional weight. I'm able to move the bike with surprisingly little problem and we join the main Paris North/South cycling route which goes just past my flat in the 14th arrondisement and continues more or less continously past Montparnasse, Port Royale, Jardin de Luxembourg and then over the Seine through Chatelet and then onto Gare du Nord.
The Thalys train has some of the older rolling stock and we struggle to fit our folded bikes into the racks at the end of the carriage. Despite being in 1st class there seems to be limited space for bigger bags and we have to move smaller luggage so that our bikes can fit in. Both are bikes are covered with the Brompton travel cover which is obligatory in Eurostar and Thalys trains. Once left, the journey is pleasant and runs to time. We are given a small vegetarian dish with drinks followed by tea.
The station at Antwerp is a marvel of civil engineering with four levels of platforms running on both sides of the station housing which turns it into a beautiful atrium. We mount our bikes and bags on the platform and take the lift to the main level where we navigate to the side exit and cycle the 10 minutes to the hotel. The first impression is not good. We are not on dedicated lanes and we are stuck behind taxis. However, upon arrival at the hotel we have no problem checking in and taking our folded bikes and luggage to our room. The Sapphire hotel is lovely and our room is a spacious loft. We walk to the new port area and have a vegetarian burger. We walk back in a light drizzle which is actually quite pleasant.
Day 2 - Antwerp
We have a vegan breakast included in our rate and this is prepared by a top restaurant next door. It is one of the most ambitious breakfasts that I have ever seen given that it needs to cater for a couple of hundred guests and provide a wide choice. I take a plate and fill up from the salad buffet and order the vegan omelette. Candy takes the vegan pancake which is too thick and too sweet.
After breakfast, we walk around the city. The centre is being taken over for a gay pride and we walk through the city and visit some of the shops. I had wanted to see the new Customs House in the dock but we realise that the walk is too far and return to the hotel. We have tea and cycle to see some friends for dinner who live on the outskirsts of the city. Our trip out is complicated as we take the shortest route which is not best adapted to cycling. Our return is longer but simpler and ends with us riding along the main dyke.
Day 3 - Antwerp/Rotterdam
Our train leaves the next day after midday and takes us to Breda where we change for Rotterdam. The first train is packed and we have to stand for the 40 minute journey to Breda where we walk directly to the other side of the platform and catch the Rotterdam train which leaves 8 minutes later without any problem. Rotterdam train station is complicated to leave as one of our tickets doesn't open the barrier to get out of the station. We end up having to hand my bike and bags over the barrier and I finish jumping over myself like a common criminal.
Candy's GPS is already loaded and we whisk over to the hotel remarkably quickly. The cycle lanes are well integrated into the city infrastructure, the only drawback is that bicycles must share these routes with petrol scooters which seem to go quickly, often with two people on them. We had intended to use the first day to go to Hook of Holland and cycle back to the city to follow the EuroVelo 15 cycle route from the coast, but we decided that we were too tired and wasn't necessary for this time.
Instead we rested in the room and then went out to the town to eat and then explore. We were able to see the glass art archive from outside and visit the shop of the modern design museum as this was closing for the day. We returned and got our bikes and rode over the Erasmus bridge and had a drink in one of the converted warehouse bars. The counter-lever bridge went up just as we were crossing which impressively brings an entire road and streetlights up by 90 degrees. It looks like a scene from Inception as you stand next to it. We finish with mocktails and vegetarian pizza as we watch the sun set. Return to the hotel, a swim in the pool and then bed.
Day 4 - Rotterdam/Dordrecht
We start the day after breakfast outside realising that we don't have caps and we need to visit some shops to buy them and sunscreen. We also buy some food and start cycling out of the town.
Once we finally get on the right route, we follow the Rhine out before crossing suburbs, industrial areas and soon we are crossing fields.
We change our route to take us through the windmills in Kinderdijk which makes a beautiful landscape.
We stop for tea and continue towards Dordrecht. Out second route is planned with Google and consequently takes us through a route which follows a motorway to Dordrecht. This is efficient and safe but is not so enjoyable.
We arrive at the Postillion hotel which I realise not to be in an industrial part of the city near some motorway services. Despite this the hotel is comfortable and for the first time we feel the fatigue of our first cycling day.
Day 5 - Dordrecht/Gorinchem
We start the day with a big breakfast in the hotel. We realise that upon leaving that the Postillion Hotel where we have just checked out from has a big poster advertising it showing 3 young white businessmen in suits socialising. The car park has no places for disabled motorists but instead has 6 places near the entrance reserved for women with an icon of a high heel to indicate the consideration that the corporate patriarchy is showing. I joke that this should have been named Brostillion Hotel instead. I don't know if they saw the issue.
We cycle a more scenic route and cross several rivers, follow dykes and beautiful fields which stretch out as far into the distance as you can see.
The route is almost totally flat and the road disappears between us as our bikes power through the country.
