Yes our mini break in freezing Friesland has finished and its a few nights in Amsterdam before heading south down the coast to the Hoek van Holland where our cycling trip finally ends.The important word for cycling in Holland is fietsen which means cyclists, note butterflies like cyclists see photo.

 

Catching trains in the Netherlands is a little harder than  Germany as everything is automated so you are on your own. You can buy your tickets in advance at the machines which gives you time to notice there is a button to press to turn it into English.You need to get a ticket for your bike aswell.As in Germany there is a Niederlander trein app which will tell you platforms etc if you have to change trains.The other thing to remember is your bike plus panniers wont fit through the normal automated gates believe us we tried very hard. If you look around there are automated gates with a wheelchair sign and your bike will fit through there.

Once you’ve got onto your platform you need to decide if youre catching a red train, local or intercity yellow and blue. Then depending on what colour train you tag onto the red machine for red trains and yellow machine for yellow trains. Easy ,when you know.!! Dutch trains are also not level with the platform so be prepared for lifting your bike up a couple of steps, and dont forget to only get on a carriage with the bike sign on the doors.The trains dont have any straps for anchoring your bikes, we did have long tie down straps with us that we used.You also have  to take your luggage off so other people can get their bikes on and there are no luggage racks to put your panniers. This means on a busy train you could be sitting there with all your panniers on your lap.Sounds hardwork but seems to run relatively smoothly.

The other essential thing to be aware of is that going to the toilet on a Dutch station is not going to be cheap and can be complex. At Leeuwarden you had to hand your train ticket in at the kiosk as a deposit and pay 50cents and then get a key to the toilet, dont try this if youre train is leaving in 5mins, the kiosk person will have to serve his customers before you get that train ticket back!

The tourist office outside Amsterdam station sells good cycling maps of Amsterdam and also local ones just north and south of Amsterdam.If you like the hustle and bustle of the city and noise all night stay in the centre. We are out at Slovendijk where there are many hotels much cheaper and quieter. Its an easy 4kms ride back into Amsterdam or a tram ride. You have to be reasonably alert as cyclists are coming from all directions and mopeds also use the cycle paths if you’ve had too many dutch beers probably best not to cycle.

 

We peddled in to Amsterdam to check out Anne Franks house you can only get in after 330pm without booking, the queues were 5 deep stretching for over 200metres around the corner…forget it.Plenty of reasonable restaurants around Slovendijk we settled for an Indonesian restaurant, very nice and under 30 euros for 2 with drinks.

Plenty to amuse anyone in Amsterdam from admiring diamonds to cheese tasting but take advantage of buying one of the tourist passes as everything in Amsterdam costs. Of course all the great art gallerys are worth visiting currently the Moco has an exhibition by Banksy and Salvador Dali great.

If you need to stock up on more cycling maps then head to the large book shop on dam square Scheltema where all are stocked.

We’ll catch the train from Amsterdam to Leiden and then cycle down the coast to Hoek van Holland only about 45kms away.

Our total kms will come to 2900kms unless we get seriously lost in which case we may reach the 3000kms mark! So we would have been travelling by bikes for 79 days plus the odd train thrown in and over 2 weeks off relaxing so our average per day was 52kms per day.The maximum only being 70kms but we enjoyed our sight seeing.

 

79 DAYS IN EUROPE

Countries visited:

Austria

France

Germany extensively

Luxumbourg

Lichtenstein

Netherlands

Switzerland

For 2 people costs are 169 euros per day, australian dollars 250 per day all totally inclusive food, accomodation,  buying maps, buying drinks , toiletries, train fares , museum entrances etc..  We hadnt totally planned our routes so better planning would have cut our train fares down.

Compare to a high season boat river cruise of $ 5-7000 for 1 week for a couple plus extras  then you’ll keep on peddling.

To make it cheaper travelling a few weeks in Italy, Spain or Croatia will bring the costs down or staying longer in France, leaving earlier mid April would also mean less high season costs.It has been an exceptionally warm summer aswell so we have occasionally had to seek out hotels with airconditioning which has increased costs.Once you stay in an appartment for a few nights costs go down however my mobile phone fiasco didnt help with this.

High season cycling with a reputable company such as Macs adventure tours will cost over aus $1500 per person per week and doesnot include everything, so again going by yourselves will workout cheaper.

Bikes were great not even a puncture!So we’ll see you on the road next year it could be the Danube through to tne Black Sea…

Thank you readers for following us on our trip so till next year.😊