We stop several times to drink and eat. In the suburbs of Gorinchem we stop at an Aldi to buy food for the next day as we quickly run out of energy as we arrive in the suburbs. I return with chocolate, cheese, butter, bread and fruit for the next day. We devour a pastry and juice in the carpark and cycle onto the hotel which is in a part of the town centre centre that probably features on chocolate boxes.
Our room on the top is pleasant and after a meal outside which is so copious that we ask for a doggy bag, we go to bed.
Day 6 - Gorinchem/Rijswijk
We eat breakfast outside a bakery and head out of the city following a river most of the way. We stop for a lunch where we realise that lunch bought in Aldi was not bread but ginger bread with cheese butter and dutch cheese. The taste was different. The juice included beetroot which added to the odd taste. Fortunately, we kept the dinner from the night before wrapped carefully in tin foil - cold but still tasted good (at least better than the other offering).
We cycle on through fields onto Buren where we consider having a meal before going to our B&B. The restaurants are either closed or are missing chefs. We leave despondent and find our B&B 10 kms away. Placed next to a canal, behind a dyke, we are in a studio of the owners house.
It's my birthday and the owner sweetly brings me a piece of cake with a candle. Shower, change and bike ride to the nearby town via a ferry. We eat on the town square but we have to place our bikes slightly away from the table which means that I spend the meal checking that nobody tries to take them. Stil the meal is good and the people on the tables either side of us ask about our bikes and our journey. The food is roast courgette followed with a shared Dame Blanche. Sweet but good.
Return to our room via a local castle in the town park, it's getting dark so we don't hang around.
Day 7 - Rijswijk/Arnhem
Another day, another 50 kms. But before starting we have THE BEST breakfast prepared by our host, Jolanda. She's a francophile and wants to practice French and really looks after us.
Before we go, she suggests that she shows us the local church at the end of the road. We cycle down and she follows in her car. We bring the bikes inside the Protestant Church, very bare with no extravagance. We are guided up the stairs and then ladders of the spire which after a while seems harrowing. At the top we see the bell which she rings (not before telling us to put our fingers in our ears). We hear wartime stories of the church and the town (the Germans flooded it and stole the church bell for munitions). We descend and we are invited to test the acoustics in the church by singing. We end up singing My Bonnie is Over the Ocean with Jolanda singing in a harmony. It is truly a surprising interlude in our trip.
Back on the road, we cycle for several hours with a couple of breaks of an hour each. Our plotted plan to take a ferry to near Arnhem comes unstuck as we miss the last 6 o'clock ferry and we have to take a detour. Still we arrive at our hotel at 7pm and after having to negotiate with the reservation staff about the bikes being in our room (we put them in their Brompton transport cover bags as a compromise) we go out for pizza.
Day 8 - Arnhem/Cologne
Breakfast in the hotel, our train is not until 1pm. We push the bikes out to a park and sit in the shade. It's the first day with a highish temperature and we are looking forward to spending a few hours in an airconditioned German intercity train.
We arrive at the station 40 minutes early only to learn that the train is cancelled (Train broken down). We are advised to take a regional train to Duissdorf and change. We get in and find a seat and the slightly crowded train leaves. After 6 stops, we stop to be connected to another train but after 15 minutes it becomes apparent that there is a problem. We are advised over a loudspeaker to move to the newly attached train and people begin running down the platform. Candy and I are left repacking our bags and bikes to move down 8 carriages. In the haste we leave behind our tea flask. We wait another 20 minutes where the announcements in German (and kindly translated by some of the German passengers) give a real time update about electrical issues, connection problems etc. Finally, the train moves and we make our way to Duisdorf where we change platform and board an Intercity train to Cologne. We cycle to the hotel and check-in. The Marriot realise that I had just had my birthday and upgrade us. Sweet. We are grateful.
We find a delicious vegan buffet outside (the restaurant is named Sattgrün) and are soon back to our room. The 4 days of cycling finally hits our muscles.
Day 9 - Cologne
The design museum we wanted to go to is closed for building work. We visit some shops and buy a few things. We end up going back to the room and wearing k-beauty facemasks whilst listening to ambiant music on iTunes.
We finally go out for a meal (same place as the day before) and return to our room. We drink the ginger beer that we were given for my birthday (we sent back the champagne as we don't really do alcohol).
Day 10 - Cologne/Paris.
After a big breakfast we stay in our room until 1pm before checking out. We leave our bags and bikes in the front desk and we spend the next 3 hours visiting the Nazi Gestapo archive building. Very dense and quite an intense experience. We leave and go straight for a macha latte and spend another 1 hour planning our next trip.
We go to the hotel and get our stuff and push the bikes to the station. The Thalys to Paris leaves from platform 7 but it soon becomes apparent that a broken down train is blocking our train. We are told a few minutes before official departure that we have to go to another platform. Panic and much cursing of the German railservice.
An otherwise uneventful trip back to Paris.
This article has been written by Christian and illustrated by Candy
